Skip to Navigation | Skip to Content | Home | En Espanol | Sitemap | Online Store | Donate
Log In

Children's Defense Fund

Children's Defense Fund

Leading the U.S. since 1973 to ensure a level playing field for all children

  • How CDF Helps America's Children
  • Children's Health
  • Ending Child Poverty
  • Child Welfare
  • Early Childhood Education & Child Care
  • Elementary & High School Education
  • Juvenile Justice
  • Youth Development & Leadership Training
    • Beat the Odds® Program
    • Young Advocate Leadership Training Program
    • YLNC Virtual Community
    • CDF SHOUT® Program
    • CDF SPROUT® Program
    • Joshua & Deborah Generation Program
    • Internship Program
    • CDF Freedom Schools® Program
  • CDF Freedom Schools® Program
  • Cradle to Prison Pipeline® Campaign
  • Special Projects for Children in Need

Get Involved

  • Donate Now
  • Find Events
  • Take Action

Get Email Updates
Enter your email address to get updates from CDF

   Please leave this field empty
Find CDF in your state
Priorities for America's Children. Priorities for Congress to Ensure the Future of Every Child.

Read more facts

Donate

Improve the Lives of Children

With your support today, together we can improve the lives of children which improves the lives of all of us.

Donate Today!

Increase Text SizeDecrease Text SizeUse the buttons to the left to change the text size Print this Page

Action Alert

Secure the Future - Invest in Every Child

In the richest nation on earth, 9 million children are without health coverage and more than 13 million live in poverty. We must demand that our leaders commit to helping children as a condition of our vote.

Take Action Now!

Stories

Randa

Randa, was 18 when she arrived in the U.S. alone from Yemen. Despite several hurdles, she took classes at night and on weekends to graduate from Lee high school in 3 years. Read more

Stories

Feefelobari

Feefelobari is a Nigerian civil war refugee. With perseverance and determination she is thriving, graduating in the top 5% of her class and contributing extensive community service. Read more

Stories

Rudy

Rudy was born in the U.S. but grew up in Mexico where he attended a very poor school that provided next to no education. Rudy compensated by reading huge amounts of information independently to teach himself years' worth of material in less than one month. Read more

Stories

Yahir

Yahir has overcome the trauma and personal insecurity of coping with a physical handicap. Read more

Stories

Paul

Paul lives with a significant learning disability that he has struggled to overcome through hard work and sheer determination. Read more

Stories

Rebecca Parish

Most children grow up being taken care of by their parents, but for Rebecca, it’s been the other way around. Read more

Stories

Nakea Paige

Nakea Paige went from being an angry, insecure child to a self determined, well-educated, beautiful young woman. Read more

Stories

Michael Roberts

When Michael left school each afternoon, he often didn’t know where he was going to sleep that night. Despite the difficult home environment, Michael has excelled both in the classroom and as a top athlete. Read more

Stories

Nathan Cabrera

Nathan Cabrera has never really had a childhood—he’s had to be mature and responsible almost his entire life. Read more

Stories

Kapria Lee

Kapria Lee says that her life has taught her that nothing is impossible. Read more

Recent Photos

2009 Beat the Odds® Los Angeles Awards Dinner

 

More Photos

Recent Videos

Harambee
Vietnamese Initiatives in Economic Training (VIET) CDF Freedom Schools® site (Harambee)

 

More Videos

Related Programs

  • CDF SPROUT® Program
  • CDF SHOUT® Program
  • New Leaders: Joshua & Deborah Generation Program
  • Beat the Odds® Program
  • CDF Freedom Schools® Program
  • Internship Program

Youth Development & Leadership Training

Policy in action is a distinguishing CDF characteristic. Through nationwide initiatives and community-based programs, we plant the seeds to develop the next generation of servant-leaders who will continue to reweave the fabric of community for children and youth. Our vision is to create a successor generation of servant-leaders who will drive community and national transformations and inspire and make long-term improvements for children.

Are You Looking for an Exciting and Meaningful Internship?

CDF offers internships in its national and state offices in a variety of areas including policy, communications, finance, and CDF's Freedom Schools® program. Interns are essential to CDF's operations and previous CDF interns have gone on to lead national and international organizations, be elected to federal and municipal government, found and run nonprofits and change the lives of children in amazing ways.

Learn more about CDF's internship program and apply today!

CDF Trains Young Adults in Community Organizing

YALT program

In March 2009, young adults from across the country attended the 2009 Young Advocate Leadership Training (YALT®) program at CDF Haley Farm. The training focused on organizing communities and campuses around health care reform in 2009, especially health care reform for children. Participants developed their own customized action plans to organize a variety of activities to support health reform such as meeting with elected officials, letter writing campaigns, petition drives, rallies and collecting personal stories to deliver to elected officials. Learn more about the YALT program.

