2008–2009 Bi-Annual Report

2008–2009Bi-Annual Report

© 2010 Children’s Defense Fund. All rights reserved.

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 cannotvote, lobby or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority childrenand those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventiveinvestments before they get sick, drop out of school, get into trouble or suffer family breakdown.

CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grantsand individual donations. We have never taken government funds.

Mission Statement

President’s Message 7

Children’s Defense Fund 2008-2009 Key Achievements

• A Healthy Start: CDF’s National and State All Healthy 11Children Campaign

• A Head Start: SPARK and Early Childhood Development Initiatives 13

• A Fair Start: Strengthening Families and Alleviating Poverty 14Through Tax, Benefits, and Financial Literacy Outreach

• A Safe Start: Cradle to Prison Pipeline® Crusade and Child Welfare Initiatives 15

• A Moral Start: CDF Haley Farm, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute 17for Child Advocacy Ministry, and National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths®

• Successful Passage to Adulthood: CDF Freedom Schools® Program, 18Young Advocate Leadership Training® (YALT) Program,

and Beat the Odds® Scholarship Program

Empowering Women: Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative and 21CDF-Ohio’s Women Advocacy Action Network

Financial Report

• Financial Overview and Report 22

• Seals of Approval 25

2008–2009 Publications 26

Table of Contents

2008-2009 Bi-Annual Report 1

2 Children’s Defense Fund

CDF Board of Directors

Lan BentsenVice ChairCo-Founder andDirectorFrontera ResourcesHouston, TX

Carol Oughton BiondiChild Advocate/CommissionerLos Angeles CountyCommission for Childrenand FamiliesLos Angeles, CA

Angela Glover BlackwellVice ChairFounder and ChiefExecutive OfficerPolicyLinkOakland, CA

Geoffrey CanadaChair 2008-President and ChiefExecutive OfficerHarlem Children’s Zone, Inc.New York, NY

Leonard Coleman, Jr.Cendant CorporationNew York, NY

Malaak Compton-RockFounder and DirectorThe Angelrock ProjectNew York, NY

Leslie Cornfeld, Esq.DirectorMayor’s Task Force onChild Welfare and SafetyNew York, NY

Marian Wright EdelmanPresidentChildren’s Defense FundWashington, DC

DD EisenbergChild AdvocateCoral Gables, FL

Pat FallonChairmanFallon WorldwideMinneapolis, MN

James Forbes, Jr.Senior MinisterEmeritusThe Riverside ChurchNew York, NY

James Forman, Jr., Esq.Associate ProfessorGeorgetown Law SchoolCo-Founder, MayaAngelou Charter SchoolWashington, DC

Winifred GreenPresident, SouthernCoalition forEducational EquityNew Orleans, LA

Ruth-Ann HuvaneChild AdvocateLos Angeles, CA

William Lynch, Jr.PresidentBill LynchAssociates, LLCNew York, NY


Katie McGrathChild AdvocateLos Angeles, CA

Ivanna OmeechevarriaChild AdvocateAlexandria, VA

Wendy PuriefoyPresidentPublic EducationNetwork (PEN)Washington, DC

Barbara ShawGeneral President Women’sHome and OverseasMissionary Society,African MethodistEpiscopal Zion ChurchCharlotte, NC

Jurnee SmollettActressLos Angeles, CA

Jason J. TylerSenior Vice PresidentInvestment CommitteeAriel InvestmentsChicago, IL

Laura WassermanMovie Music SupervisorLos Angeles, CA

Ali WentworthActressNew York, NY

Reese WitherspoonActressLos Angeles, CA

Deborah Wright, Esq.Chairman and ChiefExecutive OfficerCarver Bancorp, Inc.New York, NY

Laura Chasin

Hillary Rodham ClintonChair 1986-1992

Maureen Cogan

Lucy Hackney

Howard H. Haworth

David HornbeckChair 1994-2005

James JosephChair 1993-1994

Marylin Levitt

Charles E. Merrill, Jr.

Leonard Riggio

Donna E. ShalalaChair 1992-1993

Susan P. Thomases

Thomas A. Troyer, Esq.

Robert F. VagtChair 2005-2008

Board of Directors Emeriti


Paul Smith was CDF’s peerless director of research for over 30 years. He was a crucial midwifeat CDF’s birth and designed the survey for our first study on Children Out of School in

America, published in 1974, for which I, Hillary Rodham, and every single person at CDFwent out and knocked on thousands of doors in selected censustracts all across America. Its findings helped spur enactment ofthe Education for All Handicapped Children Act, now theIndividuals with Disabilities Act.

Paul always covered CDF’s institutional and my personal back!No one ever challenged a fact he prepared or reviewed. He was agenius at computer programming; knew federal data systems forchildren and the poor better than most if not all federal officials;and managed to find ways to translate very complicated statisticsand concepts into lay terms that I and the average person couldgrasp and communicate. He was passionate about just treatmentfor the least among us, tireless in finding ways to describe theirplight, and wonderful in nurturing young researchers and staffabout the most effective ways of presenting the truth.

One favorite Paul Smith story occurred at a meeting between CDF staff, prominent civil rightsleaders, and the director and senior officials of OMB – the Office of Management and Budget – toprotest Ford Administration plans to eliminate the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) survey, the primaryand essential federal data source on race. It turned out to be a brief meeting because Paul pointedout how OMB had violated its own clearance procedures in proposing the survey’s elimination.Red faced OMB officials immediately backed down. One civil rights leader commented as we leftthat he didn’t have a chance to speak about justice at all – a signal of the need for technicalcompetence to bolster traditional protest. Over the years, this kind of quiet, behind the sceneseffort characterized so much of CDF’s work thanks to Paul and our fine policy staff. I oftenrespond to questions about which CDF accomplishment I am proudest of with: “all of the badthings that did not happen because we were always alert and swift to act behind the scenes.”Key partners were agency civil servants who would give us early alerts of impending threats toregulatory protections and budgets.

No one did more to build CDF’s reputation for excellence and impeccable research or to movethe nation towards justice for children and the poor than Paul Smith. His quiet, self effacinggenius personified the sense of mission, institutional loyalty, stewardship and excellence thatundergirds CDF’s values and enabled our growth and successes for children over the years. I misshis sermons that put his statistics in a moral context and his pungent budget tradeoffs like hiscontrast of Department of Defense spending for vaccinations for the pets of military personnelto oppose the Reagan Administration’s proposed budget cuts for vaccinations for children.Children got their immunization money back and the military pets kept theirs.

So this report is dedicated to Paul, who left us in our 35th anniversary year but lives on inall that we do.

Dr. Paul Smith

The Children’s Defense Fund mourned the loss of two of our nation’s leadingchampions for children and justice. Dr. Height and Dr. Franklin were co-conveners with

CDF of the Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC) in 1990. The above quoteinscribed on Dr. Dorothy Height’s Congressional Gold Medal is one of many dozens of awardsshe received over her extraordinary life including the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The brilliant Dr. Height was a lantern and role model formillions of women and a long haul social change agent blessedwith uncommon commitment and talent. Her fingerprints arequietly embedded in many of the transforming events of the lastseven decades as Blacks, women, and children pushed open andwalked through previously closed doors of opportunity. TheChildren’s Defense Fund was blessed to have her serve on ourboard for over 30 years. When she passed away on April 20,2010 at age 98, we lost a treasured friend, wise counselor, androck we could always lean against for support in tough times.

