On May 27th, over 2,000 college students, teachers, and probation gathered at CDF Haley Farm and the Knoxville Convention Center in Tennessee to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of our CDF Freedom Schools Ella Baker Child Policy Institute. Proudly drawing on the traditions of the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, the intense, week-long training provides new and returning Servant Leader Interns and Site Coordinators with everything they need to run a successful CDF Freedom Schools site back in their community. Participants engaged in a wide array of workshops and trainings around the Integrated Reading Curriculum, a proven educational model that exposes children to books, images, ideas, and activities relevant to who they are. In the evening, the young leaders had the opportunity to hear rousing speeches from some of the most influential change-makers of our time - including Marian Wright Edelman, Alex Johnson, Bryan Stevenson, David Johns, Rev. Dr. William Barber, II, Janine Bacquie, and Terrell Strayhorn. By the end of the week, we were all ready to return to our communities and build strong, literate, and empowered children prepared to make a difference in themselves, their families, communities, nation, and world today.
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