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We’ve already received commitments from 3,000 children around the country who are writing letters to say that families should be able to stay together this holiday season. A Wish for the Holidays is gaining momentum!

If you’ve already pledged to coordinate youth letter-writing, thank you! If not, there’s still time to go to http://webelongtogether.org/wish and get started. Either way, here’s one more thing you can do:

Can you send an email to educators in your life to help us reach our goal of 5,000 letters by the end of the month?

Teachers and youth facilitators can have their students be part of this national letter-writing campaign to raise the voices of children and youth with one unified wish: an end to deportations and detentions so that all families can stay together.

Check out http://webelongtogether.org/wish for more information. And please forward the message below.

Thank you!

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First Name

Last Name

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Subject:

Invitation to Join A Wish for the Holidays-A Campaign to Keep Families Together

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Dear Educator:

People who work with children and youth know the devastating impact that family separation can have on all of our children and communities. Educators are also in the unique position to help youth speak out.

The voices of children and youth are rarely heard in debates around immigration enforcement. Yet children are suffering, and the statistics are staggering. Consider this: 46,000 parents of U.S. citizen children were deported during a six month period in 2011. 5,000 children are in foster care because their parents have been detained or deported. 5.5 million children are living with the fear that this could happen to them.(1)

A Wish for the Holidays is a national letter-writing campaign to raise the voices of thousands of children with one unified wish: an end to deportations and immigration detentions so that all families can stay together. We are collecting letters during the month of November, and will deliver them to President Obama and Congress in early December. Children and youth across the country have pledged to write over 3,000 letters so far. The momentum is growing, and with your help we can reach our goal of over 5,000 letters.

Here's how teachers, principals and youth facilitators can get involved: 
  * Sign up to participate and get background information on the issues at www.WeBelongTogether.org/wish.

* Download activity guides for ages 5-7, 8-10, and 11 and up. Activity guides include stories to read, videos to watch, and suggestions of how to raise these issues in schools or youth groups. These activities can be done during short periods of time. The guides and supporting materials are all at www.WeBelongTogether.org/wish.

* Integrate A Wish for the Holidays into lesson plans. A Wish for the Holidays is a great way to practice letter-writing, to discuss migration and community, or to talk about the importance of family as we move into the holiday season.

* Coordinate letter-writing. Help children and youth express their feelings about these issues, in writing and/or drawings. Letters can be written by children of all ages. Letter-writers can include youth who have experienced family separation AND others who can imagine the impact of these policies on their friends, schoolmates, and other youth.

* Help us reach our goal of 5,000 letters. Mail in letters by November 30th to the address at www.WeBelongTogether.org/wish.

A Wish for the Holidays is a campaign of We Belong Together (http://www.webelongtogether.org), a collaboration of women's and immigrant rights groups dedicated to highlighting the impact of immigration enforcement on women, children and communities.

Educators can contact Lisa Moore, lisa@domesticworkers.org, to get more information or to discuss ideas if how to involve children and youth in this campaign.

Thank you in advance for your partnership, and for helping young people speak out on these important issues.

Warmly,
Ai-jen Poo, National Domestic Workers Alliance
Miriam Yeung, National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum

1. "Shattered Families, the Perilous Intersection of Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System," Applied Research Center, 2011, http://arc.org/shatteredfamilies

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