PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A coalition of groups that serve children is calling on Philadelphia’s mayoral candidates to weigh in on how they would meet the needs of kids.
The Kids’ Campaign, a coalition of 61 childrens’ groups, released six position papers Tuesday and asked the 11 candidates for mayor to spell out how they would accomplish the goals outlined in each. The candidates were asked to address quality early-learning opportunities, child hunger, summer jobs, restorative justice programs, solving the climate crisis and hiring the best teachers.
The coalition asked candidates to respond to the questions by March 20.
“It’s one thing to support the platform and another to say how you will achieve it,” said Donna Cooper, executive director of the nonprofit Children First, a member of the Kids’ Campaign.
“That’s really going to be the test for us whether candidates are serious in supporting the needs of kids,” she said at a news conference Tuesday at Settlement Music School in Queen Village.
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For Shavon Almodovar of Spring Garden, a parent of three, the primary issue for the next mayor is safety. “Getting the gun violence down,” she told KYW Newsradio. “Doing preventative measures instead of sending out the cleanup crew after everything happens.”
So far, Almodovar said none of the candidates for mayor stand out. “Not specifically. I’ve seen the commercials everybody else has seen,” she said. “But I’m looking for more information. I will be very involved in the race.”
The Kids’ Campaign aims to inform voters without endorsing any particular candidate, according to Cooper. “We will make sure that parents across the city know what their answers are so that they can make their decisions by more than a TV commercial about a candidate — and what a candidate actually says they’re going to do to help their children,” she explained.
“Increasingly, candidates are going to be listening to Kids’ Campaign because every day, more and more parents are signing up to be part of the Kids’ Campaign. And at the end of the day, they need their votes.”