Looking Ahead: Over Four Decades of Impact and a Bold Vision for the Future

As we mark another year in the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP)’s legacy, we reflect on the extraordinary journey we’ve taken and feel immense pride and gratitude for all we’ve accomplished. Since our founding over four decades ago, CSSP has worked tirelessly to transform public systems, partner with communities, and advance public policy that centers equity and justice. Together, with our partners, we have made lasting changes that have strengthened families and communities across the country.

Four months into 2025, our work has never been more urgent. Millions of children and families are facing increasing threats to the programs, supports, and protections they rely on. In the United States, we’re witnessing escalating attacks on the safety, dignity, and civil rights of millions of children and families who have been historically and systemically marginalized.

In this moment, CSSP is more committed than ever to the promise of a healthy, inclusive, and thriving democracy. Guided by our new strategic plan, we are stepping into the next phase of our work with renewed clarity and purpose. Our plan is a blueprint not just for the next few years, but for a future where justice is central to public policy and systems, and families have the supports and opportunities to live happily and healthily. It charts a path forward, rooted in the core values that have shaped CSSP since the beginning, and anchored by what we call our North Star.

A North Star That Guides Our Work

CSSP’s North Star is both our guiding light and our moral compass. It reflects our unwavering commitment to racial justice and defines three interconnected areas where we are focusing our work:

• Economic Justice: Every family should have the resources it needs not just to survive but to thrive. This includes the ability to afford necessities, spend meaningful time together, pursue opportunities, and build futures that reflect their hopes and dreams.
• Health Justice: Every child, youth, and family should have access to high-quality, culturally affirming, and community-centered health supports. But justice goes beyond access—it’s also about creating the conditions where health and well-being are truly prioritized.
• Family Autonomy: Every family deserves the rights, resources, and agency to make decisions for themselves—to raise their children in safe, loving environments and to live with dignity in communities of their choosing.

Racial justice is the throughline in all of this. We recognize that racism and other forms of oppression have long shaped our systems and policies in ways that disadvantage entire communities. Our work is grounded in an anti-racist framework that seeks to both redress past harms and reimagine a more equitable future.

How We Work: Responsive, Rooted, and Relentless

At CSSP, we’ve always believed that solutions must be developed with communities, not for them. That’s why our work is deeply informed by parents, young people, caregivers, and the community-based organizations we partner with across the country. We bring people together to have hard conversations, generate bold ideas, and co-create practical solutions. We conduct research to understand history and context because we can’t change the future without knowing how we got here. We engage directly with public systems, bringing evidence-based strategies to help make meaningful changes in people’s lives. And, we stay laser-focused on what families say they want and need because that’s where real transformation begins. This approach has led to measurable and meaningful changes in public policy and systems, from early childhood programs and economic security efforts to health equity and youth justice. And, it’s why our work has stood the test of time for nearly five decades.

Our Strategic Plan: A Call to Action

Our new strategic plan reflects everything we’ve learned and everything we hope to become. It’s flexible enough to respond to the shifting policy landscape, yet firmly grounded in our values and long-term vision. This isn’t just a plan for the next three years. It’s a foundational framework that positions us to shape policy and systems for the next many decades to come. And it’s a call to everyone who shares our commitment to justice and promise of democracy: join us.

Creating a society where all families can thrive requires aligned, purposeful, and sustained action. It will take collaboration across sectors, geographies, and lines of difference. And it will demand courage—the courage to challenge injustice, the courage to reimagine what’s possible, and the courage to act boldly, even when the path is difficult.

Join Us on This Journey

To realize our North Star, we must be both visionary and practical. We must dream big and execute strategically. We must draw on the strength of our history—and listen deeply to those leading change today. This is the work of justice. It’s the work of transformation. And it’s the work that CSSP is committed to for the long haul.

So, to our longtime partners, funders, community leaders, and champions: thank you for walking alongside us. And to those we haven’t yet worked with but who share our vision, we invite you in.

Together, we can ensure that justice is at the center of public policy and build a future where every child, family, and community has what they need to be healthy, happy, and free.

The road ahead is long, but our North Star is bright. Let’s keep moving forward—together.

Forward Ever, Backwards Never.
Leonard D. Burton, President and Chief Executive Officer
Leticia Peguero, MPA, Board Chair