Early Childhood
National
-
-
Child Poverty
CDF Urges Congress to Address the Housing Affordability Crisis and its Devastating Impact on Children
CDF urges Congress to prioritize robust investments within the Build Back Better Act for housing vouchers, public housing, and the national Housing Trust Fund (HTF) because these vital housing programs most directly meet the needs of the poorest and most marginalized children and youth in our country.
-
Child Welfare
This Month, Act to Fund Care Not Cages
Continued reliance on institutional placements puts our nation’s children—especially Black children—at risk of lasting harm to their health, development, and well-being. Congress must prioritize effective community-led, family-focused, youth-centered programs to ensure young people have the resources and supports they need to thrive within their families and communities.
| National -
-
Youth Justice
CDF-NY Pushes for Criminal Record Sealing This Month
Criminal convictions create life-long barriers to employment, housing, and education that directly impact the conditions for children and families. Clean Slate is a crucial step toward racial and economic justice, addressing some of the deep racial disparities that are evident at every stage of the criminal legal system, and providing pathways to more full participation in our neighborhoods and communities, which is essential to the well-being of children, youth, and families.
| National -
Child Poverty
CDF Joins Call to Extend USDA's Nationwide Waiver Authority to Ensure Child Nutrition Programs Can Continue to Operate
USDA's authority to provide a nationwide waiver, even if it increases program costs, is set to expire on September 30, 2021. We, the undersigned organizations, ask Congress to extend USDA’s nationwide waiver authority to September 30, 2022 to ensure they have the flexibility needed to respond to the pandemic and ensure that the federal child nutrition programs continue to operate and provide healthy snacks and meals to the students who need them.
-
Child Poverty
CDF and Nearly 800 Organizations Urge Congress to Include Essential Anti-Hunger and Anti-Poverty Provisions in the Build Back Better Reconciliation Bill
We urge Congress to protect the size and scope of the package and the critical investments that will reduce food insecurity, poverty, and racial disparities and improve nutrition in this country.
-
Early Childhood
The Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools® Program and Teach For America Partner to Provide Unique Professional Development Opportunity for Black Educators
| National -
Still Reconstructing
| National -
Child Poverty
Work Requirements Would Undermine the CTC's Impacts on Racial and Economic Justice
We know that more than half of Black and Latino children were previously excluded from the CTC because their families did not make enough money to qualify, and re-imposing this racist policy could exclude millions of children of color and reverse the gains our nation has made thus far. As Congress works through the Build Back Better reconciliation package, the CTC should be strengthened to reach every child, not weakened by cuts or undermined with work requirements.
| National