Press Releases

WASHINGTON The Children's Defense Fund today announced a new senior management team to increase momentum behind the Leave No Child Behind® Movement and more effectively advance the organization's agenda. The Children's Defense Fund began to implement a series of administrative changes early this year as it launched a bold new agenda designed to protect children from the Bush Administration's budget and tax war that slashes and cuts children's protections while singling out the rich for massive new tax breaks.

Children's Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman said the organization's mission to truly Leave No Child Behind has not wavered in 30 years and that tactics and strategies must change intelligently and strategically to meet the changing realities around us.

"In this first decade of the 21st century, children face the most dangerous time since the Children's Defense Fund began," said Edelman. "We must organize, mobilize and communicate in new ways to meet new challenges. We are determined to succeed for our children's and nation's sake."

Following a 15-month strategic planning process, the Children's Defense Fund introduces Paula A. Jameson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Jameson was former Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in Washington, D.C. She has also held senior management and counsel positions at the Washington office of Arter & Hadden law firm and Dow Jones & Co. in New York. Vice President for Programs and Policy Jim Jones headed the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Vaccine Fund's Washington office and served as former Communications Director and Policy Director for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Legislative Aide to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). In the newly created position of Vice President for Field Operations and Outreach is Donna Lawrence who had served as head of the group's largest field office in New York since 1992. Reverend Dr. Joan Parrott continues as Vice President for Haley Farm Leadership Development and Spiritual Renewal a position she had held since 2000. Vice President for Development Janice Wilson was Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Maryland Public Television, and Chief Financial Officer Donna Whitt brings strong corporate and nonprofit experience from the Electronics Industry Alliance and COMSAT.

Patricia Alford Williams, former Charlotte Observer editorial writer and Director of Communications for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, heads CDF's national Communications team with former CBS and NBC producer/director Kyle Good serving as Regional and State Communications Director in CDF New York, and Toby Chaudhuri, who was Deputy Press Secretary to Al Gore's presidential campaign and a Clinton Administration political appointee, serving as National Press Secretary. Taj Brown, Wylie Chen and Adren Wilson are youth organizers who will ensure a successor generation of effective leader-advocates for children.

The Children's Defense Fund last month hosted the first meeting of all nine Democratic presidential candidates at its 30th Anniversary National Conference in Washington, where thousands of advocates from across the country gathered to ensure that children are not left behind in the Bush Administration's budget and tax war at home. President George W. Bush declined invitation to the Children's Defense Fund's April 9th Presidential Candidates Forum on Children.

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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.