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United Way Blog

LIVE BLOGGING the Education Town Hall

Post Event

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11:57 am - EVENT CONCLUDES

The Town Hall just wrapped up. Continue the conversation online. Check back soon for a recording of the live Town Hall. Thanks for watching, reading and participating. LIVE UNITED!

11:50 am

Before going to the audience for final comments, Soledad O’Brien introduced Ann Stallard, chair of the U.S. Board of Trustees for United Way. She co-founded the Women’s Leadership Council in 1999, which now has more than 50,000 members nationwide. At the Council’s Women’s Leadership Summit in January, they adopted Early Grade Reading as a national focus. Ann Stallard pledged to activate her network in support of United Way’s challenge to mobilize one million new volunteer readers, tutors, and mentors. The Women's Leadership Council to committed to recruit at least 100,000 volunteers toward the national goal.

11:38 am

Nnamdi Asomugha is on stage. He has been called one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, followed. He recently published an op-ed highlighting the importance of teamwork. Beyond football, he has reached his achievements in life by having strong teams behind him. United Way and other organizations can work together to create a team in a community that can get behind every child. Nnamdi Asomugha has been doing his part by taking a group of kids on a tour of college campuses each year. Most are the first in their families to attend college.

11:35 am

Alma Powell, who founded the America’s Promise Alliance with her husband General Colin Powell spoke next. America’s Promise is a partnership of corporations, nonprofits, faith-based organizations and advocacy groups passionate about improving the lives of children. She was joined by Michael Powell, co-chair of Grad Nation and President and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. Mrs. Powell stated that with leadership and focus, America can reach a 90% graduation rate by 2020. Last year, America’s Promise Alliance, Civic Enterprises, and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University collaborated on a report called Building a Grad Nation. One of the things we highlighted is that a relatively small percentage of high schools nationwide—about 12%—account for nearly 50% of all students who drop out. Most of them are children of color. Turning these numbers around can be done. According to Alma Powell, more than half of the states in the country increased their graduation rates from 2002 – 2008.

Margaret Spellings, the former Secretary of Education, joined the conversation as well. She said, United Way’s report points out, many parents feel disconnected from their kids’ schools. Groups like United Way can help parents connect with each other, with schools, and with the community so they can make sure that education is getting the attention it needs at all levels. She also said that it is going to take effective teachers, responsive administrators, and the political will to fund education and not settle for anything less than top-flight results to significantly reduce the dropout rate and move our country forward. But, volunteer readers, tutors, and mentors do play a key role in improving student performance.

11:26 am

After Secretary Duncan and Melody Barnes left, Deloitte CEO Barry Salzberg took the stage to provide advice for companies that want to encourage employees to volunteer. He said that volunteers can make a big difference. We understand and value the impact that our employees can have. When we apply the same commitment, talent and teamwork we use to serve our clients to help people in need, we can make a significant difference in our communities. This is especially true for volunteers who work with young people– the research proves it.

11:15 am

Secretary Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, and Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council have taken the stage to discuss the Obama Administration’s support for education in general, and mentoring and tutoring in particular.

Earlier this month, Secretary Arne Duncan was in Boston with President Obama and Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The President talked about the importance of shared responsibility between the public and private sectors to promote educational strategies that prepare students for the future. Secretary Duncan stated that volunteering in mentoring and other programs is “shared responsibility coming to life.”

Melody Barnes spoke about President Obama’s view of education policy as “economic policy.” She said that to compete in the global marketplace, which means, at a minimum, a high school education for every American.

10:57 am

HUGE announcement: United Way CEO Brian Gallagher just announced that United Way will recruit one million volunteer readers, tutors, and mentors in the next 3 years. “Think of the possibilities if 1 million people read to pre-schoolers, drill fourth-graders on their math skills, or help high school seniors fill out college applications? Think of what you can do—then multiply it by $1 million.” Amazing! Take the pledge to become a volunteer.

To reach this goal, United Way will need the help of its partners. He introduced Patrick Corvington, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “One in four young people don’t graduate high school, including 40% of minority students. That is unacceptable.” “One of the things volunteers do, is to offer students the vision of a future they can’t otherwise imagine… “ "Thanks United Way for putting forth this challenge. Now let's get to work!"

10:40 am

Soledad O’Brien interviewed several community members:

Washington, DC community member Gloria McGee, whose story was portrayed in the film “Waiting for Superman,” spoke to the importance of every child having “a parent or grandparent who is willing to push when they have to.” Gloria is raising her grandson Anthony, and has had to navigate the Washington, DC schools on his behalf. “I am Anthony’s #1 champion, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure my grandson succeeds.”

Father Joe Palacios, Georgetown University Professor, Catholic priest and community organizer, discussed the role of the faith community in supporting a values system that supports students and challenges parents to get involved.

Margaret McKenna, a Walmart employee, spoke about the role her company is playing to support education locally. Margaret is president of the Walmart Foundation, and is a leader in her company’s corporate giving and other philanthropic initiatives. Walmart’s approach is two fold: maximizing community impact by investing in local causes ($467 million in cash and in-kind charitable donations in 2010); and meeting the needs of their associates and families. With more than 1.4 million employees in the U.S., Walmart gave $53 million to fund educational programs in communities across the country, and an additional $9 million in scholarships.

10:23 am

Soledad O’Brien introduced Cornell Belcher, whose firm Brilliant Corners Research and Strategies conducted United Way’s national survey. Belcher said the results of national survey back up what people said in community conversations. Almost one-third of parents in challenged areas are worried that their own children may drop out of school. The survey found that people are welling to step up and help. More than half have volunteered some way in the past year.

10:18 am

Soledad O’Brien introduced Rich Harwood, founder and head of the Harwood Institute. The Harwood Institute “seeks nothing less than to spark fundamental change and authentic hope in American public life.” It developed the framework to carry out community conversations in United Way’s report. In conducting community conversations we heard many salient comments, including: “Education is independence” and “Education is choices and hope.” The report found that good schools and good communities go hand-in-hand. When the community is unsafe or fragmented, the school is often suffering, too. People feel disconnected of schools, though they are supportive of teachers. Communities have to decide to get involved again. People are willing to pitch in to help.

10:15 am

Brian Gallagher took the stage to discuss United Way’s Goals for the Common Good. The goals relate to three areas: Education, Income, and Health. They are about changing lives and improving communities. United Way challenged the nation, and ourselves, to cut by half the number of young people who drop out of high school by 2018.

Today, United Way is releasing a national report on education, that represents the voices of thousands of everyday people from across the country. The report has many significant findings First, good schools and communities go hand-in-hand; second, we need to focus on the whole child—not only the academics; and third, people from all walks of life care about education and are ready to work to improve it.

10:07 am

CNN’s Soledad O’Brien (twitter | bio) just took the stage to huge applause. She is joined by United Way Worldwide CEO Brian Gallagher, Rich Harwood (twitter | bio) of the Harwood Institute, and pollster Cornell Belcher. In addition to the audience at Trinity Washington University, several watching parties are connecting via webcam, and hundreds of people are participating on the virtual town hall website.