WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the United States navigates a volatile and shifting political landscape, national youth advocacy organization the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) is preparing to bring together prominent leaders, policy experts, and grassroots advocates from across the country. In November 2026, the organization will host the American Youth Policy Forum at Howard University in Washington, D.C., seeking to confront head-on how recent political decisions and legislative shifts are impacting the growth, safety, and overall well-being of the nation’s 73 million children.
Titled “Doing Our First Works Over: The New State of America’s Children,” the two-day forum comes at a critical historical juncture. Scheduled for November 4 through November 5, 2026, at the Blackburn University Center on the Howard University campus, the gathering is designed to serve as a vital space for reflection, strategic planning, and the charting of a resolute path forward for America’s young people. Organizers emphasize that the event will directly address a mounting sense of urgency among child advocates, who argue that harmful policy choices at various levels of government are actively undermining the foundational supports that children and youth rely on to thrive.
The comprehensive agenda for the forum will delve deeply into the current state of public education and public health systems across the nation. Discussions will closely examine the weakening of the federal Department of Education and the compounding challenges facing early childhood education networks. Furthermore, panels and keynote sessions will tackle the intense political and budgetary attacks directed at essential safety net programs, including Head Start, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Medicaid. Advocates note that the erosion or underfunding of these critical lifelines has directly exacerbated widespread challenges related to food insecurity, pediatric health disparities, and early childhood developmental support.
A centerpiece of the upcoming forum will be the official release of the highly anticipated 2026 State of America’s Children® Report. This comprehensive document provides an exhaustive overview of the status of children across the United States, utilizing data and qualitative insights to measure progress and setbacks across a broad spectrum of child well-being indicators. The report examines child population trends, child poverty rates, income and wealth inequality, the crisis of housing stability and youth homelessness, child hunger and nutrition metrics, pediatric health outcomes, early childhood education access, trends within the youth justice system, and the devastating impact of gun violence on American youth.
The event will feature a diverse lineup of recognized experts, researchers, and organizational leaders who have dedicated their careers to public policy, child welfare, and social justice. Among the featured speakers scheduled to address attendees are Rev. Leonard Burton, President and CEO of the Center for the Study of Social Policy; Annie Donovan, President and CEO of the Raza Development Fund; Dr. Daniel Eisenburg, Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of California, Los Angeles, and co-author of Investing in Children’s Mental Health; and Bruce Lesley, President of First Focus on Children.
Additional speakers include Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of the Children’s Defense Fund; Sharon Parrott, President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; Dr. Ramesh Raghavan, Professor of Social Work at New York University; Dr. Heidi Shierholz, President of the Economic Policy Institute; and Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, President and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund. These leaders will bring multifaceted perspectives from economics, public health, social policy, and grassroots organizing to the multi-day discourse.
Brittany Packnett Cunningham, the Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of CDF, underscored that the discussions taking place at Howard University will serve as a foundational roadmap, guiding future advocacy campaigns and policy agendas aimed at securing the well-being of children nationwide.
“Election Day may be November 3, but the work for children and youth continues beyond that day,” Packnett Cunningham said, highlighting the strategic timing of the forum immediately following the national elections. “Together, we’ll examine what the 2026 election results mean for children and youth, explore the policy issues shaping their health, education, economic mobility, and wellid-being, and identify strategies for moving from uncertainty to action.”
Nick Vucic, the National Director of Public Affairs for CDF, echoed these sentiments, pointing to the pressing reality that advocates must actively navigate and counter a fraught political climate if the next generation is to have a genuine opportunity to succeed.
“At CDF, we work to ensure every child is safe and supported,” Vucic said. “This means holding our nation’s leaders accountable so their policies and programs truly serve young people. We cannot allow decades of progress to be undone. Therefore, we must come together to shape policies that protect children’s futures and improve their daily lives. We plan to do just that at the 2026 American Youth Policy Forum, Powered by CDF.”
Founded in 1973, the Children’s Defense Fund maintains a long-standing vision of a nation where marginalized children are empowered to flourish, where elected officials and community leaders consistently prioritize child well-being, and where local communities possess the institutional power required to ensure youth can reach their full potential. As the sole national, multi-issue advocacy organization operating precisely at the intersection of child well-being and racial justice, CDF works tirelessly on behalf of America’s most diverse generation in history—encompassing the 73 million children and youth under the age of 18, alongside 30 million young adults under the age of 25.
Through grassroots organizing models rooted directly in marginalized communities, CDF builds sustained power for child-centered public policy initiatives that are deeply informed by principles of racial equity and the actual lived experiences of youth. The organization is also widely recognized for its signature educational and enrichment initiative, the CDF Freedom Schools® program, which operates successfully in nearly 100 cities spread across 30 states and U.S. territories, providing vital summer enrichment and literacy support to thousands of children each year.
For more information regarding the upcoming 2026 American Youth Policy Forum, registration details, or the release of the State of America’s Children® Report, interested individuals and media representatives can visit the official Children’s Defense Fund website or reach out directly to the organization’s media relations team in Washington, D.C.
