The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind® and 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.

CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventative investments before they get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. We have never taken government funds.

View a short list of  CDF-NY Acomplishments

The Cradle to Prison Pipeline Initiative 

What does the pipeline that conducts children from their cradles to prison look like in the State of New York? 

A pipeline is a system through which something is conducted, especially as a means of supply. In New York, a disproportionate number of Black and Latino children are conducted from their childhood through this pipeline to form a seemingly endless supply of prisoners for New York’s detention and correctional facilities. Even when they do not end up in prison, the conspiracy of these forces ravage their hope, their future and their potential. 

“The most dangerous intersection in America for children is the intersection between poverty and race.” (America’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline CrisisSM)  

What are the major conductors leading thousands of New York’s children and teens into the Cradle to Prison Pipeline? 

• Poverty is the largest driving force of the Cradle to Prison Pipeline crisis.
• Disadvantages in health care increase the risk that poor children and particularly poor children of color will be trapped in the pipeline.
• Children who do not participate in high-quality early education have higher rates of juvenile delinquency, arrests, and juvenile court petitions.
• Children in foster care or with a history of abuse and neglect are at higher risk of being trapped in the pipeline.
• Educational disadvantages make it more likely that children will enter the juvenile justice system.
• Children of color are disproportionately represented in both the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
• Between 1979 and 2004, gunfire killed 101,413 children and teens in America, destroying countless families and communities.  

Read more about how New York’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline. (NY fact sheets)

Learn more about Children's Defense Fund's The Cradle to Prison Pipeline® Initiative. (http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?%20pagename=c2pp%20_report2007)

If you have a story to share about how New York’s cradle to prison pipeline has affected you or a member of your family, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it These stories will help us inform agenda as we move to dismantle New York’s pipeline.

Summer Meals 2006: New York City Failed Again. Tens of Thousands of Children Underserved, Millions of Federal
Dollars Lost.
The Report in PDF Format)

Keeping What They Earned: The High Cost of Tax Preparation and Refund Anticipation Loans (December 2006)
The Report in PDF Format)