MCCOY's 2022 Public Policy Agenda

We are excited to officially release MCCOY's Public Policy Agenda for the 2022 legislative session at the Indiana General Assembly! We couldn't have done it without the support of our wonderful Public Policy committee! 

Some of our policy priorities featured in our agenda include:

• Ensuring all Hoosier children have access to affordable childcare and pre-school programs
• Making certain that prevention and early intervention programs are available and accessible to youth, individuals, and families who require them before they are in crisis
• Reimagining the youth justice system in Indiana into a restorative system that utilizes a culturally responsive, trauma informed, developmental approach
• Ensuring students' needs are met while learning virtually or in person so that they succeed academically while gaining necessary life skills to be successful once they graduate.
• Expand training in evidence-based prevention and awareness for all youth-serving professionals to reduce and prevent youth suicide and substance abuse

Ready, Set, ADVOCATE!

Prepare to advocate in 2022 for positive policy change for children and families in Indiana!
 

• Thursday, December 16, 2021
• 11am-noon

You will receive a zoom link upon registration
 
Join MCCOY’s Public Policy and Advocacy Director, Sarah Williams, to hear MCCOY’s 2022 Public Policy Priorities and learn more about what you can do to support positive policy changes for children and families during the 2022 Indiana General Assembly legislative session!
 
In this quick session, we will cover:

• Lobbying and Advocating on behalf of your organization (yes, non-profits CAN do it!)
• How to contact and effectively communicate with Indiana legislators and their staff
• The 2022 legislative timeline for the Indiana General Assembly
• MCCOY’s 2022 legislative priorities
• 2022 “Hot button” topics that we are anticipating at the State House
• What YOU can do to make sure that children and families are supported when policy decisions are made in 2022

Youth Justice

After the Indiana General Assembly’s 2021 legislative session, we saw some significant changes because of advocates like you. It has never been more important to keep the momentum going. Bills are already being written for the 2022 legislative session and we know that your support can make a difference and ensure that youth justice is a priority for our legislators.

As a member of the Indiana Coalition for Youth Justice, we at MCCOY hope that you can follow this coalition's work this year to ensure that the Indiana Youth Justice system is reimagined into a restorative system that embraces a developmental approach to the treatment of all children and emerging adults in the justice system.

Learning life skills

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

Increasingly, misinformation is being spread about how SEL is taught in schools, and there is a real risk that this necessary teaching of life skills can be impacted or even removed from Indiana classrooms. We want to be prepared to defend this learning, so we are joining SEL4IN and other Indiana advocates to fight any attacks to social emotional education in schools. 

We have signed onto a letter to be shared with lawmakers about the importance of social emotional learning in schools. To sign onto the letter and learn more about its importance, click on the link below.