Dorothy Height served as president of the National Councilof Negro Women (NCNW) from 1957 to 1998, when shebecame Chair and President Emerita until her death. During theCivil Rights Movement, while so many women were playing vital roles that weren’t in the spot-light, Dorothy Height was always up front with a seat at the table. She was often the onlywoman in the room with Dr. King and the rest of the “Big Six” group of male leaders as theyplanned many of the Civil Rights Movement’s key strategies, and she was sitting on thestage—she should have been a speaker—at the historic March on Washington. She led theNCNW membership as active participants in the movement and reminded us that women wereits backbone—unseen but strong. Later, NCNW developed a range of model national programsfocused on Black women’s and families’ needs including employment, child care, housing,hunger, health care, and youth development and her annual Black Family Reunions remindedus of the strength of Black families. From the White House to the United Nations, Dr. Height’sexpertise on civil rights, women’s rights, and human rights was always in demand.

CDF was always profoundly inspired by and grateful for Dorothy Height’s extraordinaryexample of leadership and service. Through it all, her keen intellect and strength remainedas sharp as her signature sense of style. Nobody wore a hat like she did. The Bethune-Heighthouse at CDF-Haley Farm reminds us of her example of steadfastly doing what she had to do.Now we must do what we have to do to save all of our children.

Dorothy Height and John Hope Franklin helped launch the current phase of CDF’s work toreplace the Cradle to Prison Pipeline® with a pipeline to college, productive work, and healthyadulthood. They co-convened with CDF the first major national summit at Howard UniversitySeptember 25-26, 2007 highlighting the threat of massive incarceration of Black boys andthe criminalization of children at younger and younger ages pose to the Black communityand to the nation’s values and future. Their guidance will live on in our actions for decadesto come.

Dr. Dorothy Irene Height


“We African American women seldom do just what we want to do, but always dowhat we have to do. I am grateful to have been in a time and place where

I could be a part of what was needed.”


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On March 25, 2009, beloved historian John HopeFranklin, the nation’s leading scholar of African

American history, passed away at age 94. Stately, handsome,dignified, eloquent, and brilliant, Dr. Franklin became ascholar of Black history at a time when many other “experts”didn’t believe there was anything about African Americanhistory worth studying. One of the first to treat this importantsubject with the academic respect it deserves, he mentoredthree generations of historians and was an inspiration tocountless young scholars and young people.

Dr. Franklin gained national recognition for his seminal1947 volume, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans. He was in the first rank among American scholarsand taught at many universities including Fisk, Howard, Brooklyn College, the Universityof Chicago, where he chaired the history department, and Duke University, where he wasnamed the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History. Duke established the John HopeFranklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies reflecting Dr. Franklin’sextraordinary range of knowledge and interests not just about African American history butabout many subjects and cultures. Over his professional life, he received the PresidentialMedal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian award, and over a hundred honorary degrees.In addition to his stellar scholarship, he served on many national and international panels,including chairing the advisory board for One America, President Clinton’s Initiative on Race.

He was a special and sustained CDF partner and friend. In 1990, Dr. Franklin co-convened with Dr. Dorothy Height and the Children’s Defense Fund a quiet but landmarkmeeting of 22 Black leaders at the beautiful Rockefeller Foundation conference center inBellagio, Italy that launched the Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC) committedto Leave No Child Behind™. Yes, that’s where those words come from! The reading room atCDF Haley Farm’s Langston Hughes Library, designed by Maya Lin, architect of the VietnamVeterans Memorial, honors John Hope Franklin and our sister mentor, Dr. Maya Angelou.

Even in his last years, Dr. Franklin’s mind remained supple, sharp, active, and inquiringand he never stopped dreaming about our children’s futures. When Dr. Franklin passed away,President Obama said: “Because of the life John Hope Franklin lived, the public servicehe rendered, and the scholarship that was the mark of his distinguished career, we all havea richer understanding of who we are as Americans and our journey as a people.” AllAmericans owe a profound debt of gratitude to this great man for the road to freedomhe helped pave for us all.

Dr. John Hope Franklin


President’s MessageIt was the best of times, it was the worst of

times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the ageof foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it wasthe epoch of incredulity, it was the season ofLight, it was the season of Darkness, it was thespring of hope…

—Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

The clock has been turned back on racialprogress in America, though scarcely anyoneseems to notice. All eyes are fixed on people likeBarack Obama and Oprah Winfrey who havedefied the odds and achieved great power,wealth and fame.

xxx

There are more African Americans undercorrectional control today—in prison or jail, onprobation or parole—than were enslaved in1850, a decade before the Civil War began.

—Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: MassIncarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

No child should be falling behind in schoolbecause he can’t hear the teacher or see theblackboard. I refuse to accept that millions ofour kids fail to reach their potential because wefail to meet their basic needs. In a decent society,there are certain obligations that are not subjectto tradeoffs or negotiations – health care for ourchildren is one of those obligations.—President Barack Obama, February 4, 2009 signing

of Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) bill

This 2008-2009 report spans two extremely hope-ful but challenging and turbulent political and

economic years for our nation, our children, and fornonprofit groups like the Children’s Defense Fund(CDF). Our first African American President was electedafter a hard, strategic, and well fought campaign forthe Democratic nomination and then the presidency.Hillary Rodham Clinton, CDF’s former staff attorneyand board chair, First Lady, and now Secretary ofState of whom we are very proud, was his principal

Democratic challenger – shattering a gender ceilingin the political realm as the President did on race.

But the extraordinary 2008 election which raisedgreat hopes at home and around the world was imme-diately leavened by an economy on the brink of col-lapse and two expensive wars with no clear ends insight. With so many pressing and competing demandsfacing the new Administration and so many powerfulinterest groups and voices vying for decreasingresources and attention, CDF hunkered down toprotect children and the poor in a time of growingneed, highlighting the dangers of the Cradle to PrisonPipeline driven largely by epidemic poverty and con-tinuing racial disparities which put puts one in threeBlack and one in six Latino boys born in 2001 at riskof incarceration in their lifetimes. We increased ourefforts to protect and expand an inadequate andstrained safety net and to ensure affordable, accessible,and comprehensive health care for every child every-where in America through our All Healthy ChildrenCampaign endorsed by 1,200 national, state andlocal organizations.

U.S. News & World Report named CDF President Marian WrightEdelman one of “America’s Best Leaders” in 2008, callingher “one of the world’s premier advocates for children.”

After renewal of the Children’s Health InsuranceProgram (CHIP), a top CDF priority since its 1997enactment, by President Obama and Congress imme-diately after the election, enormous efforts wererequired during 2009 and 2010 to maintain CHIP aspart of final national health reform and to push forelimination of state bureaucratic barriers to CHIPand Medicaid children getting and staying enrolled.Although we fell short of the comprehensive andaccessible child health system with a guaranteedchild benefit package for all children in every state asthe All Healthy Children Campaign sought, 95% of allchildren gained access to coverage, CHIP was saveduntil it can be assured that the new Exchanges willprovide comparable benefit and cost protections, andthe threat that millions of children would be worse offafter health reform was averted.

