A lot of people spend a lot of time slamming young people. "Where are the new young leaders," many query? "When are young people going to think about and do something for somebody other than themselves," they ask?
Well, I want to turn that question about young people back to the adults.

Where are the adults who are mentoring and providing visible and sustained examples of doing something for somebody other than themselves? What lessons are we teaching the next generation about what is important through our lifestyles? Are we showing them by our lives that it is important to get as much as we can for ourselves, the biggest car, house and flashiest clothes, or to share as much as we can with those left behind? Are we standing up for children and young people when those in power assault their health and education and after-school funding, or are we mute when those who are supposed to educate them, provide them care, or rescue them from neglectful and abusive families also neglect, abuse and mis-educate them? Are we protesting against the younger and younger criminalization of children when our school officials call in police to arrest five, eight, and ten-year-old children for behavior that used to be handled in the principal's office? Too many of our young people are going off to juvenile detention and prison because too many adults in our homes, schools, congregations, communities, and political life do not provide them enough love, attention, positive examples, and alternatives to withstand the lures of drugs and gangs and fail to provide them the emotional supports they are desperately seeking.

But despite so much adult abandonment, many children and youths are still struggling to beat the odds, and some are succeeding. The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) and local groups celebrate a small percentage of them in 10 cities each year. Many of these youths have gone on to become teachers, lawyers, doctors, and good parents despite prior homelessness, abuse, incarcerated parents, substance abuse, and low expectations by many responsible for guiding them. A lot of former Beat the Odds(r) scholarship winners are in college and are getting supplemental training through various CDF youth development networks which empower them to reach back, teach, and mentor younger children and show them by example that they can make a difference despite the challenges they face daily.

I'm so proud to report that this past June, 825 college students, former CDF Freedom Schools(r) interns, Ella Baker Child Policy Institute Trainers, and community sponsors, churches, schools, colleges and community groups, engaged in a week-long intensive training at CDF-Haley Farm in Tennessee to deliver a reading rich summer curriculum to over 5,500 children in 77 Freedom Schools in 22 states and 47 cities across the nation this summer. These young leaders worked from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. most nights. About half of these college youths preparing to teach children in Freedom Schools this summer were Black males. They want to give back.

Adults, such as preachers, teachers, doctors, parents, politicians, and organizations like sororities, and fraternities need to provide them many more quality opportunities to serve and get the skills they need to be the servant-leaders we so desperately need today and tomorrow to save our children. So the next time any of us are tempted to criticize young people, I hope we will look first at what we adults are doing in our networks to show them we are there and care for them.

Every community needs a Freedom School or two or three or 10. Kansas City has 12. For more information about how you can begin to engage youths in purposeful advocacy and service for themselves and other children, call 202-662-3502 or visit our web site at www.childrensdefense.org. It's time to stand up for our children and to teach them to stand up for themselves.

Marian Wright Edelman is CEO and Founder of the Children's Defense Fund and its Action Council whose mission 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.