CDF Newsletter (August 2008)

Thousands of Youth Mobilize to Support Health Coverage for

All

Children

Adults on Capitol Hill continue to debate health reform. Meanwhile, thousands of children stepped up and took the message that children need health coverage now to their communities and Members of Congress. As part of the CDF Freedom Schools^® National Day of Social Action, CDF Freedom Schools young scholars in 24 states and 61 cities did their part to raise awareness and demand comprehensive health coverage for every child by writing letters to and visiting elected officials, joining together for marches and rallies, and leading awareness activities.

View the slideshow of photos from activities across the country.

One in eight children is uninsured but we can change that and improve the future of our children's communities, and country, if we join these children in demanding that every child has access to affordable and comprehensive health coverage. Be a voice for children's health coverage now—raise awareness in your community! We have several tools to help you in your efforts:

CDF Celebrates 35th Anniversary with Gala at Kennedy Center

On October 6, 2008, friends of the Children's Defense Fund from across the country and from all walks of life will come together to celebrate our accomplishments and rededicate our efforts to ensure a brighter future for America's children. The 35th Anniversary Gala will be held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and will include celebrity hosts Malaak Compton-Rock, Jessye Norman, Sidney Poitier, Jurnee Smollett, George Stephanopoulos, Susan Taylor and Ali Wentworth.

Limited number of hotel rooms available. Make your reservations now! Please consider supporting the gala by becoming a sponsor.

New Book Out This Fall from CDF President Marian Wright Edelman

CDF President and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Measure of Our Success, Marian Wright Edelman, will release her new book, The Sea Is So Wide and My Boat Is So Small: Charting a Course for the Next Generation, on September 23, 2008. Mrs. Edelman's new book will be a look at what's been done and what still needs to be done to make our world safe and fair for all children. The Sea Is So Wide and My Boast Is So Small

Praise for Mrs. Edelman's new book:
"This book answers so many questions about the future of our children. Thank you Marian Wright Edelman for writing such an enjoyable, significant benchmark!" —Bill Cosby

Booklist review: "An inspirational and practical perspective on ameliorating childhood poverty"

Sign up to receive an email notification when the book is available for purchase.

CDF Opens Montana Office and Announces "Bridge to Benefits" Project

With a significant number of children and families in Montana facing poverty, lack of health coverage and inadequate child care, CDF is seizing an opportunity to have a positive presence in the state and has opened an office to strengthen the voice of the state's children and families on issues that affect their well-being. CDF-Montana, in conjunction with the CDF Action Council, a 501 (c)(4) organization, is supporting the Healthy Montana Kids Initiative (I-155), which will provide health coverage for 30,000 Montana children now living without it. With an office in Montana, CDF will be making a long-term commitment to enhancing the future well-being of the state's children, their families and their communities.

CDF-Montana has also launched, with Great Falls-based Rural Dynamics, Inc., "Bridge to Benefits," a web-based project to help connect eligible working families across Montana with work support benefits, such as energy assistance, health care, child care assistance, food support, school meals and the Earned Income Tax Credit. This valuable tool will improve the economic situations of thousands of Montana children and their families and help stabilize the state's economy and work force.

Cradle to Prison Pipeline^® Ohio Summit Coming in September

Join CDF-Ohio on September 5, 2008, for the Cradle to Prison Pipeline Ohio Summit. Every year, tens of thousands of poor children are funneled into the prison Pipeline and down life paths that often lead to arrest, conviction, incarceration and even death. In Ohio, there were 41,082 juvenile arrests in 2005.The architecture of this pipeline comprises a complex set of factors that includes poverty, race, lack of quality early childhood education, low-performing schools, lack of access to health and mental health care, broken child welfare and juvenile justice systems, struggling families and depressed communities, and a toxic youth culture.

Learn more and join us as we develop powerful strategies to dismantle the Pipeline.

U.S. Conference of Mayors Adopts Cradle to Prison Pipeline^®Resolution

Last month at its 76th Annual Conference in Miami, Florida, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCOM) adopted a Cradle to Prison Pipeline Resolution. The resolution, sponsored by USCOM President Douglas H. Palmer, Mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, serves as a powerful signal to Congress and the Administration of the strong public demand across our country to prevent and divert youth from the "Pipeline to prison" —a trajectory that too often leads to marginalized lives, imprisonment and even premature death. The USCOM acknowledged that unless our nation changes course, this Pipeline to prison will reverse decades of hard-earned progress towards racial equality and social progress.

The principles outlined in the resolution are consistent with CDF's national call to action to reverse the impact of child poverty and racial disparities in all our child-serving systems, especially in child health and mental health, child welfare, juvenile justice, early childhood development and education. With the adoption of the Cradle to Prison Pipeline Resolution, we are one step closer to improving the lives of children, and therefore, improving the lives of us all.