As CDF celebrated its 35th anniversary at theKennedy Center in 2008 with a wonderful outpouringof friends, Katrina’s joyful and inspiring children’schoir was the show stopper. We continue to operateover 30 summer and afterschool programs inLouisiana and Mississippi and wrap around servicesin eight New Orleans charter schools launched inKatrina’s aftermath. We also continue to push forurgently needed mental health supports for childrenstill devastated by the hurricane and to continue tocombat growing child poverty and family stress frommassive joblessness and home foreclosures.

In 2008, Geoff Canada, a longtime CDF boardmember and head of the Harlem Children’s Zone,became CDF’s board chair and Lan Bentsen, CDF-Texas’s advisory board chair and head of FronteraResources and Angela Glover Blackwell, head ofPolicyLink, became board vice chairs, bringing newgenerational energy and community grounding toCDF’s national children’s cause. In this difficultperiod, CDF board and staff determined that our firstpriority was helping children rather than preservingassets and did all we could to assure that an alreadyinadequate national safety net was not frayed further.The President’s budget deserves applause for itsexpansions of child and family nutrition, early care,and Head Start programs, refundable tax credits forlow and middle income working families, and majornew investments in education that are helping drive

long overdue school reforms. It is crucial that we andothers translate these investments into high qualityinnovative programs that demonstrate concrete childresults.

CDF has examined every aspect of our organiza-tion to determine how we can make the greatest dif-ference for children. We have recruited superb andseasoned early childhood and education policy staffwith deep on the ground experience in schools andcommunities. Over the next five years, we have com-mitted to training 5,000 new young leaders of color –at least half Black males, and to double our success-ful summer and after-school CDF Freedom Schoolsprogram to help close the achievement gap, improvehigh school graduation rates for poor minority chil-dren, and encourage more talented young leaders ofcolor to enter teaching, especially Black males. Over80,000 children 5-17 years old and 9,000 collegestudents have had a Freedom Schools experiencesince 1994. CDF Freedom Schools are buildingempowered and engaged children, staunching summerlearning loss, and fostering significant reading gains.That a majority of all children in all racial and incomegroups and over 80% of Black and Latino childrencannot read and compute at grade level in 4th, 8th, or12th grade – if they have not already dropped out ofschool – is a looming national catastrophe. Our edu-cation system is sentencing hundreds of thousandsof children every year to prison and to economic andsocial death. All of us must do everything we can tochange course – now – through high quality teachersand schools and high quality out of school learningexperiences.

I thank you beyond words for your ongoing sup-port of CDF’s strong independent voice which is morecrucial than ever. You have helped ensure a healthierand fairer start for millions of children. They and weface the future with more hope. We move forwardwith renewed commitment to building a transformingmovement for all children to ensure a nation andworld fit for every child.

Marian Wright Edelman



The spirited performance of the Katrina Children’s Choir from New Orleans drew a standing ovation at CDF’s 35th AnniversaryGala celebration.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton enjoys the children’s performance.

J.J. Abrams, CDF Board Member Katie McGrath, CDF President MarianWright Edelman, CDF Board Member Ali Wentworth, and GeorgeStephanopoulos.

CDF Board Member Malaak Compton-Rock, Dr. PierreVigilance, and actress Holly Robinson Peete.

Dr. Dorothy Height in her great hat.


Children’s Defense Fund2008-2009 Key Achievements

Young leaders speak at a Cradle to Prison Pipeline summit.

Combating the New American Apartheid:The Cradle to Prison Pipeline® Crisis

In 2008-2009, CDF rededicated our energies tocombating America’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline crisis,which funnels hundreds or thousands of childreneach year into dead end lives even before birth. Somany children are born at low birthweight and/or toyoung, poor, and poorly educated mothers whoreceived little or no prenatal care. They enter theworld with one or two strikes already against them,and at every step in their development more risks pileon. Over the past three years, CDF’s national andstate offices have convened robust summits and followup action meetings to engage key community andpolicy stakeholders in identifying and developing spe-cific action strategies to replace the pipeline to prisonwith a pipeline to college, work, and successful adult-hood. In each CDF state and regional office we aretargeting one major system feeding children into thepipeline for change (e.g., health, mental health, earlychildhood, education, child welfare, juvenile justice,or lack of quality after school and summer programs)and challenging and educating our leaders about theenormous cost of wasted child lives.

Our work to reweave the fabric of family andcommunity through faith-based, parent, youth, andcommunity engagement in CDF Freedom Schoolsprograms and Haley Farm convenings and trainingsintensified. We shared best practices and strategiesand engaged adults and young people in mounting astronger voice for children in the policy process andevidence based and promising community buildingmodels.

Ensuring all children comprehensive, accessible,and affordable health coverage was our top 2008-2009 priority, but we also helped achieve gains inearly childhood development, education, enhancedsupports for children and youths in foster care, andtax credits and income supports to help familiestrapped by growing poverty. Throughout 2008 and2009 we worked tirelessly nationally and in allour state offices and programs to give children theHealthy Start, Head Start, Fair Start, Safe Start, andMoral Start they need and to ensure them safe passageto adulthood with the help of caring families andcommunities. When we achieve our mission, theCradle to Prison Pipeline will disappear.


A Healthy Start

The Need• 8.1 million children in America—one in 10—are uninsured.

• Two-thirds of America’s uninsured children areeligible for Medicaid or CHIP coverage but arenot enrolled largely due to state-imposed barriersthat differ across states.

• Every 42 seconds a baby is born without healthinsurance.

• Almost 90 percent of uninsured children live ina working household.

All Healthy Children Campaign

In 2008 and 2009, CDF’s All Healthy Childrencampaign helped lay the foundation for landmarknational health reform that provides 32 million peoplein America, including more than 95 percent of allchildren, access to health coverage previously beyondtheir reach.

Baby Stroller Brigades and a ProminentWomen’s Child Watch for Children’s Health

A highlight of our advocacy was our StrollerBrigades in Washington, D.C., New York City, and21 communities nationwide in November 2009 tomobilize children, parents, caregivers, child advocates,

faith, and community leaders to support comprehensive,accessible, and affordable health coverage for allchildren. Four thousand babies, parents, grandparents,school children, and faith leaders gathered on thelawn of the U.S. Capitol on November 4 to demandthat policy makers make sure that no children wereworse off after health reform and that the successfulChildren’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programbe maintained. The D.C. event was followed by eventsacross the country over the next four days. Nearly300 national, state, and local organizations endorsedthe Stroller Brigades.

Senator Robert Casey and RepresentativesRosa DeLauro, Bobby Rush, and Bobby Scott, whochampioned critical protections to improve CHIP andMedicaid in national health reform, led the babies,children, youths, and families around the nation’sCapitol. The final enacted reforms will double thenumber of eligible CHIP children from seven to14 million, ensure that health insurance exchangesprovide children benefits and cost protections compa-rable to or better than what they have now, andextend health coverage to age 26 for youths aging outof foster care through Medicaid and others throughcoverage under their parents’ insurance plans.

The Stroller Brigades built upon more than twoyears of sustained advocacy to ensure health coverage

On November 4, 2009, 4,000 babies in strollers, young children, parents, youths, teachers, child care providers, doctors, prominent faithleaders and grandparents rallied and circled the U.S. Capitol to tell Congress that millions of children had to be treated justly in any nationalhealth reform bill and CHIP had to be maintained. Senator Robert Casey and Representative Rosa DeLauro joined CDF President MarianWright Edelman among the marchers.”


for all children. CDF Freedom Schools sites acrossthe country participated in National Days of SocialAction in July 2008 and July 2009. Thousands ofyouths participated in rallies, marches, Congressionalvisits, and letter-writing campaigns urging health cov-erage for all children while learning the importanceof community service and social justice advocacy.Children need to learn early that they are not citizensin waiting and to be empowered to make a differencefor themselves and other children.

