Acknowledgments

A great many people helped in developing this Guide. We thank our partners at the National PTA (Joan Dykstra, Ginny Markell, Linda Hodge, and Pat Dingsdale) and at the National Urban League (Hugh B. Price and B. Keith Fulton).

We are also extremely grateful to our project advisors who gave us feedback on the earliest outlines of the Guide, reviewed drafts, and provided valuable input along the way: Daniel Ben-Horin, Milton Chen, Aimee Dorr, Karen Jaffe, Tamara Ritchey Powers, Linda Roberts, Susan Roman, Armando Valdez, Tracy Westen, and Raul Yzaguirre.

Thanks, too, to the people who helped with the fact-finding and research: James Goldin, Norman Praught, Elise Crane and Arun Baheti; Mark Baechtel, whose research was produced for KIDSNET; and Steve Weise for his review of the section dealing with the laws in cyberspace. Our thanks go also to Carol Fontein for advice throughout the project and help on the glossary; and to Carrie Spencer, Kristi Hobson, and James Grall for fact-checking and document preparation; to Sharon Congdon and Carol Starks for editing and proofreading; and to SMARTEAM Communications for design and production of this publication.

A number of other people provided invaluable input on the Guide: Sara Armstrong, Jack Baumann, Sandra Calvert, Peggy Charren, Bill Cox, Shari Davis, Tom Feegel, David Frankel, Mirium Gomez, Jan Hawkins, Dave Jones, Larry Kirk, John McDonald, Richard Mintz, Lisa Navarette, Michelle Parga, Kim Rose, and Linda Wallace. And others such as Julia and Sarah Schoerer have journeyed with us online.

Finally, we are indebted to our own children—Lawrence Kirk, Laura Frankel, and David Frankel—who are our helpers, and sometimes our guides, in understanding these issues better.

Background About the Organizations

The Children's Partnership

The Children's Partnership is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. Its mission is to inform leaders and the public about the needs of America's 70 million children, and to engage these leaders in ways that benefit children. The Partnership undertakes research and policy analysis, publishes reports and materials, develops multimedia campaigns, and forges new alliances among parents, policymakers, and the private sector to achieve tangible gains for children.

The Partnership focuses particular attention on identifying trends and emerging issues that will affect large numbers of children and on providing early analysis and strategies for action. In this way, it functions as a research and development (R&D) arm for the children's movement. The work of The Children's Partnership is supported by private foundations, corporations, the entertainment community, interested individuals, and others with whom it partners on projects. These include The AT&T Foundation, The California Community Foundation, The California Wellness Foundation, The Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Joseph Drown Foundation, The Favrot Fund, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Pacific Bell, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and The Streisand Foundation. The Children's Partnership has offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Current Programs
America's Children and The Information Superhighway: A multi-year project exploring how the information superhighway and related technologies can best serve children.

Next Generation Strategies to Build The American Children's Movement: A program designed as a multi-year research, convening, and publishing program. Its mission is to provide community leaders, activists, foundations, and concerned citizens with timely and innovative tools to design effective long- and short-term strategies to advance and sustain a children's social agenda.

Children and Health Care Reform: A multi-year project to monitor changes in health policy and identify opportunities to improve health insurance coverage for children.

Publishing Ventures The Children's Partnership researches and publishes analyses, called Strategic Audits, on select issues. In addition, The Children's Information Service, a national information service to provide timely bulletins about children's issues, is under development.

The National PTA

The National PTA is the largest volunteer child advocacy organization in the United States. Founded in 1897, today its nearly 7 million members are parents, teachers, students, and other citizens eager to work on behalf of children nationwide. The organization prides itself on being noncommercial, nonsectarian, and nonpartisan. Its members serve as child advocates in schools, in the community, and before government agencies. The National PTA builds partnerships with other health, education, and welfare organizations, both public and private, to develop national coalitions on children's issues. The organization also produces programs, publications, and training to help state and local PTAs encourage parents and families to become involved in their children's lives.

The National Urban League

Founded in 1910, the National Urban League is the premier social service and civil rights organization in America. The League is a nonpartisan, community organization headquartered in New York City, with 114 affiliates in 34 states and the District of Columbia. The mission of the National Urban League is to assist African-Americans in the achievement of social and economic equality. The League implements its mission through advocacy, bridge-building between the races, program services, and research.