2026 American Youth Policy Forum, Powered by CDF Wednesday Agenda
Wednesday, November 4
8:30 – 9:30 a.m. ET
Registration & Breakfast
9:30 – 9:45 a.m. ET
Welcome
Welcome to the 2026 American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) from Nick Vucic, National Director of Public Affairs, Children’s Defense Fund with Sankofa moment from CDF’s Ella Baker Trainers. Opening remarks from Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, President and CEO of Children’s Defense Fund.
9:45 – 10:45 a.m. ET
Opening Plenary
Election Aftermath: What’s at Stake for 73 Million Children
The American Youth Policy Forum convenes just days after the 2026 midterm elections — a moment when child advocates from across the country come together for the first time to make sense of what just happened. With critical congressional, gubernatorial, and local leadership races decided, the balance of power shaping child and family policy for the next two years is set.
This opening plenary — building on the format and energy of AYPF’s 2024 post-election session — brings together leading experts in child wellbeing and advocacy to help participants move quickly from analysis to action. Moderated by Joy Reid, host of The Joy Reid Show, panelists will unpack what the results mean for federal and state policy affecting America’s 73 million children, name the near-term risks and openings advocates should be watching, and offer a shared framework participants can carry into the rest of the convening — and back to their own organizing and policy work.
Participants will leave with a clearer read on the political landscape ahead, a sense of where the child advocacy field has leverage, and concrete starting points for turning election-year uncertainty into strategy.
Speakers:
Joy Reid, Host, The Joy Reid Show
Sharon Parrott, President, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
Bruce Lesley, President, First Focus on Children
Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, DMin, President & CEO, Children’s Defense Fund (CDF)
Heidi Shierholz, PhD, President, Economic Policy Institute
Rev. Leonard Burton, President, Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP)
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET
Morning Breakout Sessions
From Policy to Praxis: Mobilizing Communities to Achieve Education Equity
XQ Institute leads this interactive working session exploring how high school transformation and XQ’s policy agenda can support the strategic leadership of the young people and child advocates gathered at AYPF.
This session will invite participants to engage directly with the ideas presented during the workshop, examine the conditions required to transform high schools, and identify opportunities to translate policy into action within their own communities.
Areas of exploration include:
- What young people need and deserve from the modern high school experience.
- The policy conditions necessary to create meaningful high school transformation.
- XQ’s 10 policy actions and their application at the state and local levels.
- The role of young people and communities in shaping education policy.
- Identifying concrete actions participants can take following AYPF.
The goal is for participants to leave not only with greater knowledge of high school transformation, but with practical ideas they can incorporate into their own advocacy, organizing, and policy work.
Presenter:
Jamira Burley, Chief of Community and External Partners at the XQ Institute
Beyond the Ballot Box: Democracy, Children, and the Power of Shared Values
Connecting the issues we care about to the values that unite us.
Democracy shapes much more than what happens at the ballot box. It influences the decisions that affect children and families every day–– from education, mental health, and healthcare to safety, opportunity, and the ability to have a voice in decisions that shape their futures.
How can we help people see these connections and build broader support for the democratic principles that make progress possible?
Join Children’s Defense Fund and Metropolitan Group for a hands-on, interactive workshop exploring how advocates and policymakers can connect their work on behalf of children to a larger, shared narrative about democracy.
Drawing on research and tested messaging from the nonpartisan Pro-Democracy Narrative Playbook, participants will explore how shared values such as freedom, fairness, safety, and belonging can help communicate why democracy matters in people’s everyday lives. Through practical examples and hands-on exercises, participants will learn how to adapt this narrative to their own advocacy, communications, and community engagement efforts.
Participants will leave with practical tools and approaches to strengthen their messaging, connect with audiences across differences, and build support for a democracy in which every child and family has the opportunity to thrive.
Presenters:
Maria Elena Campisteguy, Senior Executive Vice President, Metropolitan Group
Kwentoria A. Williams, Strategic Communications Director, Children’s Defense Fund
Economic Security as the North Star: Leveraging Better Data to Advocate for Children and Families
Economic inequity and barriers to financial security continue to shape and impede the opportunities available to families nationwide.
Led by the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA), participants in this workshop will examine the current state of economic equity, address systemic barriers impacting financial stability, and strategize data-driven advocacy tactics to build pathways towards economic mobility so that every child can access the resources and tools needed to thrive.