A Child Watch® Mother’s Day event in Washington,D.C. in 2009 with celebrity mothers and prominentchild advocates Jessica Alba, Malaak Compton-Rock,Michelle Fenty, Ruth-Ann Huvane, Regina King,Michelle Kydd Lee, Katie McGrath, ShannonRotenberg, Keri Russell, Krista Smith, JurneeSmollett, Laura Wasserman, and Ali Wentworth visitedhigh level White House officials in charge of healthcare, key Senate committee chairs Max Baucus, ChrisDodd, and Barbara Mikulski, and House SpeakerNancy Pelosi to speak about the urgent health careneeds of children across the country.

In 2008-2009, Fallon Worldwide ads helped keepchildren’s health concerns before decision makersand reinforced CDF ads and videos and child healthop-ed pieces by Senators Tom Daschle and JackDanforth, Dolores Huerta, Republican political strate-gist Mark McKinnon, Eva Longoria Parker, and others.Our video “Children Need a Bailout, Too” won the2009 DoGooder TV Nonprofit Video Award.

CDF state offices made significant impact backhome in the All Healthy Children campaign. CDF-Texas launched a school based outreach initiativein 28 school districts reaching more than 850,000children. The campaign adds health insurancequestions to school enrollment forms so that schooladministrators can identify every uninsured child bycampus and link them with health coverage. It wasthe only American project cited by the World HealthOrganization (WHO) Voices of the Frontlines webseries for effective health outreach. CDF is nowworking hard to translate access into actual coveragenationwide as we head into the second phase of ourenrollment campaign which has been endorsed by

the 13,000-member American Association of SchoolAdministrators and U.S. Conference of Mayors. Weare working closely with the Departments of Healthand Human Services and Education.

CDF-NY was instrumental in maintaining thehighest state CHIP eligibility standard in the nation at400 percent of the federal poverty level ($88,200 fora family of four). Nearly every uninsured child in NewYork is eligible for affordable and comprehensivehealth coverage. Seventy-five thousand children havebeen newly enrolled in coverage since eligibility wasexpanded in September, 2008. CDF-Minnesota andits new regional satellite offices in Montana andNorth Dakota led efforts to expand state coveragein the region for more than 53,000 children.

CDF-California and its 100% Campaign partners,the Children’s Partnership and Children’s Now, helpedprevent massive child health budget cuts in 2009that would have denied 900,000 Medi-Cal childrenhealth coverage and successfully advocated with othersfor a provision in the final national health reform lawrequiring the states maintain CHIP (and Medi-Cal)eligibility at their current level through 2019.

Actresses Jessica Alba and Keri Russell meet and read to some of thechildren at the Unity Health Care Upper Cardoza Clinic in Washington,D.C. as part of a Mother’s Day Child Watch® group of prominentwomen leaders.


State offices gathered evidence on the benefits ofhealth coverage to children and taxpayers. Our casewas bolstered by a report from the Baker Institutefor Public Policy at Rice University on the economicimpact of uninsured children that found that extend-ing health insurance coverage to all children in theUnited States would yield economic benefits fargreater than the costs of insurance. CDF-Ohio spon-sored statewide forums and roundtables to focusattention on health disparities facing low-income andminority families.

The Southern Regional Office and CDF-Louisianalaunched the Katrina Citizens Leadership Corps in2008 to mobilize Gulf Coast residents displaced byHurricanes Katrina and Rita to develop a comprehen-sive recovery plan for the region. Their reports docu-mented ongoing needs in education and child care,health and mental health, housing and transportation,employment, elderly services, and youth development.CDF-Louisiana produced the report “What it Takesto Rebuild a Village After a Disaster: Stories fromInternally Displaced Children and Families ofHurricane Katrina and Their Lessons for Our Nation.”

A Head Start

The Need• Only 14 percent of three-year-olds and 38 percentof four-year-olds in 2007 were served by state-funded prekindergarten, Head Start, or specialeducation programs.

• The annual cost of child care for a four-year-oldis more than the annual in-state tuition at a publicfour-year college in 36 states and the District ofColumbia.

• Eighty-five percent of Black and 84 percent ofHispanic fourth grade students are reading belowgrade level. In math, 85 percent of Black and 79percent of Hispanic fourth graders are achievingbelow grade level.

CDF Early Childhood Initiatives

CDF expanded its early childhood developmentwork in 2009 by recruiting Dr. Cathy Grace as our

Director of Early Childhood Development. Withmore than 35 years of experience in early childhooddevelopment, including as Director of the EarlyChildhood Institute and the National Center forEarly Childhood Rural Initiatives at Mississippi StateUniversity, Dr. Grace adds new energy and voice tothe national early childhood community and policy-makers at a crucial time.

Our focus on early childhood development is centralto ensuring all children the strong early foundationneeded to enter school ready to learn and thrive ingrades K-12. We actively supported increases in fund-ing for the Comprehensive Child Development BlockGrant, Head Start, and key education initiativesincluded in the American Recovery and ReinvestmentAct (ARRA) in 2009 and played a leadership role inthe Home Visiting Coalition to promote significantfederal investments in quality evidence-based voluntaryhome visiting programs for expectant mothers andfamilies with infants and young children. We arepleased that home visiting, which helps promotehealthy child development, school readiness, reductionsin child abuse and neglect, parent engagement,and economic self-sufficiency, was included in thenational health reform legislation.

Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids inMississippi (SPARK MS) is an early education initiativeled by CDF’s Southern Regional Office with W.K.

A CDF Freedom Schools intern reads to scholars.


Kellogg Foundation support. Over the past five yearsit has brought together parents, schools, child careand early education providers, child advocacy groups,Head Start providers, state and local governmentagencies, and businesses to ensure school readinessand academic success for more than 800 Mississippichildren ages three to eight. The first cohort ofSPARK MS children are now in fourth grade and out-performed a comparison group of students in bothmathematics and language arts for the 2008 – 2009Mississippi Curriculum Test. SPARK MS’s accom-plishments have helped build broad-based support forearly childhood education and development acrossMississippi and will expand to five additional schooldistricts in 2010.

CDF-Louisiana coordinates the New OrleansEarly Education Support Initiative (CDF-EESI) to pro-mote successful educational achievement for youngchildren in eight charter elementary schools in NewOrleans. Since 2007, it has provided direct andindirect assistance to more than 1,200 pre-K through3rd grade children and their families, helping childrenperform at grade level and families successfully navi-gate the broken school system in New Orleans now inthe midst of sweeping educational reforms. CDF-EESIworks with communities, schools, school administeringagencies, policy makers, parents, and children toensure that children have the proper preparation forschool and that schools are equipped to teach themeffectively. Participating schools have seen scoresimprove significantly and four are now ranked as highperforming schools.

A Fair Start

The Need• Every 32 seconds a baby is born into poverty.• In 2008, 14.1 million children were living inpoverty – 5.6 million in extreme poverty. By 2009,15.5 million children, more than one in every fivechildren in America, were living in poverty – 6.9million in extreme poverty. One in three Black andHispanic children is poor.

