The Women’s Interfaith Dialogue of Oak Ridge has scheduled a group visit to the Alex Haley Farm in Clinton on April 6, and participants will enjoy a presentation and a lunch on site. Those who wish may stay for a 90-minute walking tour (for a $5 fee) of the expansive grounds.

Purchased in 1994 by the Children’s Defense Fund, the 157-acre Haley Farm is a countryside retreat consisting of guest cottages, chapel, meeting lodge, and library. The facility connects young leaders and activists with the heritage of the struggle for freedom, and it is where policy makers and community builders come to connect, recharge their spiritual and physical batteries, and brainstorm strategies.  The Children’s Defense Fund and its many programs have transformed Haley Farm into a training ground for the next generation of leadership, advocacy, and service for children and families.

Haley Farm houses several programs for the CDF, including Freedom Schools. The Freedom Schools are “inspired by the civil rights movement’s Freedom Summer of 1964, when community leaders organized Black Americans to register to vote,” a press release said. The program has trained more than 6,000 high school and college-age leaders who serve first and then lead in order to increase service to institutions and individuals. These young leaders, in turn, teach “children ages 5 to 18 for six to eight weeks, integrating reading, conflict resolution, and social action in activity-based curricula.” [Read more…]