NEW YORK, March 18, 2026 — The National CARES Mentoring Movement hosted its annual For the Love of Our Children fundraising gala on Monday, March 2nd at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City. Emceed by Emmy Award-winning journalist Tamron Hall, the evening brought together nearly 600 leaders from the worlds of business, philanthropy, the arts, and advocacy to reaffirm their commitment to the life-saving work that CARES does on behalf of the nation’s most impoverished, isolated, and vulnerable children.
National CARES provides holistic, trauma-healing programming in communities to advance children living in poverty. It is the singular organization in the U.S. implementing this work on a national scale. The annual gala showcased CARES’ work by fusing together music, dance, and storytelling with real-world facts about the crises our young face, and how adults can end them.
Grammy Award–winning artist, Ledisi opened the night with a soul-deep performance of her song, ‘BLKWMN;’ and poet, singer, songwriter and winner of multiple Grammy Awards, Jill Scott, provided a deeply moving close to the night, first serenading Susan L. Taylor with her own arrangement of Happy Birthday, complete with a just-written poem. She brought the house to tears, and then their feet, as she delivered her generation-defining song, “A Long Walk,” followed by a stunning new piece, “Beautiful People,” from her recently-released album, To Whom it May Concern, her first full-length project in over a decade.
One of the most meaningful moments of the night came when a CARES mentee, 24-year-old Marshai Bradley, was introduced to the audience. Bradley had participated in the organization’s signature program, The Rising, during a high school experience marked by housing and food insecurity and profound personal hardship. Reflecting on that time, she shared, “The Rising saved my life and the lives of my friends.” Guests learned that Bradley has since earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff, and in January of this year, achieved another milestone, signing the lease for her very own home.
“The gala was a beautiful moment of love, legacy, and responsibility. In celebrating 80 extraordinary years of Susan L. Taylor’s life and 20 years of National CARES work, we reaffirmed this truth: every child deserves to be seen, protected, nurtured, and fiercely loved,” said Renee Daniel Flagler, president of the National CARES Mentoring Movement.
Taking the stage before introducing Jill Scott, Susan L. Taylor, who is Editor-in-Chief Emerita of Essence magazine, offered passionately that, “In the wealthiest nation in the world, there is no moral justification for hungry children.” Taylor declared, “We choose love as action and community as strategy!”
For the Love of Our Children Gala was supported by Premier Sponsor, Casey Family Programs, Presenting Sponsors, FedEx and The Coca-Cola Company; Silver Sponsors, American Nurses Enterprise, Camelback Ventures, Georgia-Pacific, Grantmakers for Girls of Color, Sephora and TW Capital Group; and Bronze Sponsors, AARP, Amplified Voices TV, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Citi and Jatali Bellanton.