Championing Student-Parent Success: Generation Hope’s 2023 Policy and Advocacy Recap

The creation of Generation Hope’s 2023 National and Regional Policy Agenda was guided by the lived experiences of our student-parent Scholars and our overarching Policy Priorities. Our policy and advocacy work focuses on the following areas:

Higher Education Affordability and Accessibility
Childcare Affordability and Accessibility
Economic Mobility.

We are committed to advocating for policy change in these areas at the local, state, and federal levels to positively impact the lives of parenting students nationwide and combat barriers that hinder their success in school and beyond. We advocate for and with student parents, uplifting their personal stories and illuminating the realities of the barriers they encounter on their educational journeys. Their experiences motivate us each and every day.

In 2023, we continued to invest in this work and brought new team members on board to grow our impact in policy and advocacy. We published two reports describing the unique challenges faced by students who are raising young children while attending college, increased our advocacy efforts, trained student parents on self-advocacy, hosted and participated in a variety of policy-related events, worked with partners and lawmakers to influence policy that impacts student parents, and amplified student-parent voices to affect lasting change.

2023 Recap

*Yoslin Amaya Hernandez, Generation Hope Student Advocacy Coordinator, shares how her experience as a student parent led her to a career in advocacy during a webinar that was live-streamed on C-SPAN.*

Generation Hope staff Marlee Breakstone, Senior Policy Manager (left), and Yoslin Amaya Hernandez, Student Advocacy Coordinator (right), in front of Senator Cardin’s office in the Hart Senate Office Building.

Higher Education Affordability and Accessibility

In January, Generation Hope’s Policy and Research team presented to higher education leaders and practitioners in our 2021 FamilyU Cohort about effective advocacy strategies that will lead to sustained change during our Sustainable Practices convening.
In May, in celebration of Mother’s Day, we supported Scholar Kierston in sharing her experiences as a young mother in college during an Instagram takeover.
In June, we published statements in response to two United States Supreme Court decisions that have a direct impact on student parents nationwide.

In early September, to kick off National Student Parent Awareness Month, we hosted a webinar with our partners at the National Governors Association and the Urban Institute to discuss the importance of collecting data on the number of college students who are parents and why this data can help colleges and universities provide more opportunities for student parents. The webinar was streamed live on C-SPAN.
In September, we sent a letter to the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Higher Education to support S.816/H.1260: An Act Committing to Higher Education the Resources to Insure a Strong and Healthy Public Higher Education System (the CHERISH Act), which increases college affordability and accessibility in the state.
In September, we joined approximately 40 partner organizations in sending a letter to Senators Moran and Carpenter to congratulate them on the passage of the resolution designating September 2023 as the third annual “National Student Parent Month.”
In September, to celebrate National Student Parent Month, we organized and amplified a week-long Instagram takeover during which Juliana Loza-Espinoza, a Generation Hope Scholar alum, explored her experiences as a student parent.
In mid-September, Generation Hope and a coalition of student parent champions met with Maryland State Delegates Kris Fair, Kenneth P. Kerr, and Jared Solomon to discuss the importance of a permanent student-parent data collection bill in Maryland. In November, Delegate Kerr officially submitted the bill for drafting. We look forward to supporting this bill as it moves through the legislature during next year's session.
In late September, Generation Hope staff Marlee Breakstone, Senior Policy Manager, and Yoslin Amaya Hernandez, Student Advocacy Coordinator (who is also a former student parent and an alum of our Scholar Program), met with the offices of Ranking Member of the Senate HELP Committee Bill Cassidy, Senator Chris Van Hollen, and Senator Ben Cardin, to discuss the importance of student-parent awareness and data collection.
In October, Maryland’s Higher Education Commission released a report highlighting the need for statewide data collection on the parenting status of students and offering recommendations to support the student parent population. This report was the result of Generation Hope staff meeting with Maryland Delegate Jared Solomon to discuss the importance of supporting student parents in September 2022.
In October, we joined 126 other organizations in urging immediate action to finalize the Department of Education’s Title IX rule.
In late October, during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we published a new report titled "Student Parents and Intimate Partner Violence," highlighting parenting students' experiences with intimate partner violence and calling on higher education leaders and policymakers to invest in solutions that keep students safe and help families thrive. This report explored a topic that has garnered more awareness over the years in terms of how it impacts college students but less understanding of how it specifically impacts students with children.
In December, our Senior Policy Manager presented to the California Higher Education Coalition (CHEEC) about policies and practices to support student parents in California and beyond.
In December, our Policy & Research team began to organize a campaign to collect testimony in support of a state-level student-parent data collection bill in Maryland, expected to be introduced in January 2024.

