“We may be seeing each other virtually, but the community and the commitment is fiercely, deeply real,” Director of CDF’s Proctor Institute and Dale Andrews Freedom Seminary Shannon Daley said. “There is no more urgent time for us to be connected to strengthen and sustain each other in the struggle to reimagine our future with children, justice and joy.”
The Children’s defense fund co-hosted a virtual Proctor Institute this year in which they partnered with the Highlander Research & Education Center to sing, pray, strategize, organize, advocate, learn and share stories for the sake of the nation’s youth on July 21st and July 22nd.
The Children’s Defense Fund and Highlander Research & Education Center discussed topics toward improving the health and well-being of children and moving toward justice within today’s movement. Leaders Charlene Sinclair and Gregory Ellison paid homage to the passing of Rev. C.T. Vivian, U.S. Rep. John Lewis.
“Two Civil Rights giants who once walked among us at CDF Haley’s farm and now are forever a part of our cloud of witnesses that attend us and sit with us here,” Ellison said. “They will be with us when we gather again at CDF Haley Farm. Welcome home.”
Twenty-six years ago, Children’s Defense Fund Founder and President Emerita, Marian Wright Edelman envisioned the Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy Ministry at Alex Haley Farm as a space for community providing spiritual sustenance to endure the journey of creating the just world children deserve. During Tuesday’s program, a video was shared where Edelman discussed the reasoning behind choosing the farm.
“Alex Haley Farm is the folk school for life, character building and for citizenship and leadership training,” Edelman said. “A place where all generations can come and reconnect and nurture and be nurtured.”
Since 2016, Deaconess has supported and led delegations from St. Louis to the farm for this time of renewal. Now virtually, they interspersed their presentations with music and art – as it would be in real life. A video was shared from a past CDF event with Charles Neblett, Hollis Watkins and Marshall Jones singing the freedom song. In the video, you could see Edelman get out of her seat and clap and sing along with other members of CDF.
Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, President and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation, moderated the panel to talk about “Race, Poverty, and Children in the Pandemic.” The panel included: Michael Tubbs, Mayor of Stockton, CA; Natalie Poke Freedom BLOC (Black Led Organizing Collaborative); Adam Vega, author of “Feeding Our Frontline: Feeding Our Farmworkers.”
During the discussion, Wilson also address the current climate of protest that has been underway since the fatal arrest of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“While they may not know as much, they did know the images of all those people upset on television,” Wilson said. “And maybe they even knew the image of a police officer kneeling on the back of a man who may look similar to their father and uncle – and know that that man was murdered as the world watched.”
Before the panel, there was a video that had children sharing their experience of poverty.
Poke said believed that free health care, higher wages and free secondary education were some of the new policies that should be implemented throughout the nation to eradicate the cycle of poverty.
“These jobs ask us to have our bachelor’s degree or even our associate’s degree, but how can we do that when we get paid so little,” Poke said.
Patrick Reyes, author of “Nobody Cries When We Die: God, Community and Surviving to Adulthood led a forum for theological exploration titled “Theology and Child Advocacy: “For Such a Time as This.” Part of the forum included a presentation with his son Asher where they practiced washing their hands as a connection to God.
“Thank you for bringing Asher into the conversation, because this is about us centering our children and asking, ‘how are the children?” Reyes said. “And making sure all that we do is for their collective thriving, their feeling of being loved and being safe and being able to live a life that is a child’s life – and to know those moments of childlike wonder and amazement.”
The Children’s Defense Fund Samuel Dewitt Proctor Virtual Conferencecontinues through the evening of Wednesday, July 22. For more information, to register or a full-schedule of programming, visit
