The hesitancy by Black, American Indian and Latino communities stems from the long-standing distrust of the government in the distribution of equitable resources and access to quality healthcare, notwithstanding state-sanctioned violence.
On February 10, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agreed to a court order halting the Trump-era License to Discriminate rule, one day before it would have gone into effect. This rule, first introduced in November of 2019, would have rescinded regulations that provided blanket non-discrimination protections from HHS-funded programs. Without those protections, child welfare providers using taxpayer funds could have turned away eligible foster and adoptive parents simply because of their religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity and discriminated against the children they are meant to serve on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
In a guest blog post, activist Jessica Kurzban shares a Valentine’s Day call to action for the Children’s Defense Fund community. This Valentine's Day marks three years since the Parkland shooting stole 17 beautiful lives, and over eight years since 20 precious first-graders were horrifically murdered at Sandy Hook. What have we learned? What have we done? What is the promise for tomorrow?
Washington, D.C. February 10, 2021 - Thanks to a $1 million grant from The Boeing Company, the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools® program will now offer culturally responsive STEM education to students under the banner of a new initiative entitled “CDF Freedom to STEM.”
