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This historic year marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversaries of the decisive Birmingham Children’s Crusade which helped topple Jim Crow laws, the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Medgar Evers, and the March on Washington. At the March, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared not only his dream but reminded us of our nation’s unfulfilled promissory note CDF still struggles to cash for millions of our children and our poor in America. CDF is the child of these transformative historic struggles for civil rights and economic and social justice. As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, a major inflection year in CDF’s and in our nation’s history, your generous support and active partnership is needed more than ever to pursue justice for children and the poor with urgency and persistence. Join us on September 30th at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. to mark all we have accomplished since these historic events and all the work that remains to be done. Individual tickets and sponsorship packages are now available for purchase online.
The evening will honor former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been with us from the beginning as a law student and intern at CDF’s parent organization, the Washington Research Project; as a CDF staff attorney when we began; and as a long serving board member and then board chair until she became First Lady. We also will be celebrating CDF’s role as a leadership incubator over the years by highlighting CDF Freedom Schools® children, Beat the Odds® scholarship recipients, interns, and former staff who are making a huge difference in the lives of countless children across our nation. This will be an evening to remember! Secure your seat today. If you can’t attend, please donate as generously as you can to our 40th Anniversary Changing the Odds for Children Campaign. New Report: Protect Children Not Guns 2013
CDF Freedom Schools® Scholars: Making a Difference! The CDF Freedom Schools program wrapped up another amazing summer, empowering and inspiring more than 11,000 children with a love for reading and learning. This year’s National Day of Social Action put the spotlight on gun violence prevention. On July 10th, Freedom Schools children in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Ohio held rallies. Other Freedom Schools children wrote letters to the President, their senators and representative, asking them to protect children, not guns. The children shared their personal heart-wrenching, often gun violence-filled stories. One young scholar wrote to President Obama, “I myself have grown up around guns my whole life. I have lost 7 friends from violence and guns. … Gun violence is a real problem that I have dealt with every day of my life. 7 people are too many to lose and I don’t want to see another one of my friends, or even myself gone. We need a change.”
In Los Angeles County, Freedom Schools transformed two juvenile probation camps in La Verne and Malibu. According to an article this week in the L.A. Times, “The results startled officials: Suspensions from classes and other disciplinary actions plunged by 93% at Camp Afflerbaugh during the five-week program, which concluded last week. Lemar Ruffin, a probation officer who took the 10-day training in Tennessee and has become one of the program’s biggest fans, said there used to be daily fights—16 one day—but not one scuffle occurred during the morning Harambee. ‘Nobody thought it would work,’ Ruffin said, but instead they had ‘kids from every gang high-fiving each other.’” Seeing is believing, watch this video from L.A. County Commission Mark Ridley-Thomas’ website! Introducing the CDF Nashville Team
Since January, we have had a new team working in Nashville, Tennessee organizing in and around the city to dismantle the Cradle to Prison Pipeline™ and confront zero tolerance school discipline policies that are criminalizing children at younger and younger ages. The CDF Nashville Team is headed by the Rev. Janet Wolf, a seasoned veteran in nonviolent struggle and a Great Preacher at this year’s Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy Ministry. Her young team ‘gets it’ when it comes to the prison pipeline, as they have seen firsthand their friends and family locked up or been locked up themselves, as in the case of Ndume Olatushani who spent 27 years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. We’re thrilled to have them furthering our mission in Nashville. Starting tomorrow, they will be leading a citywide Children’s Sabbath weekend to talk and take action to reduce gun violence. They will work in the schools, then hold a prayer vigil and press conference on Friday, followed by a weekend of interfaith Children’s Sabbath services in the theme, “Beating Swords Into Plowshares: Ending the Violence of Guns and Poverty”. New Resources Available for the Children’s Sabbaths
We are pleased to provide congregations planning a National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths® celebration with a variety of resources This year’s flagship celebration will be held at the Washington National Cathedral on Sunday, October 20th, as CDF President Marian Wright Edelman joins Cathedral Dean Gary Hall to hold up the prophet Micah's vision where our children are free from the violence of weapons and poverty and the people ‘beat their swords into plowshares.’ If you are in the Washington, DC area, save the date and plan to join us. Otherwise, please start planning your own Children’s Sabbath today! Our Spirits are Rested and Ready
The weekend before our 19th Annual Proctor Institute began at CDF’s Haley Farm, the verdict for the George Zimmerman trail was announced. Our week together was filled with emotion. The Rev. Dr. Leslie Callahan, the Institute’s opening night Great Preacher, offered the story of the Good Samaritan as an example of how a ‘Neighborhood Watch’ should be conducted and the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss Jr., veteran civil rights leader, led us on a journey to find strength, endurance, character, and hope out of struggle. For inspiration for the road ahead, watch their videos. They were joined by a host of other great teachers, preachers, and workshop facilitators, including the Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., who led a three-day workshop on nonviolent organizing, preached, and gave a plenary address. Participants, including over 200 young adult leaders, took action throughout the week, calling their members of Congress to demand they ‘Protect Children, Not Guns’ and invest in early childhood development and education to beat back the violence of guns and poverty our children endure. Check out a photo album from the week on our Facebook page. By the end of the week our spirits were renewed, and participants gained new skills, and the truth and inspiration needed to push forward the movement. Bravo to CDF-Ohio interns and Freedom Schools servant leader interns who organized a community youth-violence forum for about 500 people last night in Columbus, OH! The event titled “Who Killed Trayvon Martin?” featured a panel discussion from community leaders and activists dealing with issues of race, gun violence, the need to dismantle the Cradle to Prison Pipeline™ and replace it with a pipeline to success and opportunity, and the need for sustained action. Read the article in the Columbus Dispatch or watch local news coverage of the event featuring interviews with the youth. Budget battles are once again heating up on Capitol Hill just as Congress prepares to head home for its August recess. When members return on September 10th, there will be only nine scheduled legislative days before the current continuing resolution (CR), which funds government programs, expires on September 30th at the end of the fiscal year, If Congress has not agreed on a budget for FY 2014 by then, government funding runs out and the government could shut down. There continues to be much debate over the level of spending for FY 2014. There are questions to be resolved about whether or not sequestration cuts will continue and for how long, and whether another CR will be approved for fiscal year 2014, and at what levels. Threats to child investments are very real. |
Did
you know the National Rifle Association and its allies have worked relentlessly
to block the truth about guns and to prevent the enforcement of gun safety
laws? Find out how in our new report, 
