National

  • Honoring Juneteenth

    In 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law the bill that had been passed by unanimous consent in the Senate and 415-14 in the House to establish Juneteenth National Independence Day, June 19, as a federal holiday.

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  • Child Poverty

    Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson's Budget Reconciliation Letter

    The House-passed budget reconciliation package poses a grave threat to making that vision a reality. So, we are calling on you and your colleagues in the Senate to consider and pass a package that centers the needs of children and families.

  • Keeping the Charge

    On June 6, Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) celebrates Founder’s Day. This date was chosen to honor the birthday of our founder and president emerita, Marian Wright Edelman.

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  • Gun Violence

    Gun Violence Awareness Day

    The day after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was running for President, appeared at a Cleveland event and said instead of talking about politics he had to speak about the “mindless menace of violence in America which again stains our land and every one of our lives.”

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  • Early Childhood

    Sixty Years of Head Start

    Head Start began as an eight-week summer program; it has since served nearly 40 million children and families across the United States. But today, like other basic needs programs millions of children, young people, and families rely on, Head Start has been under attack.

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  • Education

    Advice for Young Graduates

    During this season I like to share some of the lessons for life I offered my own children and many of the extraordinary young graduates I’ve had the privilege of meeting over the years.

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  • Child Poverty

    Be Careful What You Cut

    Some years ago, the award-winning agency Fallon Worldwide created a series of ads for a pro bono Children’s Defense Fund campaign called “Be Careful What You Cut” that warned sharply against budget choices threatening programs on which children and families rely.

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