New District 20 Alder: Barbara Harrington-McKinney

My name is Barbara Harrington-McKinney. Next week I will be sworn in as the District 20 Alder. Thank you. I need to hear from YOU to set the District 20 agenda over the next two years! Together we have work to do as we build our community together creating safe spaces where District 20 and the City of Madison provide more opportunities for more people to THRIVE regardless of the district where they live or their zip code. 

My First District 20 Post: Education Assessment for our black/brown students: THE LOVE PROJECT- Kaleem Caire, One City School: I care about educating and supporting our children 

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Partners,

I am reaching out today with something that is close to my heart, and that I believe speaks to this moment in our community, our state, and our country.

Over the past several weeks, I have been writing a series of letters as part of an effort I am calling The Love Project. At its core, The Love Project is a call to action rooted in a simple yet urgent belief: the only way we are going to move this country toward something better is by choosing love over selfishness, kindness over envy, and generosity over division. It starts with how we show up for the children and families around us.

Today, I am sharing the first two letters I am writing as a part of the Project:

• A Letter to Black Students: a personal message from me to the young Black men and women in our community, grounded in my own story and honest about the challenges they are facing.
• A Letter to the Parents and Guardians of Black Children: a direct, data-driven, and loving message to the families who hold the most power in their children's education.

I am asking you to read both letters and share them with every Black child and every parent of a Black child that you know. Text them. Email them. Print them out and hand them to someone. These letters were written to reach people, and they can only do that if we carry them there together.

I am also completing a letter to our broader community at large, and another directed specifically to leaders across our state. Each letter in The Love Project is tailored to a different audience, but they all carry the same through-line: we must prepare our children to see the value in one another, and to possess the knowledge, talents, skills, and experiences that will equip them to build a better world together, across every difference that divides us. We need a generation of leaders who know how to listen with empathy, and inspire and empower the people around them, rather than harm, demean, or diminish them. That is the world we are working toward. And it starts with how we prepare our young people today, what we model for them through our own behaviors, attitudes, and commitments, and what we expect of them.

Wisconsin has the worst Black-white achievement gap in the nation. That is not a new problem. It has persisted for more than sixty years. The Love Project is not a program or a policy. It is a movement of the heart, one that I hope our community will embrace and carry forward together.

Thank you for standing with One City Schools, for believing in our children, and for being part of this work. I am grateful for each of you.

Onward,

KELEEM CAIRE 

One City School