Our Voice for Children

April 2023

John, 

 

Thank you for your continued support for children and youth across the United States. We are as committed as ever to young people and their families and communities throughout the country. With your help, we will continue working to build a nation where marginalized children flourish, leaders prioritize their well-being, and communities wield the power to ensure they thrive. Here are some notable highlights from this year so far! 

CDF President and CEO Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson has had several speaking engagements across the country, uplifting the voices of America’s children and youth to ensure their priorities are front and center. These are just some of Dr. Wilson’s recent addresses. 

 

Atlanta, GA: During the 2023 Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference hosted in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Wilson moderated a panel of experts in the faith community during CDF’s “A Little Child Shall Lead Them” forum.  Together, they discussed how to center children within church advocacy with other community faith leaders. Panelist, Rev. Eric Fisher, stressed, “We need a community where children are subjects, not objects.” 

 

Click here to learn more about how faith communities can address the needs of America’s children and youth.  

 

Pittsburgh, PA: Last month, Dr. Wilson kicked off the Kelso Lecture at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He engaged in conversation about the ways churches and communities can work together to facilitate anti-racism in their neighborhoods.  

 

Rochester, New York: In February, Dr. Wilson spoke at the Spiritus Christi Church in Rochester, New York, a city with one of the nation's highest numbers of child poverty. Dr. Wilson further emphasized churches and faith communities' vital role in lifting children from poverty. 

 

Washington, D.C.: Dr. Wilson took to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to advocate for student debt cancellation. He spoke on behalf of the tens of millions of Americans that student debt relief could impact, paving the way for the next generation to thrive and have stronger economic mobility. “Cancelling student loan debt now is necessary because access to the American Dream for my 7-year-old daughter should not be caught up in her wracking with debt for another generation.” 

After meeting virtually for two years, this January we said, “Welcome home, welcome home!” to our CDF Freedom Schools program executive directors and project directors who gathered at the CDF Haley Farm for annual training. During this three-day event, participants sang Harambee every morning led by our 2023 Ella Baker Trainers in the Riggio-Lynch Chapel and engaged in hands-on workshops to learn how to better serve the approximately 13,000 scholars expected at CDF Freedom School sites across the nation this summer.  

 

We are excited to announce that this summer we are gearing up for our Servant Leader Intern training in June. We look forward to welcoming over 1,500 college students from across the nation to the farm! 

This February, CDF announced its extended partnership with the NBA Foundation. In its largest single grant to date, the NBA Foundation has awarded CDF $3.6 million over three years to help identify candidates and support program management for the NBA HBCU Fellowship Program.  Launched in 2022, the fellowship provides career development opportunities in the business of basketball for undergraduate and graduate students from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). 

CDF-CA has been advocating systematically for redirecting resources from outdated strategies into community-based youth development. 

 

CDF-CA’s work resulted in defunding the school-based probation budget by over $4 million. This money was reallocated to the Ready to Rise program, which invests state funds back into the community through diversion and youth development programs. 

 

In addition to redirecting state funds, CDF-CA has been vigilant in making sure young people who are in California’s juvenile justice system are treated humanely. CDF-CA organized, pushed, and achieved historic approval for increased oversight and inspections around conditions of confinement. A large part was focused on demanding that probation cops stop pepper spraying youth and children. CDF-CA Director of Youth Justice Policy, Milinda Kakani, spoke with KPCC’s Airtalk about the illegal and immoral use of chemical agents against children. 

Last year, CDF-NY successfully advocated for the largest investment in child care subsidies in New York State history—$2 billion to increase the number of families receiving child care financial assistance and the amount child care providers are paid for their essential services. Data has shown that expanding child care subsidies could help reduce child poverty in N.Y. 

 

This year, our New York office is continuing the fight against child poverty by ensuring the state’s fiscal budget takes into account children and families from the most marginalized communities. This fight included CDF-NY testifying at multiple state legislative hearings regarding the state’s executive budgets.  

Read CDF-NY's testimony below! 

• Housing  
• Health/Medicaid 
• Mental Hygiene 
• Taxes Executive  
• Human Services  

Ohio’s 2024-2025 fiscal year biennial budget process is currently underway. As leaders of the Ohio Children’s Budget Coalition, CDF-Ohio spearheaded efforts with over 20 other statewide advocacy partners to publish and distribute a book of recommendations for Gov. Mike DeWine, his administration, the Ohio legislature, and state leaders to consider in policy and funding decisions for the two-year budget. Creating a Vision of Child Well-Being in Ohio includes 15 issue briefs on a variety of child-centered policies and priorities, from establishing a fully refundable state family tax credit, providing scholarships to youth with experience in foster care, and ensuring healthy school meals to all students at no cost.  

 

As part of the Hunger Free Schools Ohio Coalition, CDF-Ohio hosted a press conference in February with education partners on the importance of ensuring every Ohio student free nutrition. The press conference included one of CDF-Ohio's senior policy associates, who gave detailed data and information on the issue. Other speakers included the president of one of Ohio’s teachers unions, school nutrition directors, a concerned parent, and a principal whose students held a bake sale to cover mounting school lunch debt for their peers.  

