Shannon Daley-Harris

The Rev. Shannon Daley-Harris is the Director of the Children’s Defense Fund’s Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy Ministry and guides other aspects of CDF’s partnership with the faith community. Shannon’s work includes speaking, preaching, leading retreats and workshops, and consulting with religious groups from the national to the local level. She leads women’s spiritual retreats for CDF and writes resources for the faith community including the annual multi-faith National Observance of Children’s Sabbath manual. Shannon has served the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) for more than 26 years in various capacities. While serving as CDF’s Director of Religious Affairs, she created the National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths in 1992 and launched the Proctor Institute for Child Advocacy Ministry in 1995. Shannon’s most recent book is "Hope for the Future: Answering God's Call to Justice for Our Children" (Westminster John Knox Press, 2016) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0664261639/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=. Her other many publications include: "Our Day to End Poverty: 24 Ways You Can Make a Difference" (with Jeffrey Keenan and Karen Speerstra, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2007), "A Child Advocate’s Concordance to the Holy Bible," "Holding Children in Prayer: An Advent Devotional Guide," and "Welcome the Child: A Child Advocacy Guide for Churches" (with Kathleen A. Guy). She edited "Thus Far on the Way: Toward a Theology of Child Advocacy" by the Rev. Dr. Eileen W. Lindner (Witherspoon Press, 2006) and was a contributor to "Hope for Children in Poverty: Profiles and Possibilities" (Ronald J. Sider and Heidi Unruh, editors. Judson Press, 2007), "Prayers for a New Social Awakening" (Chris Iosso, ed., Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), "Preaching God’s Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary" (Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), and "Feasting On the Gospels" (Westminster John Knox Press). Shannon began her professional life as a teacher at a school for children with learning disabilities in Trenton, N.J., and then tutored children and adults in neighborhoods most affected by the Troubles in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She graduated from Brown University magna cum laude (Religious Studies concentration) and earned her Master of Divinity summa cum laude from Wesley Theological Seminary. She is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Shannon is married to Sam Daley-Harris, founder of two international advocacy organizations on ending global poverty, RESULTS and the Microcredit Summit Campaign, who currently heads the Center for Citizen Empowerment and Transformation. They are the parents of Micah and Sophie. They divide their time between Princeton, N.J., where they make their home, and Washington, D.C. and other parts of the country and world where their work calls them.