All children deserve clean air and water, safe food, toys and products, stable climates, and healthy environments in which to live, learn, play, and work.
There is an intensifying federal spotlight on children’s chronic illnesses, including the contributing role of environmental hazards. We must meet this increased attention with evidence-based solutions.
The 2026 elections offer an opportunity to reset our national, state, and local priorities in support of science, public health, and a robust federal workforce to protect children’s environmental health.
We need political leaders at all levels of government who put the health of children, their future, and their families FIRST.
When children thrive, we all thrive.
Confirm your voting eligibility, register to vote, check your voting deadlines and requirements, and make a plan to vote for kids.
A rubric you can use to assess local, state, and federal candidates to make sure they’re keeping children at the center of their decisions.
Use the Companion Toolkit to put the voter guide into action with practical, step-by-step guidance to help you evaluate candidates’ records, policy positions, and commitments.
Join Children’s Environmental Health Network and partners to find out how you can protect kids’ health and their environments in the 2026 elections. Parents, caregivers, advocates, community members, health care providers, and public and environmental health professionals are invited to this engaging, nonpartisan discussion on identifying and electing political leaders at all levels of government who put the health of children, their future, and their families first.
Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, MPHNsedu Obot Witherspoon, MPH, serves as the Executive Director for the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN), extending partnerships, organizing, leading, and managing policy, education/training, and science-related programs. For the past 23 years, she has served as a key spokesperson for children’s vulnerabilities and the need for their protection, conducting presentations and lectures across the country. She is a leader in the field of children’s environmental health, serving on the External Science Board for the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) NIH Research work. She is a Co-Leader for the Health/Science initiative of the Cancer Free Economy Network, Co-Chair of the America the Beautiful for All Coalition, Lead Chair for Clean Water for All, and leader in the Climate Equity Collaborative. Ms. Witherspoon is also the past Board Chair and current Board Member for the Pesticide Action Network of North America, the Environmental Integrity Project, Healthy Building Network, and serves on the Maryland Children’s Environmental Health Advisory Council. Ms. Witherspoon has held past appointments on the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee for the Environmental Protection Agency, the NIH Council of Councils, the Science Advisory Board for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Board for the American Public Health Association. She is the past Co-Chair of the National Environmental Health Partnership Council, past member of the National Association of Environmental Health Sciences Council and the Institute of Medicine’s Environmental Health Sciences Roundtable. Ms. Witherspoon has a variety of publications and has the distinct honor of having one of CEHN’s leadership awards, the Nsedu Obot Witherspoon (NOW) Youth Leadership Award, named in her honor. She is also the recent recipient of the William R. Reilly Award in Environmental Leadership from the Center for Environmental Policy at American University, the Snowy Egret Award from the Eastern Queens Alliance, and the 950 Alumni Award by The George Washington School of Public Health and Health Services. Ms. Witherspoon has a B.S. in Biology Pre Med from Siena College and a M.P.H. in Maternal and Child Health from The George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services. She is a proud mom to 4 children!
Abre’ Conner, Esq.Abre’ Conner, Esq. is the Director of the Center for Environmental and Climate Justice and oversees the strategy and collaboration across the NAACP to dismantle environmental racism. She has taught Education Law and was faculty in the Environmental Policy and Management Program at the University of California-Davis.
A native of Lakeland, FL, Abre’ served as the Directing Attorney of Health at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley where she led the litigation, direct legal services work, and advocacy regarding health equity and the social determinants of health that impact historically excluded communities across the Silicon Valley. Before joining the Law Foundation, Abre’ was a staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, where she advocated for the civil rights and liberties of Central Valley and Northern California residents, including an emphasis on issues that impact people of color in rural communities such as environmental justice.
As a staff attorney at the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment in Delano, CA, Abre’ primarily worked with migrant farmworkers and in unincorporated communities. She has worked at numerous civil rights entities including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, and Capitol Hill. She was also an associate in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel in the Obama Administration. Abre’ served as the elected Assembly Speaker for the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, the chief policy officer for the Division, and was an appointed member of the ABA’s Commission on Youth at Risk Advisory Board and Children’s Rights Litigation Working Group. Under her leadership, the Division adopted a resolution declaring racism as a public health crisis which is now ABA policy. She currently sits on the ABA’s Board of Governors, Earthjustice’s Board of Trustees, and was appointed to the EPA’s first HBCU-MSI Advisory Council.
A graduate of American University, Washington College of Law, and the University of Florida, Abre’ has been named a top 40 under 40 Nation’s Best Advocate by the National Bar Association, top 100 leader by Fresno Black Chamber of Commerce, “Woman of the Year” by Zeta Phi Beta, Omega Lambda Zeta Chapter, top 40 On the Rise Attorneys by the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, Community Champion by Fresno Building Healthy Communities, 40 under 40 alumni by the University of Florida, 40 under 40 Young, Gifted, and Green recipient, and has been featured in the New York Times’ The Daily, Essence, Forbes Magazine, American Bar Association Journal, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated’s National Magazine, The Archon, and Cosmopolitan Magazine.
Anne Mellinger-Birdsong, MD, MPH, FAAPDr. Anne Mellinger-Birdsong graduated from Eastern Virginia Medical School and completed a pediatrics residency at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, and then earned a masters of public health from Johns Hopkins University. She has worked at city, county, state, and federal health agencies, in areas as diverse as communicable diseases, vaccine preventable diseases, radiation environmental health, environmental public health, asthma, a county STI clinic, a county tuberculosis clinic, and a Native American Indian Health Service clinic. She is Health Advisor for Mothers & Others For Clean Air, a non-profit that does education and advocacy about air pollution, climate, and health. She is a founding member of Georgia Clinicians for Climate Action and a member of the Georgia Chapter of the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics).
Mike SchadeMike Schade leads Toxic-Free Future’s Mind the Store program, which challenges retailers to shift the marketplace away from hazardous chemicals and develop comprehensive safer chemicals policies. Prior to joining TFF Mike was Markets Campaign Coordinator with the Center for Health Environment & Justice (CHEJ) where he led campaigns to phase out PVC plastic, phthalates, and bisphenol A in consumer products and packaging, and led the Buffalo office of a statewide environmental health organization. He has a BS in Environmental Studies from the University at Buffalo. Mike lives in New York with his wife and dog, and regularly explores the region’s mountains, lakes, and beaches.
Garrett Smith (Moderator)Garrett Smith is serving as the Carol Stroebel Health Policy and Education Intern at Children’s Environmental Health Network this summer. He recently graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Georgia College of Public Health with a B.S. in Health Promotion and a concentration in Health Services. This fall, Garrett will attend the University of Miami School of Law to pursue his J.D.
Garrett’s academic and professional interests center on the intersection of public health, environmental policy, and law. In his role at CEHN, he supports policy monitoring, research translation, and communications efforts focused on advancing evidence-based protections for children’s environmental health.
Garrett is especially interested in how law, business, and public policy shape health and environmental outcomes. In his spare time, he loves cooking and is always experimenting with new recipes, often inspired by places he travels to. Garrett has a strong interest in architecture and is passionate about how history and design shape the built environment.
Get a monthly rundown of legislative, administrative, regulatory, and judicial federal policy actions that impact children’s health. We also include calls to actionable ways to help protect kids’ health through policy.
