BREAKING FREE is a work-in-progress dedicated to the Children’s Defense Fund’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline® Campaign.
“America’s dream is not for all,” says Marion Wright Edelman, President of the Children’s Defense Fund. Not when,
- A child is abused or neglected every 36 seconds
- A child is born into poverty every 36 seconds
- A child is born without health insurance every 47 seconds
- A child or teen is killed by a firearm every 3 hours
- A baby is born to a teen mother every 60 seconds
- A baby is born with low birthweight every 2 minutes
- A Black boy born in 2001 has a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison in his lifetime; a Latino boy a 1 in 6 chance; and a White boy a 1 in 17 chance*
Behind each of these crushing statistics is the face of a child crying for help. A child crying for someone with the heart and the courage to help him break free of poverty’s pipeline to prison, danger and hardship. BREAKING FREE tells the story of these deserving children and the mentors, advocates and volunteers who have answered their cries and are fighting for their dreams.
BREAKING FREE is an on-going project.
Lanie McNulty,
2009
*Children’s Defense Fund, “America’s Cradle to Prison PipelineSM Report” , 10/10/2007. pp. 4, 14-15.
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