• Nearly 70 percent of poor children live in familieswhere at least one family member works.

Strengthening Families and AlleviatingPoverty Through Tax, Benefits, andFinancial Literacy Outreach

CDF-Minnesota’s Bridge to Benefits projectimproved the economic stability of low-income familiesby connecting them to an array of public employmenttraining and work support programs and tax credits.Bridge to Benefits is a web-based online screeningtool that lets families know what programs they maybe eligible for and guides them through the applicationprocesses. The tool is tailored to each state but thetypes of programs typically included are health care,food and energy assistance, child care, school mealprograms, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)—that can make an enormous difference to children andfamilies.

In 2008-2009, CDF-Minnesota’s Bridge toBenefits outreach program expanded to North Dakota,South Dakota, and Montana, enabling families todetermine their eligibility for up to ten public benefitsprograms. More than 9,000 families were screened in2009 and more than ninety percent were eligible forat least one of the programs. Nearly 100 community-based organizations signed on as partners, agreeing to

Minnesota Freedom Schools children participate in a National Dayof Social Action.


use the Bridge to Benefits screening tool with theirclients on a regular basis at more than 200 differentlocations. In October 2009, CDF reached out to morethan 130 existing and potential regional and statepartners about using Bridge to Benefits as a policydevelopment and advocacy tool.

In New York, CDF staff conducted more than 60trainings and presentations on tax credits for commu-nity members and advocates, sharing key informationon eligibility requirements for the EITC and the ChildTax Credit and on avoiding refund anticipation loans.CDF-NY received the Individual Best Practice Awardfrom the National Disability Institute for its leadershiprole in the New York City Tax and Benefits DisabilityCoalition. CDF-Ohio engaged over 200 churches,schools, employers, and family serving organizationsin community-based EITC outreach campaigns, andpartnering with existing networks informed more than325,000 Ohio families about the EITC, Child TaxCredit, and availability of free tax preparation servicesacross Ohio.

CDF-Texas’ Rio Grande Valley office along theU.S.–Mexico border coordinated volunteer incometax assistance for nearly 3,000 families in 2009,yielding a total of more than $5,900,000 in refunds,including more than $2,700,000 in EITC refunds.According to the Internal Revenue Service, participat-ing families saved $268,555 in tax preparation fees.

CDF’s state and national offices supported theurgency of expanded investments in the AmericanRecovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), whichincreased emergency assistance for the unemployedand expanded both the EITC and Child Tax Credit forworking low and middle income families, which wecontinue to push to make permanent.

A Safe Start

The Need• Every 41 seconds a child is abused or neglected.• A Black boy born in 2001 has a one in threechance of going to prison in his lifetime; a Latinoboy has a one in six chance.

• Each day 1,200 children enter foster care, remainingon average more than two years. Thirty-one percent

of the children in foster care are Black, twicetheir proportion in the child population.

• After a 25 percent decrease in the number ofhomeless children and teens in public school inthe 2006–2007 school year, the number increased17 percent in 2007.

Cradle to Prison Pipeline Summits

“Instead of prison, our children deserve goodschools, healthy and safe communities, and opportu-nities to thrive. We have a blueprint for action.We must act to save our children.”

– Angela Glover Blackwell, Founderand CEO, PolicyLink

The work to keep our children out of the pipelineto prison is connected to every area of our missionand is a cornerstone of our efforts to keep childrensafe. In February 2009, CDF and co-conveners theNAACP, National Council of La Raza, U.S. Conferenceof Mayors, and PolicyLink held a two-day National/California Cradle to Prison Pipeline Summit inSacramento, California. Honorary co-chairs andspeakers included California Senate President DarrellSteinberg and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, LosAngeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas,and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Participants discussed the role of race and povertyin the pipeline to prison and the importance ofreweaving family and community relationships andsurrounding children and youths with the care andservices they need to succeed in and out of school.Some 200 youths led and participated in the discus-sions, sharing their personal experiences in thepipeline and the interventions that changed theirlives. The nearly 500 summit attendees shared prom-ising approaches and developed action plans to startfunneling children now in the pipeline to prison intoa pipeline to college and productive work.

Additional local and regional summits were heldin New York, Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana,Ohio, and Minnesota to issue an urgent call to action.We continue to offer technical assistance and supportto hundreds of stakeholders of every age and discipline,and we are seeing the results. CDF-NY and its alliesachieved a victory in March 2009 when the New York


State Legislature agreed to close or downsize eightyouth prisons and to reinvest money for alternativesto jail and prison for young people. The state allocated$5 million in new money for community-based programsin the highest need neighborhoods. The New YorkDivision of Criminal Justice Services used communitymaps from CDF-NY’s Cradle to Prison PipelineSummit to target funding to communities mostaffected by youth incarceration.

CDF-Texas engaged the American LeadershipForum to produce the report “Dismantling the Cradleto Prison Pipeline in Houston and Texas: A Study ofSolutions,” which documented programs that areeffectively preventing children from entering thepipeline at four key impact points: early childhooddevelopment, education, health and mental healthcare, and juvenile justice. Using these findings,Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia is now working toincorporate a platform to dismantle the Cradle toPrison Pipeline into the everyday operations of keyinstitutions in Houston/Harris County.

CDF’s National Policy Strategies to KeepChildren Out of the Cradle to Prison Pipeline

Major New Federal Protections toHelp Children in Foster Care

Long-awaited help for children and youths whoare abused and neglected and in foster care and

children being raised by grandparents and other rela-tives came with the passage in 2008 of the bipartisanFostering Connections to Success and IncreasingAdoptions Act (P.L.110-351). The Act, passedunanimously, represents the most significant federalreforms for abused and neglected children in morethan a decade. It promotes permanent family connec-tions for children, improves their health and education,increases opportunities for success for older youths incare, makes significant improvements for AmericanIndian children in care, and recognizes that improve-ments in the quality of the child welfare workforce areneeded to truly help children. Increased support forvulnerable young people in foster care is key tokeeping them out of the prison pipeline.

CDF played a major leadership role over severalyears in developing and building broad support forthese reforms including helping recruit 600 organiza-tions from every state and the District of Columbia tosupport the final bill. To ensure that the Act trulybenefits children, we prepared technical assistancematerials and articles, testified before Congress, andconducted webinars and workshops for advocates,state agency and court staff, and others on how tomost effectively implement the new protections andservices for children.

Supporting Grandparents and OtherRelatives Raising Children

The 2.5 million grandparents and other relativesraising children without their parents present are theunsung heroes, reaching out, when their parentscannot, to provide safe homes for abused and neglectedchildren and others who need special help. Theystep in and often can divert young people from thepipeline to prison. To enhance support for thesechildren and their caregivers, CDF partnered again in2008 with AARP, Child Welfare League of America,Generations United, GrandFamilies of America andthe National Committee of Grandparents for Chil-dren’s Rights to hold the Third National GrandRallyfor Grandparents and Other Relatives RaisingChildren. More than 1,000 relative caregivers from34 states gathered at the U.S. Capitol to honor theirgrandchildren and nieces and nephews and to high-light the challenges caregivers face in appropriately

Youth participants at CDF’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline TexasSummit describe their experiences in the pipeline to more than700 attendees.


meeting their needs. Our advocacy has helpedgive this too often overlooked constituency a clearand loud voice.

