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In This Edition of CDF Action Council's Monthly eNewsletter: >> Election Day Resources |
Ensure a Healthy Future for All Children—Vote!
Over the last two months, thousands of child advocates like you have joined with CDF in sending nearly 20,000 emails and letters to your congressional candidates. We can't thank you enough for stepping up and speaking out for children at this critical time and urging your candidates to sign the CDF Action Council® Pledge and support health coverage for all children. You've let them know that this crucial issue is important to you and is a condition of your vote on Nov. 4. You are proving that the nation's problem of uninsured children is solvable if we all do our part. Visit our website to see if your candidate signed our pledge.
Election Day is only a few days away and becoming familiar with your candidates' records on protecting children and then voting accordingly is the first step to improving the lives of children and improving the lives of all of us. Record voter turn-out is predicted this Election Day, so to ensure you have a successful Nov. 4, follow these easy steps:
1. Confirm if you are registered to vote.
2. Find your polling place.
3. Learn more about your candidates' records on protecting children.
4. Go vote!
We can't thank you enough for the actions you've taken over the past few months on behalf of America's children, but our fight won't stop when the elections are over. With your financial support, CDF Action Council is prepared to stand even stronger and fight even harder on behalf of our nation's children when the new administration and Congress take office.
The CDF Action Council is a voice for children who cannot vote, lobby or speak for themselves. From advocating for policies and programs that ensure children a quality education, to securing health coverage for millions of children in poverty, everything we accomplish depends on the generosity of people like you.
CDF President Marian Wright Edelman's Book Tour
Since her book release in late September, CDF President Marian Wright Edelman has been travelling around the country speaking at colleges, in communities, and on TV and radio about her new book, The Sea Is So Wide and My Boat Is So Small: Charting a Course for the Next Generation, a call to action for all Americans to address the urgent needs of our country's youth. The book is a series of letters to a variety of audiences that reflects on the social and economic progress as well as the setbacks since Dr. King's death 40 years ago. Mrs. Edelman challenges each audience to step up and take action at this pivotal moment to ensure a level playing field for the next generation.
Find out where Mrs. Edelman will be speaking next. And view videos of her recent speaking engagements:
- Interview with Democracy Now's Amy Goodman
- Interview with CNN's Kiran Chetry
- Interview with Tavis Smiley
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The Politico's "The Arena" |
It's That Time… Holiday Cards Are Here!
The holiday season will be here before you know it and instead of searching through a crowded mall to find holiday cards, why not visit CDF's webstore instead? You can quickly and easily complete your holiday card shopping and support CDF at the same time by purchasing CDF's colorful holiday cards in our online store. These cards are a great way to wish your friends and family a happy holiday while encouraging them to join you in keeping the interests of all children in their thoughts this holiday season. While making your holiday card purchase, help give a voice to all children by adding a donation to CDF.
CDF Celebrates 35th Anniversary with Gala at Kennedy Center
Earlier this month, friends of CDF from across the country came together to celebrate our accomplishments and rededicate our efforts to ensure a brighter future for America's children at CDF's 35th Anniversary Gala at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The event included remarks by hosts Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, actress Jurnee Smollett, ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, editor emerita of Essence magazine Susan L. Taylor, actress and comedienne Ali Wentworth, singer and actress Holly Robinson Peete and a special video tribute from actor Sidney Poitier. Performers included renowned teenaged pianist Peng-Peng Gong, Broadway Kids, singer N'Kenge, Grammy® Award-winning a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Impact Repertory Theatre.
In this month's Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, Karen Lashman, CDF's Vice President of Policy, urged the next administration to make a concerted effort to help the 13.3 million children in America living in poverty. As the country's economic downturn makes national headlines, she points out that this critical issue may fade from the spotlight. On behalf of CDF, Lashman calls on the new administration and Congress to address child poverty by taking specific steps to ease the burden on children and working families, noting that poverty's dire effects during childhood and into adulthood adversely affect and generate significant costs to all of us.
For more information about CDF's priority to end child poverty, visit our website.
November is National Adoption Month and November 15 is National Adoption Day—a nationwide effort to raise awareness of the 129,000 children in foster care waiting to find permanent and loving families. Throughout the country on National Adoption Day, hundreds of events will be held to finalize and celebrate the adoption of children in foster care. For the last eight years, National Adoption Day has made the dream of finding permanent homes come true for thousands of children—20,000 children have been adopted from foster care on this day. Finding permanent and loving homes for children in foster care is essential to improving the lives of our nation’s children.
To find National Adoption Day activities in your community, visit the National Adoption Day website.
Foster Care Act Signed into Law
Earlier this month, President Bush signed into law the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, which will give help to hundreds of thousands of children in foster care and others at risk of entering foster care.The Act will help find permanent families for many of these children through adoption or relative guardianship and ensure that more siblings can stay together while in foster care, with relatives or in adoptive families. CDF applauds the President and Congress for stepping forward to improve the lives of our nation's children and offering vulnerable children meaningful family connections and other support. These improvements for children in foster care, when implemented, will help prevent many of these youth from being funneled into the Cradle to Prison Pipeline. For details on the new law, visit our website.
Event: Juvenile Justice Priorities for the New Administration
On November 6, just two days after the 2008 presidential Eelection, CDF is cosponsoring a Town Hall meeting with the American Bar Association's Juvenile Justice Committee of the Criminal Justice Section. The meeting will focus on juvenile justice priorities for the new administration with representatives from the incoming administration and other lawmakers at the Georgetown Law School Gewirz Student Center in Washington, D.C. The meeting, moderated by Committee Co-Chair Professor Charles Ogletree from Harvard Law School, will bring together a diverse panel of leaders in the juvenile justice community to discuss the pressing concerns facing our nation's juvenile justice systems and steps the new administration should take to address them. If you would like to RSVP for the meeting, please contact Chris Gowen at gowenc@staff.abanet.org.
