Our Voice for Children
September 2021
Listening and Acting to Heal Our Children
Throughout the month, we've been hearing from places of worship that are planning to join us for our annual National Observance of Children's Sabbaths during the weekend of October 15-17. Our partners are most excited about the steps they'll take on Children's Sabbaths weekend that will spur listening, learning, and acting for and with children all year long.
There is still time to join us! Explore our resources to see how you can kick off a year of action with Family Suppers, a Child Watch Visitation Program, or a CDF Advocates' Book Club (ABC). We look forward to uniting with you in a faithful commitment to our children.
Our Advocacy for Children
September ushered in a new school year for many children, while across the country advocates pushed for the nation's leaders to take bold new steps to help families thrive. Here are some of the ways we advocated for children and their families this month:
New York's Children: We announced the appointment of a new Executive Director of CDF-New York, Kercena A. Dozier, who brings to the position a wide array of substantive experience fighting poverty in city and state governments, on a grassroots level, in partnership with unions, and as a staffer for CDFI's community development corporation. Learn more.
Education: As yet another COVID-19 school year began, we highlighted the supports and measures that children need to keep them safe from the virus, tend to their mental health, create a safe and inclusive school climate, provide opportunities to finish learning, and ensure that they feel safe and secure about their futures. Learn more.
Youth Voices: We shared a reflection from one of our interns on the importance of children seeing themselves represented among the literary and television characters that they love and admire. Learn more.
Racial Equity: We called on child advocates across the country to contact their members of Congress to tell them to pass President Biden's Build Back Better Act, which puts America's most marginalized children and families first and advances racial equity. Learn more.
Foster Youth: We uplifted an urgent message from one of our partners, an activist who herself spent 20 years in the foster care system, who is calling on Congress to extend the safety net that has kept foster youth from homelessness and hunger during the pandemic. Learn more.
Child Poverty: We demonstrated how new Census Bureau data confirmed two critical facts: that far too many children, especially Black and brown children, are growing up in poverty, and that policies that put economic power in the hands of families are the most effective way to ensure they thrive. Learn more.
Support our ongoing work to ensure children and families will be even stronger on the other side of this pandemic. Make a gift today>
Building Culturally Responsive Teacher Training
We also announced this month that the CDF Freedom Schools® team, under the leadership of American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellow Dr. Lauren Lefty, will create a Teacher Training Institute to build on the valuable learnings of the CDF Freedom Schools program's 25 years of servant leadership. The CDF Freedom Schools Teacher Training Institute will implement a research-based, high-quality, and multicultural education model and offer new audiences culturally relevant and inclusive training on anti-racist program operation. Learn more.
Child Watch Roundup
In a Child Watch column published this month, Marian Wright Edelman reflected on where she was when the horrific events of September 11, 2001 unfolded and how remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s wisdom in that moment, and in every moment since, gave her the resolve to carry on the struggle to build the beloved community even amid outer turmoil. Read the column.
Catch up on the rest of Marian Wright Edelman's recent Child Watch columns:
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