Pillars of the Movements Archive — Children's Defense Fund

“I will always have a Freedom School.”

Starting a CDF Freedom Schools® program in a youth detention center takes a lot of work, but from the moment Jennifer Romelien saw the program in action, she knew her centers needed it.

“A Community is Forever Changed”

When Dr. Adren Wilson, who currently serves as the Deputy Chief of Staff in the office of Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, was working to convince Louisiana legislators to adopt CDF Freedom Schools, he harnessed the transformative power of storytelling and Harambee.

A Recipe for Success in Long Beach

Their daughter, who had recently returned from college in Pennsylvania, had worked with a CDF Freedom Schools program in the area and recommended it to them. The Woods thought it sounded like a good idea, so they put together a staff and went to Tennessee for CDF Freedom Schools’ National Training to learn how to run their own CDF Freedom Schools site. They’ve run the program every year since.

“If It’s Good for Children, It’s the Right Thing to Do”

Mary Nell McPherson—former executive director of one of the country’s largest CDF Freedom Schools® programs, Charlotte Freedom School Partners in North Carolina—was happily surprised to see a young woman named Monica at her retirement party. Monica was a former participant in the program, and she had recently begun college at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. McPherson had written her letter of recommendation.

“It’s in Your Blood”

Barbara Kelley-Duncan first learned about CDF Freedom Schools® as an employee of the Children’s Defense Fund. In 1996, Kelley-Duncan served as Vice President for leadership development in CDF’s Black Community Crusade for Children®. In that role, she helped run several programs including CDF Freedom Schools. Her experiences at CDF motivated her to start her own program years later.

All Because of a Stroke of Luck

For 23 years, the Kansas City CDF Freedom Schools program assessed students’ reading skills each year and utilized the carefully designed CDF Freedom Schools curriculum to target areas in need of improvement.

“We Struggle Together, We Thrive Together”

Roberts Family Development Center (RFDC), founded by Derrell Roberts and his wife Tina Roberts, currently runs four CDF Freedom Schools sites in the Sacramento, California area. The program serves approximately 640 largely low-income students.

“Better Than a Cup of Joe”

Today, Charlotte Freedom School Partners facilitates 17 CDF Freedom Schools© sites throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, serving more children every summer than any other single CDF Freedom Schools sponsor. None of this would be possible without Clay Grubb.