Judy Watts was Agenda for Children’s beloved founder, who served as our CEO until her retirement in 2010. A fierce advocate for Louisiana’s children and dedicated anti-racist, she often worked 80+ hours weeks to make Louisiana a better place for all children, from testifying in the Louisiana legislature to organizing coalitions to support children’s issues.
The Judy Watts Center for Policy and Advocacy was launched in 2021 to honor Judy’s legacy and provide resources and support for anyone who wants to advocate for children in Louisiana. The Center is a multi-issue child advocacy hub that supports strong public policy to improve child well-being, outcomes, and services. The Center houses all of Agenda for Children’s data, policy and advocacy initiatives.
Our Mission
The mission of the Judy Watts Center for Policy & Advocacy is to improve child well-being in Louisiana by empowering child advocates with data and analysis, and the pursuit of a policy agenda that creates more equitable policies that support children and families at the local, state and federal levels.
Our Vision
The Judy Watts Center for Policy & Advocacy is a multi-issue child advocacy hub that:
- Engages in supporting strong public policy to improve child well-being, outcomes, and services, with an intentional focus on racial equity.
- Collects, analyzes and disseminates data on child well-being at the state and local levels
- Partners with other organizations, legislators and advocates to advocate for policies and practices that will improve child well-being in Louisiana.
Our 2023 Legislative Agenda
We created an agenda for the 2023 legislative session to improve outcomes for children and families across four different areas of child well-being. Together, we can make a lasting impact in our state and move our ranking up from 49th by focusing attention on policy priorities that are critical to child well-being, including economic opportunity, health, education, and family and community. Download the legislative agenda.
Founder, Agenda for Children
Judy Watts was a fierce child advocate who co-founded Agenda for Children to make Louisiana a state where all children can thrive. She was a commited anti-racist who worked closely with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. Under her leadership, Agenda made major impacts on early care and education, child welfare, juvenile justice and children’s health care access.
Agenda for Children secured Child Care Assistance Program rate increases that raised reimbursement rates from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile of local market rates to bring our State’s reimbursement levels closer to the true cost of quality child care.