"You are the hope of the future." That's the message Marian Wright Edelman, executive director of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), gave more than 1,500 excited college students and recent graduates as they began a week-long training for the CDF's Freedom Schools. She was preparing them for a daunting task--that of transforming the educational prospects for thousands of students across the country. Modeled after the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Schools, which were designed to change a community by giving residents the tools to develop leaders and exercise their political power, modern Freedom Schools--such as those run by the CDF--emphasize the connection between education and freedom. Their main goal is to replace the cradle-to-prison pipeline with a cradle-to-college track. The CDF Freedom Schools curriculum focuses on five content areas: (1) academic enrichment; (2) parent and family involvement; (3) social action and civic engagement; (4) intergenerational leadership; and (5) nutrition and health. Many Freedom School graduates feel compelled to become servant leaders when they reach adulthood. They have firsthand knowledge of the power of the program and want to pay it forward.