Helen Blank
Helen Blank, Director of Child Care at
the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), works to expand
support for positive early care and education experiences
for children, especially low-income children. Ms. Blank
led a large-scale, successful effort to pass the first
comprehensive federal child care legislation and
organizing the Alliance for Better Child Care. She
developed a guide for the implementation of the
legislation that was used widely by state policymakers
and child care leaders. Ms. Blank also provided intensive
on-site technical assistance to states, working with them
to develop their child care plans for the new federal
funds. She proceeded to lead a largely successful
campaign to convince the Bush administration to issue
regulations for the new program that will allow states to
use the new federal funds in a manner that promotes the
best interests of children. She also led an effort to
improve the child care provision of the welfare act and
developed a guide to assist states in implementing the
provisions. She has worked for nearly two decades to
ensure that the Head Start program was not only expanded
to serve more children, but also maintained its focus on
community based, high quality, comprehensive services to
children.
She has authored major studies on state
child care policies, as well as co-authored The Child
Care Handbook, and Give More Children a Head Start,
Working Together for Children: Head Start and Child
Care Partnerships, and numerous articles and Papers
on child care policies. She has also organized other
successful coalitions to expand support for child care.
As Director of CDF's children's advocacy network, Ms.
Blank developed CDF Reports and Child Watch, a
project in collaboration with the Association of Junior
Leagues, which monitored the effects of the 1981 budget
cutbacks on children and families.
Ms. Blank has spearheaded the efforts
to improve services for children. At the Child Welfare
League of America, she was instrumental in the
development of child welfare reform legislation. Working
with the National Child Nutrition Project, she directed a
model food stamp outreach campaign in the Washington
Metropolitan area which not only significantly increased
food stamp participation, but also resulted in major
improvements in the administration of the program in
several local jurisdictions. Ms. Blank helped advocates
to replicate this campaign in a number of states. She
also developed an effort to create local hunger task
forces.
Ms. Blank is a member of the Advisory
Board of the National Council of the Jewish Women's
Center for the Child and the Child Care Food Program
Umbrella Sponsors' Steering Committee.
Ms. Blank has a Bachelor's Degree from
the University of Michigan and a Master's Degree in Urban
Planning from Hunter College of the City University of
New York.
She has two daughters, Liza and Molly.
Go To: Helen Blank's
Background Paper
April Agenda
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