Happenings

“Stand for Justice for Children and the Poor!”

•Celeste Crawford

The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) hosted its 11^th annual “Stand for Justice for Children and the Poor!” Young Adult’s Leadership Training on July 19-21, 2005. This extraordinary event was held at CDF’s Haley’s Farm in Clinton, Tennessee. This program brought youth from all over the world together to learn about the history of CDF and its movement to Leave No Child Behind. The civil rights movement and the role of youth in this movement and the movements of today were thoroughly discussed. The three day event took us through several informational workshops, question and answer sessions and allowed its participants time to form new friends and beneficial contacts. We were also privileged to meet and spend time with Marian Wright Edelman, Deepak Bhargava, Greg Carr, Jeffery I. Johnson, Carolyn McKinstry, Junius Williams and numerous members of the CDF staff. During one of our very emotional and inspirational sessions, participants were given the opportunity to express their feelings on the state of the world and different obstacles that they, as youth, have had to over come.