Zonta USA Advocacy
“Zonta USA Caucus has launched the Stop Child Marriages PSA Campaign! This campaign is a huge opportunity for Zonta clubs to increase the focus on Ending Child Marriage here at home, and to raise visibility of their club in their local community, and of Zonta in their state and region. The Stop Child Marriage PSA campaign is in partnership with UNICEF USA, and Unchained at Last. Campaign materials and toolkits are available at: www.Zontausa.org/StopChildMarriagestoolkit.
The public website is www.stopchildmarriages.org This is a Public Service Announcement campaign for clubs and districts in the USA to focus on Ending Child Marriage in the USA. the Zonta USA Caucus is providing artwork, messaging and training to encourage clubs and districts to work with local billboard and digital signage companies, as well as other community partners.
The goal is to have “Child marriage is happening here” signs up in every state, every state capitol, and every Zonta town by 2021, and have the campaign shared widely over social media (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram).
The PSA message focuses attention on the fact that “Child Marriage Happens Here” in the USA. Child Marriage is still legal in 48 out of 50 States, and the consequences for young brides are devastating. The PSA and social media artwork and messages are available to all US clubs and districts. All PSA signs and billboards, and social media posts MUST direct viewers to a new website www.StopChildMarriages.org, where visitors can get additional information, and links to take action.
The PSA campaign is expected to roll out across all 48 states over the next 12 months with your club’s help, and the toolkit provides instructions and materials needed for clubs and districts to implement it in their states.
The PSA campaign core artwork is perfect for billboards, digital signs (which can be found in airports, shopping malls, convention centers and more), and for table banners. Use the artrwork creatively and share your local use and creative ideas in the new facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ZontaUSAdiscussion/ or by emailing Katherine at zonta@clelandmarketing.com, so we can feature them for other clubs to see and borrow.
The “act now” step on the Stop Child Marriages website is for the visitor to create a specific email message to their own state legislators. Depending on the state, the message will be either an action regarding a specific bill in their state, or a general message to end child marriage. (UNICEF USA has a tool that creates the email based on the user’s mailing address and zip code). We hope that EVERY Zonta member in the USA will fill out the form with UNICEF USA and Zonta USA to mail their state legislators. The number of Action emails is one of the key metrics we will be tracking and reporting. The Zonta USA Caucus is also encouraging Zonta clubs to engage their local partners in women’s issues, including domestic violence shelters and grant beneficiaries, to promote the PSA and action step to their constituents.
Lets make a difference and “Stop Child Marriages #EndChildMarriage #ChildMarriageHappensHere #USAChildMarriage “
