WASHINGTON, D.C. Children's Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman has announced plans to engage in a major mobilization effort for the Nov. 2 elections, targeting voters committed to their faiths and to justice for children and the poor. She kicked off the campaign with rousing sermons Sunday to thousands of worshipers gathered at Riverside Church in New York City and St. Matthew African Methodist Episcopal Church in Orange, N.J.—a message she will take around the country to help children, the poorest age group in the richest nation on earth. Edelman said the Bush Administration co-opted CDF's trademarked words "Leave No Child Behind" and has used a variation of them over and over again to cover up unjust budget and tax policies that hurt children. Her sermon was entitled, "A Nation and Century Defining Time: Where Is America Going?" "Our nation's moral compass needs resetting," said Edelman. "If you believe it's all right for our leaders to impose budget cuts on poor children in order to give massive tax breaks and subsidies to millionaires and powerful corporations, then stay home and don't vote. There are some big weasels eating away at America's Constitution and eating away at America's professed values of freedom and justice. Unless we name them and challenge them, they will destroy our nation's soul and our children's future." Child poverty has increased in each of the last three years. Half the states have reduced coverage or benefits, or increased cost sharing, for children in Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The painful reality today is an economy with about 1 million fewer jobs, declining wages, and more than $7 trillion of debt for our nation's children and grandchildren to pay off. The Children's Defense Fund responded by registering more than 25,000 new voters around the nation and setting up a central command unit to mobilize people concerned about these trends in the weeks leading up to the election. The unit will turn out these new voters in November and contact more than 40,000 faith leaders this week to make sure that millions of other voters take their children with them to the polls in this crucial election. Sunday's services in New York and New Jersey were special early National Observance of Children's Sabbaths® services, an annual ecumenical event sponsored by the Children's Defense Fund and endorsed by more than 150 denominations and faith networks. On the weekend of Oct. 15, 16 and 17, thousands of faith-based organizations nationwide, including churches, synagogues and mosques, will hold their annual Children's Sabbaths by educating themselves about the needs of children and focusing on the importance of adults voting for children who cannot vote for themselves. Edelman is visiting targeted areas across the country almost every day until the election—particularly areas with large populations of historically under-represented people—to deliver sermons and mobilize voters. She also has announced that thousands of faith leaders and members of faith-based communities will gather at a non-partisan Interfaith Service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Oct. 28, before congregations hold their final pre-election worship services. We face a time of critical choices and the recognition that America has strayed from its founding spiritual, moral and democratic principles, Edelman said. "Politics and political involvement dictated by faith are not the sole province of any group. This mobilization effort is driven by the principles of justice," she said, "and it seeks the common good, truth in dialogue and motives, promotion of unity and inclusion, care for the poor and protection of the vulnerable." # # # The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. We have never taken government funds. © 2005 Children's Defense Fund | Contact Us |
|
|
|||