*Marlee Breakstone, Generation Hope Senior Policy Manager (top left), Lorraine Oyetubo, FamilyU Student Parent Fellow (top right),* *Erica Phillips*, *NAFCC Executive Director (bottom left), and Sophia Trimble, Generation Hope Student-Parent Scholar (bottom right), speaking on a webinar hosted on Zoom.*

Childcare Affordability & Accessibility

In March, we released a new report titled “The Child Care Barrier: The Impacts of Inaccessible and Costly Child Care for Student Parents'' and hosted a Twitter chat and webinar featuring student parent voices to engage our audiences in conversations around this important topic. This report features data collected directly from student parents in our Scholar Program, demonstrating the unaddressed caregiving needs and important experiences of student parents and offering policy recommendations for bridging this gap.

In early April, we organized and amplified a week-long Instagram takeover with Marilyn Ramírez, Generation Hope Scholar, who delved into student parents’ child care needs and experiences.
In May, we sent a letter to the D.C. Health Committee, asking them to reverse the detrimental cuts to child care that Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed in her budget and ensure that home visitors in the District of Columbia are paid fairly for their work.
In May, Generation Hope’s Policy & Research team presented at the National Student Parent Support Symposium about the findings and policy recommendations outlined in “The Child Care Barrier” report and led participants in an activity that demonstrated the various obstacles student parents may face while in college.

Generation Hope staff at the National Student Parent Support Symposium, from left to right:
Trasi Watson (Senior Higher Education Impact Manager), Jess Myers (Senior Higher Education Impact Manager), Devita Bishundat (Director of Learning & Innovation) holding baby Maya, Dr. Jamie Williams (Assistant Director of Learning & Innovation), Dr. Kristi Johns, Marlee Breakstone (Senior Policy Manager), Catherine Johnson (Senior Higher Education Impact Manager), Yoslin Amaya Hernandez (Student Advocacy Coordinator).

In June, we held a self-advocacy workshop for Generation Hope Scholars at our annual conference. This workshop culminated in the creation of testimonials and videos about the importance of child care especially for student parents that were later shared on Generation Hope’s social media.

In September, Generation Hope’s Senior Policy Manager, Marlee Breakstone, presented at the CAPS Child Care webinar, “Beyond the Classroom — Prioritizing Child Care for Parent Students in Virginia.” She spoke about the findings from “The Child Care Barrier” report.
In October, we joined 125 organizations and individuals in sending a letter to the Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, urging her to sign legislation decoupling the hours a child can attend child care from their parents’ work hours. This would allow children in the Empire State whose families rely on child care assistance to attend child care full day, regardless of the hours their parents work or attend school.

A collage of screenshots taken during virtual meetings with congressional offices, featuring Generation Hope staff, members of the Today’s Students Coalition, student parents, and staffers from various congressional offices.

Economic Mobility

In April, we supported Najah Mills, Generation Hope Scholar and FamilyU Student Parent Fellow, in writing and publishing an op-ed in The Grio about how public benefit programs are blocking the path to economic mobility for student parents.
In September, we sent a letter to the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Higher Education to support H.1293/S.385: An Act establishing the Hunger Free Campus Initiative, so that students throughout the state can have their basic needs met and succeed in higher education and beyond.
In November, Generation Hope staff Marlee Breakstone, Senior Policy Manager, and Yoslin Amaya Hernandez, Student Advocacy Coordinator, joined our partners from the Today’s Students Coalition in meetings with 15 congressional offices as part of Basic Needs Advocacy week, urging lawmakers to make emergency aid permanent and increase access to SNAP benefits for students.
In December we launched the application for our Student Parent Advocacy Alliance, a new program through which we plan to help student parents around the country develop storytelling and advocacy skills and present them with opportunities to deeply engage in our policy and advocacy efforts.

What’s Next?

Read more Scholar stories and follow Generation Hope on Instagram or LinkedIn to see our work in action and hear more from student parents. Stay tuned for our 2024 National and Regional Policy Agenda, launching soon, as well as information on upcoming events, research, and reports. Sign up for our e-newsletter so you don’t miss a thing! To get involved, inquire about partnership, or learn more about Generation Hope’s policy and advocacy work, click here or email policy@generationhope.org.

Your support makes this type of work possible. Please consider making a contribution today to support our policy and advocacy efforts as we endeavor to advance the economic mobility, health, and safety of teen and student parents and their families.

Featured