Pursuing Justice for Children and the Poor with Urgency and Persistence A Community and Youth Empowerment Conference

July 22 – 25, 2012 in Cincinnati, Ohio

The Children’s Defense Fund national conference will gather 3,000 leading researchers, educators, policymakers, practitioners, faith leaders, and advocates including 1,000 young adult leaders from July 22 – July 25 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

When 16.4 million children are poor, 8.3 million children don’t have health care, and a majority of children cannot read or compute at grade level in the fourth, eighth, and 12th grades – we have a growing national crisis that demands an urgent response in these politically volatile and polarized times.

Please join us for cutting edge plenary sessions and dozens of compelling workshops as we focus on the latest research and best practices, community building models, and community and youth empowerment strategies to close
the gap between what we know works and what we actually do for our most vulnerable – children and the poor.

Register today www.childrensdefense.org/conference and add your voice to those of top experts, leading practitioners, and committed activists to help shape a robust national conversation on economic inequality and the urgent needs of children and the poor in 2012 and what we can all do to change the odds and change the outcomes for those being left behind.

In our first national conference since 2003, we will examine strategies to close off the major feeder systems fueling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline® and mass incarceration including:

• Poverty
• Racial disparities
• Zero tolerance school discipline policies
• The achievement gap between poor and non-poor.

We will showcase the community building and engagement programs CDF and our allies have been quietly developing that inspire children, engage parents, stop summer learning loss, and teach social justice through service and civic activism, including:

• CDF Freedom Schools®, Young Advocate Leadership Training, and Beat the Odds® programs
• Harlem Children’s Zone and Promise Neighborhoods
• Children’s Sabbath networks and Intergenerational networks
• Best practices to enroll eligible children in health care
• Comprehensive continuum of care from birth to adulthood, with a strong emphasis on Early Childhood development and education.
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In partnership with the Educational Testing Service (ETS), we will highlight the special challenges facing Black boys ages 9 – 13, and look at the latest research and most effective practices in public schools – traditional and charter – that close the achievement gap and foster academic success.

Children are crying out for more adult caring, a sense of community, hope, and leadership. It’s time to hear them, take their hands, and lead them into safe havens and hopeful futures.

Please sign up now http://www.childrensdefense.org/conference