Promising Practices Event 2013

                              As students in FNED346 at Rhode Island College,we were invited to attend the 16th Annual Multicultural Conference known as Promising Practices. I feel as though if I had taken this class after the conference I would not have been able to make the type of distinctions that I was.At this point I have new tools in my "toolbox" which have helped me to become a more educated audience. Moments that may have gone unnoticed or not analyzed would have been the result.

Entering the conference I didn't know what to expect.There was already so many people in the Donovan Dining Center . When I walked in to the room it was a little overwhelming. I quickly found our class and was happy to be able to sit together. A couple of us even joked that we were like a little family. I feel that is very much true. I really enjoy coming to our class meetings and look forward to hearing what everyone has to say. It is nice to be able to learn among great people.

Once the conference began our "plenary session" was first on our itinerary.A panel was put together in order to conduct a dialogue. There were microphones placed throughout the seating area set up much like a "town hall meeting". Our panel was comprised of three presidents of college and universities,a superintendent, two president and CEOs and the Mayor of Providence.Our Moderator was a personality from Rhode Island Public Radio.

As expected most of the questions were directed towards the Mayor, understandably so. Many people in Rhode Island are upset about the state of our current educational system and he seemed to be the closest person to question. Upon answering many of the questions asked of him I felt a connection to Richard Rodriguez when listening to the answers.How do you stay true to yourself and make a difference.I can imagine that coming from a dominantly Hispanic background and from humble means that not many other government officials are similar to you.I could see this as an issue for the reason the Rodriguez points out, there's a struggle. A conflict when home culture and work culture forcably perform a tug of war. When listening to the Mayor he chose his words carefully and made good points. Being a figure in the community and in this case politics, the struggle I feel would be a difficult one. I would want to stay true to my culture however there is that "public identity" that needs to be preserved. What a struggle that would be for someone. As a political figure you want to be accepted by everyone (especially voters) , does this mean that to be in the spot light the Mayor does have a "public identity" . I feel when he was putting his point across something was getting lost or at least misconstrued. 

I wasn't exactly sure what it was that was bothering me with the Mayor's points but something wasn't sitting right.When I came home and was able to think about it more( looking in my toolbox of what we've learned) Kozol came to mind. During our reading of Jonathan Kozol, he states his disagreement with a commonly thought idea. "If poor people behaved rationally, they would seldom be poor for long", Kozol disagrees with this idea and so do I. I felt as though the Mayor was continually speaking about how he achieved the "American Dream". He spoke quite frequently about how he was able to over come his circumstances. I do agree that it is important to make the best of your situation and try your best but as an audience member reading between the lines it seemed as though he was saying "all you have to do is try your best and you can be successful". Meaning on the flip side anyone that had not succeeded from the Mayor's neighborhood or similar circumstance had not worked hard at it (if they wanted to succeed all they need to do is try). Kozol teaches us this is not always the case. There are many people that work hard,try and make all the right moves and seem to still fall victim. Many times people are in a sense "dropped" by the system a victim of circumstance. I feel during the panel talks especially from the Mayor nothing was talked about how to fix the "broken machine" that is the school system.I understand that as a public official you are always on your soapbox always campaigning and always trying to say what's "neutral". However many people attended the conference to talk about ways to change a broken system and the only message that was heard was "do it like me, if I can do it anyone can, if you fail it must have meant you didn't try,the system is fine it's people that are broken".

Of the three sessions I attended many things were expressed. I learned a great amount in regards to conflict resolution, a program referred to as "Project Citizen" and leadership through community. My favorite session that I attended was called " Real Voice, Real Action, Real Results. I felt that real change was being made through this program. This session spoke about a program in place with the town of North Providence and Tri-Town Community Action. This particular program helps high school age students communicate with leaders in their town to create change. Due to the creation of this program graduation rate ,college attendance and military service has gone up in the city. A Summer leadership program is in place to train young people as well as weekly meetings with town and community leaders. Young people in the community experience an "open door policy" with the mayor and he is always free to talk to them. Students are even able to choose how changes in the community can be made. And raise funds for town improvement. I feel there is a strong connection to Kahne & Westheimer and the work being done by these young people with the help of community adults. I feel the young people that were being discussed and the ones sharing their stories at the session really were involved to make a difference. We were told many of the students involved in the program were considered "high risk". These are students that were not always exactly excited about school. I feel they expressed the true idea of change while acting in charity. These students did not have to give up their summer but they did , in the name of helping.

Seeing things differently,through a new perspective.

I was happy to have been able to go to the Promising Practices Conference, it was nice to learn about programs in our area as well as evaluate real life dialogue (like that of the Mayor) with the new vision which we have been given. New glasses to see the world through.