Join Other New Leaders at This Year's Proctor Institute

CDF's Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy Ministry invites the next generation of religious leaders to step forward for children as the New Leaders of the Joshua and Deborah Generation and continue the mission of building the blessed community through the vocations of ministry and child advocacy. Learn more about the Joshua and Deborah Generation track at the Proctor Institute and how you can apply.

CDF's National Office Beat the Odds Awards Dinner 2009 

On November 10, CDF hosted its annual Beat the Odds awards dinner in Washington, D.C. to recognize five extraordinary high school seniors who have overcome major obstacles to succeed in school and in life. Each student received a college scholarship, clothing from Macy's and a laptop computer. Learn more about the scholarship recipients and about the Beat the Odds program. 


News

  • 06/09/09
    Tuition-free literacy, enrichment program to launch next week
    The Journal Record
  • 05/15/09
    Marian Wright Edelman Visits Tacolcy
    South Florida Times
  • 05/12/09
    ‘No Free Lunch,’ Millsaps Grads Told
    Jackson Clarion Ledger
  • 05/01/09
    Health Care For All Children Now
    The Davidsonian Online
  • 02/24/09
    Fighting for Needy Kids
    Press-Telegram
  • 02/08/09
    Advocate Marian Wright Edelman Fights for Children
    The Tennessean
  • 02/06/09
    High School Students Volunteer To Do Taxes
    KRGV
  • Read More News

Research & Publications

  • Marian Wright Edelman's Child Watch® Column: "Remembering Howard Zinn"
  • Marian Wright Edelman's Child Watch® Column: "SNCC, Fifty Years Later"
  • Marian Wright Edelman's Child Watch® Column: "Beating the Odds in Tough Times"
  • Marian Wright Edelman's Child Watch® Column: "Empowering the Next Generation Through the CDF Freedom Schools® Program"
  • HBCU Student Government Association Symposium for Children Overview
  • Marian Wright Edelman's Child Watch® Column: "Celebrating Young People Who Beat the Odds"
  • Marian Wright Edelman's Child Watch® Column: "Beating the Odds—Something to Cheer About"
  • More Publications

Resources

  • Ella Baker Center
  • Girls Incorporated
  • Los Angeles Leadership Academy
  • School of Unity and Liberation
  • More Resources

The Children's Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective and independent voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investments before they get sick, drop out of school, get into trouble or suffer family breakdown. Read more...

© 2009, Children's Defense Fund. All Rights Reserved.
25 E Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001 | 800-CDF-1200 | cdfinfo@childrensdefense.org

Join CDF On:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Flickr
  • YouTube

How CDF Helps America's Children | Child Advocacy Center | Help Children & Support CDF | Get Involved | Child Research & Publications | News & Media | Who is CDF?

Sitemap | Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy

  • How CDF Helps America's Children
    • Children's Health
    • Ending Child Poverty
    • Child Welfare
    • Early Childhood Education & Child Care
    • Elementary & High School Education
    • Youth Development & Leadership Training
    • Juvenile Justice
    • CDF Freedom Schools® Program
    • Cradle to Prison Pipeline® Campaign
    • Special Projects for Children in Need
  • Child Advocacy Resources
    • Priorities for America's Children
    • Take Action Online
    • Other Child Advocacy Organizations
    • Faith-Based Programs for Child Advocacy
    • Child Advocacy Actions That Work
    • CDF Action Council
  • Help Children & Support CDF
    • Other Charitable Giving Options
    • CDF Charitable Planned Giving
    • CDF Corporate Foundation & Donor Partners
    • CDF® Online Store
  • Get Involved
    • Sign Up for E-mail Alerts & News
    • CDF Events
    • Internship Programs
    • Share Your Experience
    • CDF Online Communities & Social Networks
    • Volunteer to Help Children
  • Child Research Data & Publications
    • About CDF Data
    • U.S. State Child Data
    • Census Data
    • Child Poverty
    • Child Health
    • Child Welfare
    • Early Childhood & Child Care
    • Elementary & High School Education
    • Juvenile Justice
    • Youth Development & Leadership Training
    • Family Poverty & U.S. Policy
    • CDF Programs Evaluations
  • News & Media
    • CDF In the News
    • CDF® Media Gallery
    • Marian Wright Edelman's Child Watch® Columns
    • CDF® Monthly eNewsletters
    • Press Kit
    • CDF Speakers Bureau
    • Real Children, Real Stories
  • Who is CDF?
    • What Does CDF Do?
    • CDF Board of Directors
    • CDF Leadership & Staff
    • Annual & Financial Reports
    • CDF History
    • CDF Jobs, Internships & Fellowships
    • CDF Office Locations & Contact Information
Powered by Convio
nonprofit software