We developed Ripples of Hope to create tangible, long term change across the country. This strategy was first piloted by our founder and CEO to facilitate the successful passage of more than 40 anti-human trafficking laws in 20 states in just three years. Building on this success, the strategy was subsequently used to advance the passage of laws banning life without parole for children in multiple states in every region of the country. Since 2017, Human Rights for Kids has used Ripples of Hope to secure the passage of 6 new child rights laws, including the first law to end mandatory minimum sentences for children prosecuted in adult court.
Ripples of Hope effectively leverages resources in order to maximize change. Our theory posits that by creating positive change on human rights issues affecting children in one state in each region of the country, we create momentum that leads to continued wide-scale, systemic change in that region and, eventually, to the entire country.
As we achieve policy reforms in different regions – we position advocates to build on that success year-after-year. This cultivates hope in every corner of the nation and creates a ripple effect that emboldens child advocates and inspires policymakers to champion similar reforms — creating more hope for future reforms.
Human Rights for Kids has 11 current and former state legislators from geographically and politically diverse regions of the country on its Board of Directors, making us uniquely positioned to successfully implement the Ripples of Hope strategy and create long-term, systemic change on children’s rights issues in the United States.
“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
