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.

We work with Congress and the federal government to advocate for federal policies that improve children’s lives. We also advocate at the state level, pushing for policy reforms through our six state offices that collectively represent nearly 40 percent of all children living in poverty in America. And we train and equip young people, faith communities, decision makers and community organizations to become local advocates for children across the country.

After four decades of advocacy, we know that changing the system to better serve our children takes time—and there are children across America who need help now. So we run programs that change the odds for children like CDF Freedom Schools®, which reach more than 12,000 children every year, empowering them to excel today and make a difference tomorrow. And because our Freedom Schools are staffed primarily by college students of color, we’re building two generations of change-makers at the same time.