By Crystal Swann
October 13, 2008

At the Children’s Defense Fund’s star-studded 35th Anniversary Celebration at the Kennedy Center on October 6, Past President and Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer presented The United Conference of Mayors President’s Award to Marian Wright Edelman, Founder of the Children’s Defense Fund.

In presenting the award, Palmer saluted her “for her advocacy of children’s health care; for her stand against violence in our culture and in our neighborhoods; for her tireless efforts to bring the benefits of education to everyone.” Edelman is the first non-mayor in the Conference’s history to receive this award.

Edelman, a Yale Law graduate and the first African American admitted to the Mississippi Bar Association, began her career as a civil rights advocate, working to register African American voters in Mississippi in 1959. Edelman worked for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), first in New York City and later in her home state of Mississippi. While in Mississippi, she worked a variety of social justice and civil rights issues, including helping to establish a Head Start program in her community. After moving to Washington (DC), Edelman continued her work, helping to get the Poor People’s Campaign off the ground and increasingly focusing her efforts on the plight of poor children.

Edelman founded the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) in 1973. CDF is a non-profit child advocacy organization that advocates for “policies and programs that lift children out of poverty; protect them from abuse and neglect; and ensure their access to health care, quality education, and a moral and spiritual foundation. Supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations, CDF advocates nationwide on behalf of children to ensure children are always a priority.”

Through her work, CDF has over the past three decades paved the way for landmark legislation to improve the lives of children across America, including the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act and the All Handicapped Children Act. In addition, CDF has through its advocacy secured billions of dollars in funding for programs to improve the quality of life for children and their families, including Head Start, SCHIP and other children’s health insurance options, and services for foster and adopted children—all priority issues for the Conference of Mayors.

CDF’s 35th Anniversary Celebration was not only a celebration of the organization’s accomplishments, but also a call to rededicate efforts to improving the lives of children across America. Co-Hosted by opera diva Jessye Norman, actresses Holly Robinson Peete and Jurnee Smollett, Essence magazine editor Susan Taylor, ABC political analyst George Stephanopoulos, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, proceeds from the event will help to continue the important work of the Children’s Defense Fund.