My IDEA Matters
In the Spring of 2020, during the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, the Trump Administration and Congress threatened to wave some of the critical responsibilities of school districts and states to educate students with disabilities due to the disruptions caused by the pandemic.
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In order to maintain the civil right protections afforded to students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), NCLD launched the #MyIDEAmatters campaign. Our community of advocates and stakeholders worked to alert everyone, showing that our students' rights were at stake. NCLD urged them to show policymakers why IDEA matters.
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My IDEA matters call to action (CTA) campaign video. Watch the full series here.
We won!
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Over 1,800 advocates signed our petition.
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Due to the incredible efforts across the country by disability rights advocates, after a few months of continuous campaigning, the Secretary of Education did not recommend waiving the protections under IDEA.
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I played a critical role in creating and organizing the communications output throughout the run of the campaign. This includes; the facilitation of the communications strategy, organizing the social media campaign across all platforms, facilitating press outreach, disseminating email campaigns and action alerts, developing web, video and graphic assets, monitoring and reporting web analytics, social engagement and more!
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Audiences:
A critical component to the strength of the #MyIDEAmatters campaign was
engaging the support of NCLD's community of advocates and stakeholders in amplifying the voices and priorities of the 1 in 5 students with learning and attention issues, who had their rights at stake.
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In addition to mobilizing the largest audience (130,000+) network through action alerts and email campaigns, NCLD worked with key stakeholders; young adult leaders, parent advocates and policymakers, to tell their own personalized stories in a heartfelt video campaign. These stories were broadly amplified by partner organizations, lawmakers and the press, building consistent support and a greater reach for the push.
Social media highlights:
During the run of #MyIDEAmatters, NCLD was supported by a myriad of partner organizations and advocates across social platforms; Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. The gallery below shows a snippet of the highlights.
