Posts by Ben Dawson

  • More Lessons in Leadership

    Every time there is a new debate over political leadership it is worth returning to the examples we want to see.

  • Service Announcements

    Children’s Defense Fund Board Chair Laphonza Butler to be Appointed to California’s Vacant Senate Seat After Passing of Dianne Feinstein

    “While we join the nation in mourning this loss, Children’s Defense Fund is uplifted by the appointment of our Board Chair, Laphonza Butler, to the United States Senate. A stalwart and dedicated Board member for more than 10 years, Laphonza has shown a deep commitment to improving outcomes for America’s children and youth. The Laphonza Butler we have worked closely with in CDF’s governance, is a brilliant strategist, caring parent, and strong advocate who will surely work in young people’s interests on Capitol Hill. This is a win for California’s children and families during this crucial time in the United States Senate and American politics.”

    | National

  • Child Poverty

    A Measure of Leadership

    As some members of Congress showed they were willing to bring the federal government to the brink of a shutdown, with demands that include deep cuts to services children and families rely on, once again some people have accused them of acting like children. Yet even five-year-olds understand that quitting the game and taking the ball home if the other players won’t give you your way is wrong.

  • Nurturing Children with a Heart for Justice

    “If we treat people with different skin tones, languages, sexualities, genders, as bad or less than, our children will. If we wall ourselves off, hem ourselves into homogenous circles, our children will see those unlike themselves as ‘other.’ But, if we seek out or create diverse community, an inclusive circle of chosen family or ‘kin,’ that’s how our children will regard them."

  • Child Poverty

    Children’s Group Letter on Tax and Budget Priorities

    As a group of advocacy organizations specifically focused on child well-being, we the undersigned have grave concerns that the actions of extreme factions within Congress will cause undue harm in the near-term and well into the future for children and families with the lowest incomes.

    | National

  • Four Little Girls

    Sixty years ago, on September 15, 1963, four little girls were changing into choir robes and chatting in a church restroom as they prepared for the Youth Sunday services being held that morning at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Instead, at 10:22 a.m., a bundle of dynamite that white supremacists had hidden under the church steps exploded.