March of Dimes Indiana Chapter Public Affairs Committee and Advocates invite you to become a member of the Indiana Chapter Advocacy network and learn more about the March of Dimes and how you can help advance public affairs initiatives that are critical to the health of babies.

March of Dimes Day at the Capitol was held Tuesday, January 25, 2005.  The day started with an optional training session, Advocacy 101, from 10:30am - 11:30am.  Select senators and representives then joined the group for lunch which was at 12:00noon followed by a short program.  At 1:30pm the session wrapped-up and we took the short walk to the Indiana statehouse.  Once at the statehouse, volunteers split up and met with their elected official's office to meet with the representative.  Visits with legislators continued until 3:45pm.

The training, lunch and program took place at West Market Conference Center, 150 W. Market Street, Rooms C & D, Indianapolis, across from the state Capitol Building

Join the advocacy network and help advance March of Dimes 2005 public policy issues, including:

• Increasing access to smoking cessation services for pregnant women.
• Expanding information and services for post-partum women covered by Medicaid to encourage healthy spacing of pregnancies.

Contact Jan Petty at 1-800-844-9255 or email Jan at jpetty@marchofdimes.com for more information.  To join the advocacy network click here!

The mission of the March of Dimes is to prevent birth defects and infant mortality.  In 2003 the March of Dimes launched the Prematurity Campaign, a five year, $75 million research and awareness campaign to fight premature birth--the number one cause of newborn death and a major reason why babies are born sick and suffer disabilities.  The March of Dimes funds programs of community services, research, education and advocacy that saves babies' lives.