About Children's Congress '09
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 22-24, 2009 in Washington, D.C.
Read an introduction from JDRF International Chairman Mary Tyler Moore.
Read 2009 Children's Congress Chair Cynthia Ford's welcome letter.
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, five successful Children's Congresses have occurred, one every other year (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007). Media coverage of the event--an integral key to its success--has grown with the event's sophistication. In 2007, it received coverage on more than 50 news broadcast networks and in 250 major daily newspapers and magazines, including, but not limited to, USA Today, Time Magazine for Kids, Diabetic Living and others.