Seeking a New Approach for Youths in Trouble

In 2009, CDF’s President testified before theHouse Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorismand Homeland Security in support of the bipartisanYouth PROMISE Act which calls for a fundamentalshift in child policy and practice away from the toofrequent first choice of punishment and incarcerationand toward prevention, early intervention, and sus-tained child investment. The Act, a powerful tool forreplacing the prison pipeline with one to healthyadulthood, builds on what we know works and encour-ages states and communities to invest in quality earlychildhood programs, comprehensive after-school andsummer programs, mentoring, health and mentalhealth care, job training, and alternative interventions.We applaud Representative Bobby Scott’s leadershipof this important effort.

Protecting Children Not Guns

CDF’s annual report on gun violence, “ProtectChildren Not Guns,” was published in 2008 and2009 and continued to document our nationalobsession with guns that results in the senselessand unnecessaryloss of young lives.Data released by theCenters for DiseaseControl and Preventionin 2008 showed3,006 child and teengun deaths and in2009 showed 3,184child and teen deathsfrom gunfire – oneevery two hours and45 minutes, almostnine every day, and 61 every week, enough to fillmore than 127 public school classrooms of 25 stu-dents each. More than five times as many childrenand teens suffered non-fatal gun injuries and theemotional aftermath that follows.

Our reports highlighted actions all of us can take nowto protect children and teens from gun violence andcalled upon political leaders to limit the number ofguns in our communities, control who can obtainfirearms, and ensure that guns in homes are storedsecurely.

A Moral Start

The NeedSince its beginning, CDF has been building

strong relationships with the faith community, forgingalliances to answer the charge and call to protect andnurture all children. CDF works with many faith alliesto communicate to our leaders that the real strengthof our nation is the vitality, preparation, education,and creativity of our children. If each of the 354,000houses of worship and religious centers of variousfaiths across America reached out to more families inpoverty and children in foster care, the lives of thou-sands of children could be changed for the better.

Engaging Faith Communities

Haley Farm: CDF’s Center for Spiritual Renewaland Leadership and Character Development

Since 1994, when CDF purchased Haley Farmfrom Alex Haley‘s estate, this beautiful retreat nearKnoxville, Tennessee has been our primary trainingground for the next generation of leaders. It is ourcenter for spiritual renewal, interdisciplinary, intergen-erational, interracial, and interfaith communicationand leadership development. Haley Farm welcomednearly 5,000 participants at trainings and other con-venings in 2008 and 2009. In 2009, Haley Farm’sLangston Hughes Library was the first non-traditionallibrary ever selected as the site for the AmericanLibrary Association’s annual prestigious ArbuthnotHonor Lecture honoring an individual who has made asignificant contribution to children’s literature.It featured author Walter Dean Myers whose books area regular part of the CDF Freedom Schoolscurriculum.


A service inside CDF-Haley Farm’s Riggio-Lynch Chapel.

Annual Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute forChild Advocacy Ministry

Nearly 1,000 faith and young leaders assembledat Haley Farm in July 2008 and 2009 for the annualProctor Institute and Great Preachers Series. Thisinspiring week offers movement-building and bestpractices workshops, spiritual renewal, the greatestpreachers in America, and numerous opportunities fornetworking. The 2008 and 2009 Institutes focusedon ending child poverty and ensuring health and mentalhealth coverage for all children.

Annual National Observance ofChildren’s Sabbaths® Celebration

Celebrated each year during the third weekend ofOctober, our Children’s Sabbath interfaith observancesencourage prayer, worship, education, and service andadvocacy for children. Children’s Sabbath materialsare guided by an advisory board of Roman Catholic,Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Bahá’í, and Sikh members.CDF’s Children’s Sabbath Manuals helped congrega-tions guide special worship services, educationalprograms, letter-writing campaigns to Members ofCongress, and a variety of other activities to improvechild lives.

Successful Passage toAdulthoodThe Need• A majority of children of all races and incomegroups—and over 80 percent of Black andHispanic children—are behind grade level inreading and math in 4th, 8th, and 12th grade,if they haven’t already dropped out of school.

• Millions of children have no safe, enrichingsummer and after-school options.

CDF Freedom Schools Program

The CDF Freedom Schools program helps childrenfall in love with reading, increases their self-esteem,and generates more positive attitudes toward learning.

Freedom Schools provide free summer and after-school experiences for children and families throughan integrated reading curriculum with five components:high quality academic enrichment; parent and familyinvolvement; civic engagement and social action;intergenerational leadership development; and nutri-tion, health, and mental health. They empower twogenerations: the 5-17-year-olds served and the col-


lege interns who serve them. Over 80,000 childrenhave had a Freedom Schools experience and 9,000college age student mentors have been trained.

In 2008 and 2009, the CDF Freedom Schoolsprogram continued to grow and in both yearsserved nearly 9,000 children. In 2008, the programserved children in 61 cities and 24 states; in 2009it spread to 79 cities and 27 states. Sites included ahomeless shelter and a youth detention facility to givehope and help to the most vulnerable children, andsuch programs are expanding. CDF also piloted a newpreschool Freedom Schools program in a rural SouthCarolina county in 2009 and hopes to expand itnationally in 2011.

A new independent evaluation in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina showed FreedomSchools increased reading gains for 60 percent of thechildren attending and stopped summer reading lossfor 30 percent. The Charlotte Freedom SchoolsPartners seek to increase the children served to5,000 by 2014. They have engaged the publicschools, business community, mainstream protestantchurches, the local historically Black college, and

county government leaders in addressing the needs ofthe whole child. This is a model we seek to replicateacross the country.

Freedom Schools are a leadership incubator. Weare proud that our Coordinator of Youth LeadershipTraining, Jalaya Liles Dunn, attended FreedomSchools from 6th-12th grades. In her Spelman collegeyears she was a Freedom Schools intern and then anintern trainer. She joined CDF as full-time staff aftergraduation and embodies the Freedom Schools vision.We will recruit more and more staff from our youthdevelopment ladder in the future and are proud thatmany CDF Freedom Schools interns are becomingteachers and child advocates like Nick.

Nick worked at CDF Freedom Schools beginningin 2006 as a sophomore at Jackson State Universityin Mississippi. He was struggling in college andwasn’t sure he wanted to stay. He missed his familyin Delaware and was having financial troubles.“Everybody in my family wanted me to graduate—my grandfather, my mother—everyone. They hadworked hard to get me to college. I wasn’t sure Icould pay for college and I missed my family.”

CDF Freedom Schools trainees and staff at national training stretched to every inch of the largest tent available at Haley Farm. Until HaleyFarm’s physical facilities are completed, trainees utilize the dorms, eating, and classroom facilities at the University of Tennessee and conveneat the Knoxville Convention Center for some plenary sessions.


