Building strong relationships with legislators and maintaining a consistent presence at the Capitol are essential to advancing legislation and standing up for children and families. Alaska Children’s Trust, a statewide organization dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect and ensuring all Alaskan children have the resources to grow up safe and healthy, is rethinking how that advocacy happens. Begun in 2023, a microgranting strategy is redefining who gets to participate in advocacy and is helping to build the collective power necessary to elevate children and family issues across the state.
Alaska is unique. It is the largest state in the country, yet one of the least populated. Juneau, the state’s capital and where legislators spend so much of their time, is only accessible by boat or plane, making travel there both costly and time-consuming. As Trevor Storrs, President and CEO of the Alaska Children’s Trust, explains, “We have Zoom and other technology, but as we know, relationships are what make things happen…everything here in our state is really based on relationships.” He adds that while data matters, “what can really move an issue or policy is the relationship and the story, and the best way to do that is by having an in-person presence in Juneau.”
The microgranting strategy helps fill those gaps by providing resources and funding to enable more advocates to make their way to Juneau and share their stories. The model also allows Alaska Children’s Trust to support a wider range of issues, including those that may be outside its traditional focus or more politically complex, by empowering partner organizations to lead advocacy efforts.“We provide small grants that allow individuals to lobby and advocate, to center the voices of those impacted by the work that they are doing, and to be able to connect with our legislature,” said Storrs.
Alaska Children’s Trust has a range of strategies to support child-and family-serving organizations. It hosts a weekly meeting that provides legislative updates for its partners, many of whom are direct service providers, and connects its network with data and information to advance their work. The microgranting strategy builds on this foundation by providing funding and infrastructure to help its partners sustain advocacy efforts. A core goal is to create a coordinated, durable system that allows these organizations to engage effectively over time. Importantly, Alaska Children’s Trust does this “not by being an organization that solely speaks for everybody, but by finding a way to interlock arms with all of our partners so our voices are in sync,” said Storrs. He describes the organization’s role as a “conductor” that ensures all the instruments are playing beautiful music rather than just making noise.
The microgranting program is open to any organization dedicated to children and families, and the applications are evaluated based on how well they incorporate the voices of those most impacted, how they plan to use the funding, and what issue they are advocating for. Priority is often given to efforts tied to active legislation, whether in support or opposition, to ensure that limited resources are spent in areas with the greatest immediate impact.
This year, the program shifted its approach by reducing individual grant amounts from $5,000 to $3,000, allowing funds to be pooled and aligned with a key issue in Alaska Children’s Trust’s broader policy agenda. This process helps grantees receive expanded support, including access to lobbying resources, and also helps develop a coalition to move the needle. For example, a couple of organizations were given grants dedicated to the Infant Learning Program, which supports early identification and interventions for developmental delays. While legislation dedicated to advancing the program was passed in the state legislature in the past, it was vetoed by Governor Dunleavy. With renewed support, including coordinated advocacy and access to a lobbyist, these organizations are now working to reintroduce and advance the issue. By pairing direct funding with coordinated advocacy support, the microgranting program aims to build an “advocacy engine” that organizations can tap into as needed, enabling smaller groups to engage effectively without having to rebuild capacity each time, and ultimately strengthening long-term policy impact.
The microgranting strategy is helping expand who participates and how advocacy takes shape. People with a depth of lived experience have been able to travel to the state capitol, meet directly with legislators, and in some cases secure their first-ever bill hearings, even on complex or politically challenging issues. While these efforts do not always result in immediate policy wins, they play a critical role in building relationships, elevating personal stories, and laying the groundwork for future change. The program is also fostering a culture of sustained engagement and creating a broader and more inclusive advocacy ecosystem. According to Storrs, organizations are continuing to dedicate more time and energy to advocacy even beyond the grant period.
“This strategy of subgranting to community partners to increase the number and diversity of voices and children’s issues at the legislature is innovative, and so important given Alaska’s geography,” said Mandy Ableidinger, Senior Policy Director at the Alliance for Early Success. “This kind of creative thinking is exactly why the Alliance offers flexible, general support grants – our grantees and their partners are the experts on what advocacy will work in their states. We love that Alaska Children’s Trust is helping to build a powerful, diverse, and durable constituency in the state for early childhood issues.”
Looking ahead, Storrs hopes to expand the program and support more advocates in developing their skills and sharing their stories to influence policy. He also sees growing momentum as organizations increasingly dedicate more resources to building their internal capacity to engage in more advocacy initiatives.
The microgranting strategy is helping elevate children and family issues in the public discourse and make them more visible to policymakers. Ultimately, the goal is not just to pass individual bills, but to reshape whose voices are heard in the policymaking process. By lowering barriers to participation and strengthening relationships between impacted communities and lawmakers, Alaska Children’s Trust is helping ensure that the experiences of children and families carry greater weight in decision-making. Over time, that shift has the power to change not only policy outcomes, but the priorities that drive them.