National

  • Child Poverty

    Over 60 Organizations Urge Congress to Include Waivers for WIC in the Next COVID-19 Relief Package

    For decades, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has delivered quality nutrition services in community-based clinical settings to improve pregnancy and birth outcomes and promote healthy child development. In order to sustain much-needed program modifications to provide services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we urge that any final legislative package that responds to the public health and economic crises include an extension of USDA waiver authority for WIC services through at least September 30, 2021.

  • Child Health

    Youth Voices: Mental Health and Me

    My hope for the future, for our nation’s children, is for there to no longer be stigma around mental health. Our future relies on the success of our children and youth. If we aren’t taking care of them now, how can we be sure they are taken care of in the future? This passion has encouraged me to start a nonprofit organization. One that provides mental health services to youth in areas where these services aren’t available. One that uplifts children of color and shows them that anything is possible. And one that may change everyone’s opinion about mental health.

    | National

  • Early Childhood

    CDF Urges Congress to Provide Adequate Funding for Child Care in the Next COVID-19 Relief Package

    The HEALS Act’s $15 billion investment would keep the system afloat for less than two months and falls far short of the at least $50 billion that is needed to stabilize the system. We urge you to provide at least $50 billion in funding for child care in the next relief package to meet the needs of child care providers, educators, and parents and to reflect the essential role child care plays in supporting our public health response now and our recovery from this crisis.

  • Child Health

    The Senate’s Proposal, the HEALS Act, Falls Far Short of Meeting the Needs of Children and Families in Crisis

    The Senate returned to work last week promising to unveil additional COVID-19 relief legislation that their Republican leadership said would focus on “making sure we take care of our kids” in the face of the unprecedented national economic and public health crisis. This week, they finally introduced their idea of relief—The HEALS Act—and it falls far short of the meeting the needs of children and families in this country.

    | National

  • Education

    CDF Joins the Call for the Department of Education to Withdraw the Rule that Would Divert More Funds to Private Schools

    We joined leading organizations to express our opposition to the Department of Education's interim final rule on "CARES Act Program; Equitable Services to Students and Teachers in Non-Public Schools" and particularly to the scenario provided that would require school districts to divert more funds to private school students in the name of the CARES Act's "equitable services" provision than is required under the law. This interim rule does not prioritize students facing the greatest barriers to education success.

  • Child Poverty

    CDF Joined Over 80 National Organizations Calling for Congress to Enact New Pandemic Relief Legislation to Reduce the Harms of the Health and Economic Crisis

    We urge Congress to enact new pandemic relief legislation that can effectively reduce the harsh scope of the health and economic crisis engulfing our nation. Congress must approve (1) cash and other assistance to prevent devastating and long-term losses to the jobless and families; (2) protections and resources to create conditions for a safe return to work; (3) state and local aid to ensure adequate health care, education, and many other essential services; and (4) Congress must protect mainstays of our democracy from being undermined by the pandemic: safe voting; the U.S. Postal Service; and the decennial Census.

  • To Honor the Life and Legacy of Congressman John Lewis, Congress Should Enact the Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Election Provisions of the HEROES Act

    To honor the life and legacy of the late Congressman John Lewis, more than 150 organizations urge Congress to enact federal legislation to safeguard the fundamental right to vote. There would be no truer tribute to Representative Lewis than for the Senate to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act (“VRAA”) – recently reintroduced as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act – and the election provisions of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (“HEROES”) Act. Enacting these critical legislative measures would protect the integrity of the November election and counter the disenfranchisement of communities of color that the nation has sadly witnessed in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s infamous Shelby County v. Holder opinion in 2013.

  • Immigration

    Nearly 800 Organizations Call On Congress to Include Immigrant Families in COVID-19 Relief Packages

    CDF joined nearly 800 organizations in urging Congress to address the exclusion of immigrant families, workers, taxpayers, and their U.S. children and spouses, from the CARES Act and other COVID-19 recovery packages passed by Congress in the next pandemic relief legislation. Immigrants have been left out of every relief package so far, even though they are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and are risking their health and safety as essential workers during the pandemic. We cannot let immigrants be excluded from relief again. If our nation wants to recover from this economic and public health crisis, we must ensure that everyone is included