Kedvens Jean Jr. marched with 150 Freedom School scholars to the State House

By Melissa Watton

On Wednesday, July 19, over one hundred children from the Boston and Somerville Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools^® summer program sites led a march focusing on child hunger in the United States.

Parents and community members joined the youth, ranging from kindergarteners to eighth graders, as they marched from Boston Commons to the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial at the State House.

They participated with thousands of their peers in the Children’s Defense Fund’s 2017 National Day of Social Action to raise awareness about child hunger and the need to strengthen federal programs critical to ensuring all of America’s children a healthy start in life.

The children carried empty plates representing the 13.1 million children who go hungry every day in the nation.

Kedvens Jean Jr., 9, who attends Freedom Connexion in Somerville, addressed the crowd on the State House steps. “I felt really excited about speaking because I knew people would hear me and maybe we could actually change the world,” Jean Jr. said after the demonstration.

President Trump has proposed cutting $193 billion from the federal food stamp program over the ten years, which will reduce benefits by 25%. “Without programs like SNAP and WIC as well as healthy school lunches, there will be more kids added to the 13.1 million that are already facing child hunger,” Jean Jr. said.

Freedom School is a secular six-week summer literacy program offered to 30 students from Somerville. Rooted in the civil rights movement, the Freedom School creates a sense of hope, empowerment, and social justice.