Canada lights up a room. His voice is booming and distinctive (and not just because you remember it from a Waiting for Superman or The Lottery interview), but mostly because when he talks about the children of Harlem, you sense how much he loves his life's work. You can actually picture the kids' faces, the teachers' creativity and drive, and the parents' profound gratefulness that someone has given their kids more opportunity than they were afforded.
Fordham's hometown of Dayton is the perfect place to hear this. It's one of Ohio's poorest cities, and despite all of our efforts on the ground there, the city is a constant reminder of how tragically difficult it is to improve outcomes for poor kids. In Dayton Public Schools, over three fourths of kids attend a school rated D or F. No children go to a school rated Excellent.
Canada's assessment for Dayton?and the nation?is right. Our communities simply can't afford to have so many young people unemployed (or in jail), especially African American boys. It's an issue of global competitiveness and our economic health, but more than that?a moral and spiritual imperative.
Canada expressed lots of quote-worthy things and for those who make a living in education reform, most of it we've heard before. But one thing really stood out: Here in Ohio, we've been so busy for the past several years thinking about state-level policy issues that inhibit districts and schools from serving kids better. There are loads of antiquated laws and regulations, and Fordham's been at the forefront of demanding that the state stop putting up roadblocks when it comes to reforming K-12 education.
But if Ohio rolls back senseless laws and requirements, or even mandates new ones (like requirements for teacher evaluation taking root in other states), there still remains a gap between what state or local-level policy can achieve, and what it takes to actually exterminate achievement gaps. In that space resides a level of leadership, activism, and drive (that Canada embodies perfectly) that is both difficult to measure and hard to foster. It's not like you can just plant a Geoffrey Canada down in Dayton and other urban communities and wait for grassroots reform to grow.
I was reminded of this as Canada described how HCZ's work unfolded: ?No one from the federal or state or whatever level of government was going to come in and fix it for us. We didn't ask permission; we just did it.? It takes a certain kind of leadership and heart for one's community to inspire a HCZ-degree of transformation. We'll find out (somewhat) if it can be replicated in the 21 Promise Neighborhood communities across the US. Until then, Canada's words both inspire and cause anxiety: ?Hope is as infectious as despair.? That's true, but only comforting to a small degree; it's far easier to work in the realm of policies, legislative language, regulations, and rules than it is to deal with the more enigmatic concepts of the human spirit.
- Jamie Davies O'Leary