Presenter:
Jennifer Jones Austin, CEO and Executive Director, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA)
12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. ET
Lunch Panel
Youth and Young Adult Perspectives: A Multimedia Presentation
Young people’s stories and real life experiences hold powerful impact to transform our approaches to organizing, advocacy, and public policy initiatives. During the lunch hour, Jamira Burley, Chief of Community and External Partners at the XQ Institute, will lead a multimedia presentation that will spotlight the perspectives of young people on the most pressing issues impacting their lives. Attendees will experience the power of storytelling and what it means to center young people’s voices and leadership in their work.
1:30 – 2:30 p.m. ET
Afternoon Breakouts
From Policy to Praxis: Mobilizing Communities to Achieve Education Equity
XQ Institute leads this interactive working session exploring how high school transformation and XQ’s policy agenda can support the strategic leadership of the young people and child advocates gathered at AYPF.
This session will invite participants to engage directly with the ideas presented during the workshop, examine the conditions required to transform high schools, and identify opportunities to translate policy into action within their own communities.
Areas of exploration include:
- What young people need and deserve from the modern high school experience.
- The policy conditions necessary to create meaningful high school transformation.
- XQ’s 10 policy actions and their application at the state and local levels.
- The role of young people and communities in shaping education policy.
- Identifying concrete actions participants can take following AYPF.
The goal is for participants to leave not only with greater knowledge of high school transformation, but with practical ideas they can incorporate into their own advocacy, organizing, and policy work.
Presenter:
Jamira Burley, Chief of Community and External Partners at the XQ Institute
Beyond the Ballot Box: Democracy, Children, and the Power of Shared Values
Connecting the issues we care about to the values that unite us.
Democracy shapes much more than what happens at the ballot box. It influences the decisions that affect children and families every day–– from education, mental health, and healthcare to safety, opportunity, and the ability to have a voice in decisions that shape their futures.
How can we help people see these connections and build broader support for the democratic principles that make progress possible?
Join Children’s Defense Fund and Metropolitan Group for a hands-on, interactive workshop exploring how advocates and policymakers can connect their work on behalf of children to a larger, shared narrative about democracy.
Drawing on research and tested messaging from the nonpartisan Pro-Democracy Narrative Playbook, participants will explore how shared values such as freedom, fairness, safety, and belonging can help communicate why democracy matters in people’s everyday lives. Through practical examples and hands-on exercises, participants will learn how to adapt this narrative to their own advocacy, communications, and community engagement efforts.
Participants will leave with practical tools and approaches to strengthen their messaging, connect with audiences across differences, and build support for a democracy in which every child and family has the opportunity to thrive.
Presenters:
Maria Elena Campisteguy, Metropolitan Group
Kwentoria A. Williams, Children’s Defense Fund
Parent Leadership and Advocacy: Exercising the Fundamental Right to Advocate For Our Children in a Democratic Society
Economic mobility is a cornerstone of opportunity and well-being for children, and yet millions of families continue to face the challenges of poverty.
Join Children’s Defense Fund-New York for a workshop session exploring the challenges and barriers that impact financial stability for children and families, and the opportunities for parent leadership in advocacy to strive for sustainable futures.
This session will highlight holistic policies centering parental leadership to prioritize economic equity to reduce child poverty and improve long-term outcomes in health, education, and economic security to ensure that every child has the resources to thrive and build a bright future.
Presenters:
Children’s Defense Fund-New York (CDF-NY)
2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET
Closing Plenary
Are the Children Well? Social Vaccines, Mental Health, and Healing Systems for a New Generation
At a time when children and youth face unprecedented stress, trauma, and isolation — and public mental health infrastructure faces unprecedented erosion through funding cuts and the removal of the experts who once guided it — this fireside chat asks what it takes to protect the whole child before crisis hits.
Dr. Ramesh Raghavan will explore the idea of “social vaccines” — the relationships, community structures, and systemic supports that inoculate children against trauma the way clinical vaccines inoculate against disease. Drawing on his work on investing in children’s mental health, Raghavan will trace the throughline between public health infrastructure and children’s mental and behavioral wellness, asking what it takes — systemically, financially, and communally — to build healing systems young people can actually rely on. Together with Dr. Daniel Eisenberg, they will answer an essential question: “are the children well?” — and offer a working definition of what “well” could look like when public health, education, and mental health systems treat children’s dignity, hope, and joy as the starting point.
Speakers:
Dr. Ramesh Raghavan, Professor of Social Work, New York University, Co-Author, Investing in Children’s Mental Health
Dr. Daniel Eisenberg, Professor of Health Policy and Management, UCLA; Co-Author, Investing in Children’s Mental Health
4:00 – 4:15 p.m. ET
End of Day Remarks from Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, Children’s Defense Fund