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Politics & Government

NYC Children Rally Lawmakers, Wall Street

Members of the Children's Defense Fund Freedom Program say,"My future is not for sale."

About 100 young people from Brooklyn converged outside the New York Stock Exchange in lower Manhattan Wednesday to demand President Barack Obama and Congress create a federal budget that protects their needs and not just the interests of big corporations.

Holding up signs that read, “My Future Is Not For Sale," “Keep Schools Open" and “We Learned To Share In Kindergarten Didn’t You?” members of the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools Program -- one from the in Bed-Stuy and the other from St. Paul’s Baptist Church in East New York -- protested, and asked Wall Street to pay its fair share in helping to reduce budget deficits, keep health care affordable and invest in their future.

“Today is really about sending a clear message to Washington, DC, that our country needs to invest in its children,” said Reverend Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson, executive director of the CDF in New York.

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“We've got budget conversations going on right now and there are proposals to cut children’s healthcare, cut food stamps and at the same time there’s consideration to give oil companies tax breaks, and that’s just not justice.”

The rally was part of CDF’s National Day of Social Action, an annual, nationwide event that gives group members a chance to participate in social justice campaigns and make themselves heard to policy-makers, community members and advocates.

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“Our goal is to teach children that they have a voice and if they use it, they can work with others to change things for the better,” said Jaime Koppel, senior program associate at CDF New York.

Civil rights pioneer Marian Wright Edelman created the Children’s Defense Fund in 1973 to bring national attention to the impact of poverty on children. The New York CDF Freedom Schools program was started in 1995.

Today, the CDF Freedom Schools program serves nearly 10,000 children in 151 sites in 87 cities and 17 states for 6 weeks during the summer.

Students (in school they’re referred to as “scholars”) at CDF are taught by professionally trained educators ranging in the age of 18 to 30. The emphasis throughout the course is the importance of literacy, but also CDF also seeks to assist children in becoming more socially aware and active in their communities.

The Bed-Stuy group is funded by the Concord Baptist Church of Christ and is free to join.

“She enjoys the program, there are a lot of activities that go on and the staff shows a lot of love and compassion to the kids,” said Alice Williams of her 8-year-old niece Iandra's participation in the rally.

By rallying nearby the world’s largest stock exchange, the CDF Freedom Schools children hope to send an urgent message to Congress not to mess with federal programs that provide support to millions of children across the country.

But with budget talks becoming increasingly antagonistic in Washington, Lenora Semper, site coordinator for CFD, stressed the need for politicians to wake up and listen to the ones who count the most.

“Children can’t vote so we have to vote for them,” said Semper. “And we come out here every year so they can tell people that they need to step up and speak for children.

"We really want people on Wall street to hear that message, so they know that they can’t keep cutting on the backs of our children.”

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