10 State Strategic Plan
Students Against Child Marriage is pursuing change on a local level through our 10 State Strategic Plan.
We have decided that this is the optimal number of states to target in order to maximize our advocacy impact without spreading our resources too thin. Between the students on our core team, dozens of chapters ready to launch in the fall, and hundreds of students prepared to take action and spread awareness, we are confident in our ability to create real change in the states we have selected.
The ten states, spanning across the nation and beyond partisan lines, consist of targets in which progress to reform underage marriage laws is already in motion as well as states where reform efforts are nonexistent. By working with existing advocates and survivors to assist current efforts, and engaging previously inactive stakeholders and students in states that have seen minimal legislative activity, we will leverage the momentum generated by students to save lives and change laws.
Where completely eliminating child marriage is not feasible, we will strive to protect potential victims and limit the practice as much as the legislative environment permits. As a result, we are prepared to employ a diverse and varied legislative playbook to weaken the institution of underage marriage wherever possible.
After months of research and planning, we have carefully selected these states to target diverse geographic regions with high incidence rates of child marriage and backward laws that are ripe for legislative reform.
In order to begin making progress as soon as possible, we’ve mostly targeted states that currently have active legislation so that we may assist existing advocates in achieving legislative victories. However, we recognize that it’s necessary to expand the fight into new territories and are prepared to establish operations in previously unengaged states.