Nancy Carlsson-Paige is one of the recipients of this year’s RFK Children's Action Corps Award.

By Cathleen Twardzik

On June 9, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Professor of early childhood education at Lesley University in Cambridge, the place at which she has educated teachers for greater than 30 years, will be honored with the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps’ Embracing the Legacy Award for her long-time work on behalf of children and families.

She has been a Somerville resident for 14 years and is a devoted advocate for healthier, nonviolent schools and communities for all children and is a nationally renowned early childhood developmental expert.

Further, Carlsson-Paige was one of the founders of the university’s Center for Peaceable Schools. She has written and presented extensively about the impact of violence, especially in the media, on children’s lives and social development, as well as how children learn the skills which are crucial to foster caring relationships and to learn positive conflict resolution.

Carlsson-Paige has written five books and copious articles about media violence, conflict resolution, and peaceable schools and classrooms.

However, “I have published only one children’s book.  It was a story [about] two children who had a conflict and figured out a positive way to solve it.  My other books are for teachers and parents.  In those, I try to help adults understand children, how they develop, what they need, how they understand the world, so that the adults can begin to discover humane and helpful ways, instead of punitive ones, to deal with kids,” said Carlsson-Paige.

Her most recent book, Taking Back Childhood: A Proven Roadmap for Raising Confident, Creative, Compassionate Kids, highlights practical, hands-on ways in which parents can create safe, open, and imaginative environments that will ensure that children can flourish as human beings.

“We have to keep the big picture in mind as we advocate for children. We have to remember, as hard as it can be to face, that our nation ranks at the bottom among wealthy nations on comparisons of children’s well-being,” said Carlsson-Paige.

“Currently, we have more children living in poverty than any industrialized nation.  Twenty-three percent of our children now live in poverty, and that number has been rising.”

Whatever the issue may be, “We have to remember that too many children in our country do not have their basic needs met and that many of the problems we see in the work we do with children stem from poverty and the conditions it creates.  I advocate for humane environments for all children, for peaceable, nonviolent schools and communities, for education that begins with children’s needs and development, and for school reform that puts children, and not test scores, at the center of things,” said Carlsson-Paige.

Importantly, this award celebrates the spirit of the late senator’s belief that individuals can make a difference in the world and recognizes those who have courageously worked to eliminate injustice and inequity in society that affect children and families.

“Nancy was chosen as a Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps’ Embracing the Legacy award recipient for her work with families, schools and communities to create environments without violence,” said Ed Kelley, President and CEO of the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps.

In more depth, “Nancy represents the ideals and principles of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy,” he said.

“I am honored and humbled to be receiving the Embracing the Legacy Award and proud to be associated with an agency that works with underserved youth,” said Carlsson-Paige.

However, “Each one of those dedicated professionals deserves an award.  I don’t know how the committee chose me, but I stand for all these other people as well as for myself when I receive it,” she said.

In which projects involving advocacy for children would Carlsson-Paige like to become involved in the future? “I’ve been a child advocate [for] my whole adult life and can’t imagine living any other way.  Most recently, I have become alarmed by the test-driven education reforms intensifying since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind legislation passed ten years ago.  These policies have resulted in a narrowing of curriculum in schools, loss of the arts, play, and hands on learning, recess, field trips, and in general, loss of curriculum that is based in children’s needs, interests, and active learning.”

This event’s goal is to raise money to support The Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps.

Over 300 people are expected to attend the event, which will include a cocktail reception, seated dinner, and program.

Included in the evening will be the presentation of the Embracing the Legacy Awards to the following honorees: Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and President of the Children’s Defense Fund, Peter Edelman, Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, Lael Chester, Executive Director of Citizens for Juvenile Justice and Terry L. Cross, Founder of the National Indian Child Welfare Association.

A portion of Investigation Discovery’s documentary, which is entitled Children of Promise: The Legacy of Robert F. Kennedy and showcases the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps as a leader in child welfare and juvenile justice, will be shown that night.

The documentary, which aired May 20 on the Investigation Discovery Network, features three former clients of the agency: Tom Brokaw, NBC News Anchor, as well as Kerry Kennedy and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, both of whom are daughters of the late senator.

The event will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum at Columbia Point in Boston.

Tickets each cost $300, and corporate sponsorship opportunities are available.

For tickets or more information about sponsorships contact Lisa Sikora at (617) 227-4183 or at, lsikora@rfkchildren.org, or www.rfkchildren.org.