Through a work-study program, he applied to workat Jackson State University’s CDF Freedom Schoolssite and immediately fell in love with the program. “Iliterally jogged to the Freedom Schools program whenI left classes! I saw that I was making a differenceworking with the children, and they were influencingme. I decided my career would be with children andmajored in psychology. I would have worked for free,”he said. “It meant everything to me. It was the moti-vation I needed to be successful in school. The staffhelped me when I was down. It gave me a sense ofpride. It helped me to graduate.” Many of Nick’sstudents had relocated to Jackson from New Orleansafter Katrina, and he saw the pain, hardship, andchallenge the kindergartners and middle schoolersin his classrooms faced. “The curriculum helped usto talk about our history—the history of AfricanAmericans and the struggles of being part of a minoritygroup. How people overcame struggle and how we canovercome things today. I tried to bring that to myclassroom. But basically I wanted to help the childrenknow that you can work at your full potential and thatanything is possible. People will tell you that thingscan’t be done, but young children need to put theirminds to it and there is nothing they cannot do.”

Nick, a passionate advocate for children, graduatedin May 2009 and is working with CHRIS Kids, anAtlanta organization providing wrap-around servicesto children and families.

Young Advocate Leadership Training (YALT®)and Beat the Odds® Scholarship Programs

CDF trained over 4,000 young leaders in 2008and 2009 to become more effective organizers andchild advocates. We established nine new collegechapters of Students Advocating for Youth (SAY)including Yale, Notre Dame, and Howard Universities,and trained student body presidents from historicallyBlack colleges and universities. Many hundreds moreyouths participated in Cradle to Prison Pipelinesummits and developed action strategies to reroutechildren and youths to successful adulthood.

To celebrate the strengths of our children andcounter the negative media portrayal of Black youthsas violent predators, drug pushers, and dropouts,BCCC/CDF launched Beat the Odds Celebrations in1990 to honor high school seniors who are beatingthe odds of abuse, neglect, parental incarceration anddrug and alcohol addiction, and homelessness andwho are staying in school and achieving academicsuccess.

In 2008, 25 youths received Beat the Oddscollege scholarships and in 2009, scholarships wereaward to 38 students during celebrations inSacramento, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Minnesota,Houston, New York, and Washington, D.C. Threeyouths from Missouri’s juvenile justice system andthree from Santa Clara County, California’s, which isimplementing the Missouri rehabilitative model, weregiven special Beat the Odds awards during theNational/California Cradle to Prison Pipeline summit.We seek to implement the Missouri model everywhereacross America and to encourage young people likethese to continue in community college and plans forpositive post-detention lives.

Beat the Odds® Awards recipients and actress Elisabeth Shue


Beat the Odds awardees join others on an inte-grated CDF youth leadership ladder which includesFreedom Schools, YALT, and our internship program,to ensure their growth and the sustainability of thechild advocacy movement.

Empowering Women: Southern Rural BlackWomen’s Initiative and CDF-Ohio Women’sAdvocacy Action Network

CDF’s Southern Regional Office serves as theregional administrator and Mississippi state leadfor the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative forEconomic and Social Justice (SRBWI), which works in77 counties in the Black Belts of Alabama, SouthwestGeorgia, and Delta Mississippi. Through its UnitaBlackwell Young Women’s Leadership Institute itprovided intensive leadership training for 600 youngwomen between the ages of 13 and 23. They learnedabout the contributions of their families and commu-nities to the southern Civil Rights Movements, discov-ered the power of using a Human Rights framework towork for economic and social justice, and participatedin a number of workshops. A core group of 30 youngwomen from each state received advanced training inhuman rights, advocacy, and public policy. One youngparticipant from Alabama said:

“I recently found out that Black women togethercan make a difference. It made me realize that thereis nothing wrong with my background and heritage,even if the world thinks otherwise. The UnitaBlackwell Young Women’s Leadership Institute heldat Tougaloo College helped me to become not only alady, but also a strong, knowledgeable Black woman.”

SRBWI has created nine Commissions on HumanRights across the South, involving nearly 300 youngwomen, to spark public policy reforms in children’shealth coverage, early childhood education, and work-force development and reached 500 women throughits poverty alleviation and benefits outreach work.

CDF-Ohio‘s Women’s Advocacy Action Networkunites women across lines of race, class, religion, andgeography. It educates policy makers, faith and businessleaders, and the general community about the needsof children through Children’s Sabbaths observances,community campaigns to dismantle the Cradle toPrison Pipeline, CDF Freedom Schools expansion,and legislative visits.

A SRBWI Unita Blackwell Young Women’s Leadership Institute workshop.


The most robust organizations were severely affected by the volatility and uncertainty during the economic crisiswhich continues to affect our nation. The need for services to children, families, and communities and especially

to the most vulnerable children increased far faster than the needed response as countless families lost jobs andhomes. Simultaneously, nonprofits like CDF faced decreased support from funding sources that saw their endowmentsand incomes plummet.

CDF is an institution created to serve and to advocate in good and bad times for children – especially the latter.As financial support diminished from some sources, CDF used internal reserves to maintain our strong advocacyvoice for children. The strain on our financial position is reflected in the statements for fiscal periods 2008 and2009. We remained strong in leading efforts to protect children and in mounting the All Healthy ChildrenCampaign to cover millions of uninsured children during the national health reform debate. While our endowmentdeclined as did many others and economic conditions remain uncertain, we have restructured our operations,instituted strong cost control policies, and focused our efforts in areas where we can make the biggest differencefor children.

We continue our policy of not accepting government money and are grateful for all of our donors who stayedwith us during this difficult period. Thanks to you, we continue to provide an effective and independent voice forall children in America who cannot speak, vote, or lobby through our nonprofit 501(c) (3) organization and 501(c)(4) organization. Funding for both is summarized below. The pie charts illustrate CDF’s revenue sources andexpense allocations. The financial statements provide a summary of the CDF and CDF Action Council consolidatedfinancial position for the year ended December 31, 2009. For complete audited financial statements pleasecontact Gerald Borenstein at (202) 628-8787.

Special Events 5%

Sales of Publicationsand Merchandise 1%

Organizations andGroups 2%

CDF Freedom Schools®

Fees 7%

Other 5%

Foundations andCorporations

68%

Individuals12%

Revenue

2009 Financial Overviewand Report

Public Education,Media Campaigns, InternetOutreach and Publications

7%

General andAdministrative

10%

Fundraising9%

Policy and ProgramDevelopment andImplementation

7%Leadership Development and

State and CommunityCapacity Building

67%

Expenses


Twelve months endedDecember 31, 2009

Assets

Cash and cash equivalents $ 1,838,364Investments 19,713,641Pledges receivable, net 7,276,637Property and equipment, net 11,999,308Other assets 949,333

Total assets $ 41,777,283

Liabilities and Net Assets

LiabilitiesAccounts payable and accrued expenses $ 2,484,184Note payable 1,900,000Bonds payable 6,105,000

Total liabilities 10,489,184

Net assetsUnrestricted

Children’s Defense Fund 7,868,202Children’s Defense Fund Action Council 83,156

Total unrestricted $ 9,427,471

Temporarily restricted 14,754,029Permanently restricted 7,106,600

Total net assets 31,288,100

Total liabilities and net assets $ 41,777,284

Children’s Defense Fund and Children’s Defense Fund Action Council SummaryConsolidated Statement of Financial Position


Twelve months endedDecember 31, 2009

Revenue, gains and other supportContributions and donations

Foundations and corporations $ 14,406,321Individuals 2,534,405Organizations and groups 351,500

OtherSales of publications and merchandise 125,764Special events 995,416Training fees 1,559,331Haley Farm fees 17,925Miscellaneous 727,819

