2025 American Youth Policy Forum, Powered by CDF Wednesday Agenda
Wednesday, November 5
8:00 – 9:00 a.m. ET
Registration
9:30 – 10:45 a.m. ET
Opening Plenary & Fireside Keynote Chat
A Future Where Children’s Health is a Right
Award-winning journalist, speaker, and advocate Suzanne Malveaux will interview Richard E. Besser, MD, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), on the urgent call to ensure children’s health as a fundamental right. The conversation will explore current policy challenges and possibilities while calling attention to our shared responsibility to advance the well-being of children and families.
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET
Morning Breakout Sessions
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Lunch
1:15 – 2:15 p.m. ET
Afternoon Breakout Sessions
2:15 – 3:30 p.m. ET
Closing Plenary
School Suspensions: Are They Helping Children?
Scholars Kathryn E. Wiley, Ph.D. (Howard University) and John A. Williams III, Ph.D. (Texas A&M University) will share insights from their forthcoming Urban Review special issue marking the 50th anniversary of CDF’s seminal report, School Suspensions: Are They Helping Children? The conversation will explore the enduring impact of the report on exclusionary discipline policy for two generations and consider the evolution of practice to share pathways toward a fair and supportive educational systems. John H. Jackson, Ed.D., J.D., president and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, will offer a response and closing action steps.