|
|
Stoneman Douglas Tragedy Demands Action | February 2018
|
The Good News
On February 9th President Trump
signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act. The bill offers historic and critical steps forward for vulnerable children,
families, and communities including the bipartisan Family
First Prevention Services Act (Family First).This long time priority of CDF’s introduces
long-overdue, historic funding reform, increasing the child welfare system’s
focus on helping children at risk of foster care remain safely with their
families. For decades, the majority of federal child welfare funds have
only been available for children removed from their families and placed in
foster care. Beginning October 1, 2019, federal funds will be available
for preventive services, along with other changes in federal funding to ensure
children in foster care are placed in family foster care, rather than
inappropriate group care settings. Family First provides guaranteed
federal funding for substance abuse and mental health prevention and treatment
and services to improve parenting skills to help keep children safely with
their families and avoid the traumatic experience of foster care. Learn
more about the law’s other improvements for vulnerable children and youth.
|
|
|
Are You Registered to Vote?
“Democracy is not a spectator sport…It is a moral
imperative for each one of us to register and vote in our local, state, and
national elections this year — and every year.”
Marian Wright Edelman
In a democratic society, whether we like what our political
leaders are doing or not, we must make our opinions clear through our voices and
our votes. We cannot accomplish positive change by staying home. Your local,
state and national elections are closer than you may think. Now is the time to register
to vote, request an absentee ballot, and/or update an address.
Go to cdf.turbovote.org
to check/update your voter registration. It’s easy.
Remember, children cannot vote, but you can and
must raise children’s voices at the ballot box. Register to
vote today or check your voter registration status. Share this link and
encourage your friends and family to do the same.
|
|
Welcome Home!
Welcome home! Every July hundreds of child
advocates from across the country hear these words as they gather at the annual Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy
Ministry (The Proctor Institute). They come to build skills and share
success stories in dismantling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline®, ending child
poverty, and improving the lives of children in their communities. The Proctor
Institute is far more than a “conference;” it is an experience of Beloved Community
– an intergenerational, interracial, ecumenical gathering
of people committed to putting their faith into action.
Register
now and join us for CDF’s Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy Ministry,
“Realizing Dr. King’s Vision for Every Child: Ending Child Poverty,” as we
renew our spirits, refocus our vision, and strengthen the movement
for all children in America! Whether you are a first-timer, regular
attendee, or alum returning after time away, we are eager to welcome you home
to CDF Haley Farm
in Clinton Tennessee, this July 16-20, 2018, for an unforgettable week of
preaching, teaching, workshops, singing, strategizing and building the movement
for children.
|
|
Change the Odds for Children in Minnesota
On March 8, 2018, the Children's Defense Fund-Minnesota will
host its 26th Annual Beat the Odds® Awards Celebration
at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Join the CDF-Minnesota
to honor five Twin Cities-area high school youths in recognition of their
academic achievement while raising awareness around the need for continued
investment and advocacy in support of children. Congratulations to Ben Gardner,
Zarina Sementelli, Amarya Ward West, Misky Salad and Early Caruso.
Tickets are still available. Learn more
about the event and the ways to support
the program in Minnesota.
Since 1995, the Beat the
Odds scholarship and servant leadership program has supported hundreds of
youths across the country. CDF holds awards events in California,
Ohio, Texas, New York, and Washington,
D.C. not only to celebrate the scholarship recipients, but to inspire
community leaders and citizens to help all children who are struggling to
overcome adversity.
|
|
CDF State Office Highlights
Early
in February Children’s Defense Fund-New York joined the “Black Lives Matter
Week of Action in our Schools” by planning and participating in a workshop
about the state of restorative justice in city schools (photo above). During
the week of actions, students, educators and allies across the country
organized to raise awareness around three core demands: ending “zero tolerance”
disciplinary policies and focusing on the implementation of restorative
justice; hiring more Black teachers; and instituting a mandate that K-12
schools teach Black history and ethnic studies.
And in California, Children’s Defense Fund-California joins a coalition of partners
urging state legislators and Governor Jerry Brown to pass SB 607. The
legislative proposal, if it becomes law, would significantly increase
instructional time for students who would otherwise be suspended or expelled
from school for “disruption” or “defiance—a broad and highly subjective
catch-all category covering a wide range of minor misbehavior. “When we remove
students from the classroom for low-level misbehavior that is part of youth
development, we eliminate the opportunity for both students and educators
to build a stronger classroom community, learn about one another, and to
receive support that would address the root cause of the conflict,” said Angelica Salazar,
director of education equity for the Los Angeles-based Children’s Defense Fund. “Study after study has shown
that a reliance on suspensions to change student behavior doesn’t work.”
In Ohio, Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio continues
its work on ensuring children are accounted in the upcoming 2020 Census. In
February, CDF-Ohio with partners launched the Ohio Census Table – a
cross-sector collaboration of organizations and individuals working to advocate
for policies and resources and engage Ohioans to achieve a fair and
accurate 2020 Census in Ohio. Data matters. Local and state
governments, community leaders and non-profit organizations, use Census data to
assess and allocate its resources providing critical programs and services to
the most vulnerable populations, including children and older adults.
And in Minnesota, Children’s Defense Fund- Minnesota is
working with others to strengthen the existing Child Care Assistance Program
that provides early childhood learning and development opportunities to 30,000
children in the state.
|
|
|
|
|
|