Investment income (loss)Endowment Income (net)Interest and dividends 367,057Realized and unrealized losses, (31,270)net of manager fees

Operating 10,462

Net assets released from restrictions

Total revenue, gains and other support 21,064,730

Program servicesLeadership development and state andcommunity capacity building 19,611,730

Policy and program development andimplementation 1,948,465

Public education, media campaigns,internet outreach and publications 1,975,284

Total program services 23,535,479

Supporting servicesGeneral and administrative 3,024,688Fundraising 2,551,952

Total supporting services 5,576,640

Total expenses 29,112,119

Change in net assets (8,047,389)

Beginning net assets 39,335,488

Ending net assets $ 31,288,099

Children’s Defense Fund and Children’s Defense Fund Action Council SummaryConsolidated Statement of Activities and Changes in Net Assets


Seals of Approval


Marian Wright Edelman• The Sea Is So Wide and My BoatIs So Small: Charting a Course forthe Next Generation (Hyperion)

National Office• America’s Cradle to Prison PipelineSM Report(Spanish version)

• Cradle to Prison Pipeline® Pyramid Poster• Step Forward for Children: About the Children’sDefense Fund

• National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths®

Manual, volume 17: When Will We Hear Dr. MartinLuther King, Jr.’s Call to End Poverty in America?(2008)

• National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths®

Manual, volume 18: Create Change for ChildrenToday: Bring Hope and a Better Tomorrow (2009)

• 2008 and 2009 CDF Freedom Schools® IntegratedReading Curriculum Guides

• Protect Children Not Guns 2008 and 2009• State of America’s Children 2008• Keeping What They’ve Earned: Tax Creditsfor Working Families (2008)

• The New Economic Recovery Law: Resourcesto Help Children and the Economy (2009)

• Avoiding the Pitfalls of Refund AnticipationLoans (2009)

• New Help for Children Raised by Grandparentsand Other Relatives: Questions and AnswersAbout the Fostering Connections to Success andIncreasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (2009)

• The Impact of ASFA on Family Connectionsfor Children (2009)

Action Council• 2008 Children’s Defense Fund Action Council®

Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard

State OfficesCalifornia• Keeping What They’ve Earned: The High Costof Tax Preparation and Refund AnticipationLoans (2008)

• Avoiding the Pitfalls of Refund Anticipation Loansin California (2009)

Minnesota• From “Getting By to Getting Ahead”, Kids CountData Book 2008

• The Building Blocks for Successful Children,Kids Count Data Book 2009

• A Special Report on the Importance of theMinimum Wage: At a Minimum, Workers DeserveMore (2008)

New York• Simplifying New York’s Public Health InsurancePrograms: Making It Easier for Families to Connectto Coverage (2008)

• Keeping What They’ve Earned: The High Costof Tax Preparation and Refund AnticipationLoans (2008)

• Avoiding the Pitfalls of Refund Anticipation Loansin New York (2009)

Southern Regional Office• What it Takes to Rebuild a Village After a Disaster:Stories from Internally Displaced Children andFamilies of Hurricane Katrina and Their Lessonsfor Our Nation (2009)

• Avoiding the Pitfalls of Refund Anticipation Loansin Mississippi (2009)

Ohio• Ohio’s KIDS COUNT 2008 and 2009 Data Book• Issue Brief: Halting the Loss of Millions ofDollars in Earned Income Tax Credit Benefitsfrom Ohio (2008)

• Avoiding the Pitfalls of Refund Anticipation Loansin Ohio (2009)

• Children Who Witness Domestic Violence (2009Issue Brief)

• The Face of Health Disparities Among Childrenin Ohio (2009 Issue Brief)

Texas• A Regional Audit of Williamson County’s EarlyChildhood Education and DevelopmentInfrastructure (2008)

• In Harm’s Way – True Stories of Texas UninsuredChildren (2009)

Available for purchase and electronic download at www.childrensdefense.org

2008-09 Publications

Cover photo © iStockphoto

Inside photos © Dean Alexander Photography, Doral Chenoweth III, Mark Finkenstaedt, Lee Lannom, T.C. Perkins, Jr., Vivian Ronay,

WireImage, iStockphoto and Getty Images

CDF National Office

Children’s Defense Fund25 E Street, NWWashington, DC 20001Tel: (202) 628-87871 (800) 233-1200Fax: (202) 662-3510www.childrensdefense.org

Senior Management Team

Marian Wright Edelman President

MaryLee Allen Interim Director of Policy

Gerald Borenstein Chief Financial Officer

Jean Chase Deputy Director of Communications

Jeanne Middleton-Hairston National Director of CDF FreedomSchools® Program

Kenneth Troshinsky Director of InstitutionalAdvancement and Strategic Planning

CDF-CaliforniaKim BrettschneiderCalifornia State Coordinator1605 W. Olympic Blvd.Suite 1062Los Angeles, CA 90015Tel: (213) 355-8787Fax: (213) 355-8795www.cdfca.org

Oakland OfficeDeena Lahn, Policy Director2201 Broadway, Suite 705Oakland, CA 94612Tel: (510) 663-3224Fax: (510) 663-1783www.cdfca.org

CDF-MinnesotaJames KoppelDirector555 Park Street, Suite 410St. Paul, MN 55103Tel: (651) 227-6121Fax: (651) 227-2553www.cdf-mn.org

North Dakota OfficePaul RonningenState CoordinatorP.O. Box 655Bismarck, North Dakota 58502Tel: (701) 400-1827

CDF-MontanaKristina Davis, Coordinator163 Woodland Estates Rd.Great Falls, MT 59404Tel: (406) 761-6233Fax: (406) 761-6233www.childrensdefense.org/montana

CDF-New YorkEmma Jordan-SimpsonDirector15 Maiden Lane, Suite 1200New York, NY 10038Tel: (212) 697-2323Fax: (212) 697-0566www.cdfny.org

CDF-OhioRon Browder, Director395 East Broad Street, Suite 330Columbus, OH 43215Tel: (614) 221-2244Fax: (614) 221-2247www.childrensdefense.org/ohio

CDF-SouthernRegional OfficeOleta Fitzgerald, Director(Alabama, Arkansas, Florida,Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi)2659 Livingston Rd., Suite 200Jackson, MS 39213Tel: (601) 321-1966Fax: (601) 321-8736www.childrensdefense.org/sro

Louisiana OfficeMary Joseph, Director1452 North Broad StreetNew Orleans, LA 70119Tel: (504) 309-2376Fax: (504) 309-2379www.childrensdefense.org/louisiana

CDF-South CarolinaRobin Sally, Director117 Cheraw StreetBennettsville, SC 29512Tel: (843) 479-5310Fax: (843) 479-0605

CDF-TexasLaura Guerra-CardusInterim Director4500 Bissonnet, Suite 260Bellaire, TX 77401Tel: (713) 664-4080Fax: (713) 664-1975www.cdftexas.org

Rio Grande Valley OfficeLuisa Saenz, Director612 Nolana, Suite 320McAllen, TX 78504Tel: (956) 687-5437Fax: (956) 687-5438www.cdftexas.org

CDF Haley Farm1000 Alex Haley LaneClinton, TN 37716Tel: (865) 457-6466Fax: (865) 457-6464

25 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001 (202) 628-8787 1 (800) 233-1200 www.childrensdefense.org

Documents

2008–2009 Bi-Annual Report