About Children's Congress 2011
Every two years, JDRF International Chairman Mary Tyler Moore and over a hundred children with type 1 diabetes gather in Washington, D. C. to meet face-to-face with some of the top decision-makers in the U.S. government. The children, ages 4 to 17, represent all 50 states and the District of Columbia. As participants in JDRF's Children's Congress, they have a unique and empowering opportunity to help Members of Congress understand what life with type 1 diabetes is like and why research to find the cure for diabetes and its complications is so critical.
Children's Congress will take place on June 20-22, 2011 in Washington, D.C.
Read the 2011 introduction from JDRF International Chairman Mary Tyler Moore.
Read the 2011 Children's Congress Chair, Stefany Shaheen's welcome letter to site visitors.
Event History
The JDRF Children's Congress program was inspired by a boy from Massachusetts named Tommy Solo when he was 8 years old. He heard some adult JDRF volunteers talking about going to Washington, D.C., to talk to Congress and thought it would be great if kids could go, too, because no one knows better what it's like to live with type 1 diabetes than kids who have it.
The group of volunteers thought it was a brilliant idea and quickly got to work developing the event, which was first held in 1999. Since then, six successful Children's Congresses have occurred, one every other year (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007, 2009). Media coverage of the event--an integral key to its success--has grown with the event's sophistication. In 2009, it received coverage in more than 300 media outlets throughout the country, including CBS' The Early Show, People Magazine, The New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News Channel, Associated Press, NBC News, and Scholastic Magazine.