Children's Defense Fund-Southern Regional Office (CDF-SRO) is doing incredible work to help families in the South move out of poverty and ensure their children have access to early childhood education. CDF-SRO began this work in 2000 when supported by the WK Kellogg Foundation to create partnerships to ensure children were ready for school. Since then, they have worked with local school districts, child care centers, and Head Start programs to provide services. They also work on policies to increase investments in early childhood education. 

 

This year, CDF-SRO continues to focus on families in the Mississippi Delta by going into communities via a home visiting program. This program involves learning advocates who work between public schools and early education practitioners to prepare pre-K children in the most marginalized communities to enter the public school system. CDF-SRO is filling a crucial gap as State Director Oleta Fitzgerald states, “In 2023 many school districts don’t see early child care as part of the education continuum. And many child care [providers] don’t see themselves as educators.” This month, CDF-SRO will release an evaluative report of these home visits providing a blueprint for aligning early childhood education with the needs of K-3 public education.  

The CDF-Minnesota (CDF-MN) team is working to help ensure Minnesotan children receive their fair share of Minnesota’s historic $18 billion budget surplus. CDF-MN is working with the Walz Flanagan administration in its pledge to make Minnesota the best place in the country to be a kid—regardless of race or zip code. We are pleased to report that all areas of CDF-MN's Advocacy agenda are moving forward in the committee process. This includes permanently and significantly funding community-generated solutions, ensuring no one must choose between a paycheck and caring for a new baby or a beloved family member, creating a new state child tax credit that reduces Minnesota child poverty by 25%, and revolutionizing how child care and early learning is done in the state.  

 

In addition, CDF-MN is currently providing technical support to its two after-school CDF Freedom Schools® sites serving approximately 200 scholars at the CDF Freedom Schools sites at Academia Cesar Chavez in St. Paul and Friendship Academy of the Arts in Minneapolis. The team is gearing up to expand that support throughout the greater Minnesota CDF Freedom Schools program network of 14 sites as they prepare to serve approximately 1,800 scholars this summer.  Among these include two American Indian and two Latinx-specific sites.  

The CDF-TX health team, alongside partners from the Sick of it, Texas! campaign, organized the first-ever People’s Hearing for Medicaid expansion. Last session, the Texas legislature opted not to hear a Medicaid expansion bill, despite how badly Texas families need it and how popular it is. Instead, CDF-TX and their partners brought the public hearing to our lawmakers, highlighting the struggles of uninsured Texans statewide. 

 

This fight comes to the doorstep of young people as Medicaid rules change nationwide. Hundreds of thousands of Texans, including young adults, are expected to lose their Medicaid. Without health insurance, students won’t be able to see their doctors, get vaccines, or continue the medications they need to stay healthy and keep up with their learning. The Texas office is working hard to reach people where they are, make sure they’re prepared, and connect them to affordable health care options. 

 

Last month, Texas youth also took stage at the doorstep of the Texas Capitol as part of the CDF-TX-led Our State, Our Stage event. Youth performed on the Capitol steps, learned to use art in their organizing, and shared their vision for Texas with lawmakers through art. 

Join us in recognizing the work of our CDF staff, who have spoken in all corners of the country! Their tireless advocacy to ensure a nation where marginalized children flourish does not go unnoticed. 

 

CDF National Director of Movement Building Cemeré James gave the opening keynote address at the Institute for Child Success at the 2023 Desmond P. Kelly, MD Nurturing Developing Minds Conference. James stressed that making change means stepping out of our comfort zone. "Finding your community is NOT finding your echo chamber."  

 

In February, Dr. Kristal Moore Clemons, national director of the CDF Freedom Schools program, spoke at First Baptist Church of Hampton in Virginia, announcing the launch of its CDF Freedom Schools site in 2024. Dr. Clemons was also featured in the Save the Children Action Network’s monthly webinar. She uplifted the history of Freedom Schools and its origin in the deep South during the civil rights movement.

 

In March, CDF State Policy Associate Rebecca Sheff co-led the panel, "All In: How Educators Can Support Student Activism" at SXSW EDU! 

 

CDF-TX Community Health Outreach Associate Crystal Marcial was recognized for her work connecting pregnant mothers to health resources in Texas which has the highest rate of uninsured people in the country. Read more! 

 

Sheri Brady, CDF’s vice president of strategy, spoke about the dire need to address child poverty in Rochester, New York, during an interview with Evan Dawson of WXXI News. Brady highlighted the importance of gathering information about child poverty directly from the community and building connections. “Be in touch and stay connected.” 

Listen to her interview here!  

With your ongoing support, we will continue to be on the frontlines with America’s children in 2023. With CDF’s highly anticipated 50th anniversary this year, we are more hopeful than ever that this year will be a victory for children and youth! 

Children's Defense Fund© All rights reserved

840 First St NE, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20002