Jan 2, 2018 12:00:00 AM
by Erika Sanzi
While the effort targets Head Start and early childhood development, Samuel said, it also helps older children. 'From the womb to college, we support them. It’s about meeting children where they are,' Samuel said. 'All children matter.' Older youth get assistance with job applications and registering how to vote. Boys get free ties and help in learning how to tie them. 'Everything is so tense right now in terms of politics,' Samuel said. 'People are always saying children are the future, but what are we doing today?'After 10 days of criss crossing the state, most people I know would have gone home to get in their pj's and watch some TV or curl up with a good book. Not Gwen. She and her organization hosted a one-day symposium entitled, "The Perils and Promises In the Education of Black, Latino and Poor Children in Connecticut," in Hartford. Panelists flew in from Philadelphia and Indiana and the keynote speaker came in from Oklahoma. Educators, coaches, parents, advocates and elected officials also sat on the panel. In the audience, where I spent the day, there were elected officials and attorneys who specialize in children’s rights and people who run schools. But most importantly, there were also parents and guardians who are living the day-to-day experience of inequity and systemic racism in their children’s schools. There were tears. And I could see pain and fear. But I also heard each of them talk about how Gwen has given them hope and how lost they felt before they found her.
Erika Sanzi is a mother of three sons and taught in public schools in Massachusetts, California and Rhode Island. She has served on her local school board in Cumberland, Rhode Island, advocated for fair school funding at the state level, and worked on campaigns of candidates she considers to be champions for kids and true supporters of great schools. She is currently a Fordham senior visiting fellow.
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