“It’s important for parents to understand their power off the rip,” says Sharlonda Buckman, CEO of the Detroit Parent Network, describing her organization’s work with parents, beginning in infancy. “We have to remind them, empower them, really give them opportunities to practice and engage the power that they actually have.”
Too often, law- and policy-makers “don’t have any idea what poverty looks like in action,” Buckman told We Act Radio’s Education Town Hall. “They have no idea what it means to get up and catch three buses to get your kid to school every day only to get there and have your kid turned away because they have the wrong color t-shirt on…not to mention that they spent their last to get that uniform.”
The Detroit Parent Network has a 13-year history of listening and responding to the needs of parents and other caregivers, working to help parents find strength together, and pushing back against harmful stereotypes. Buckman discusses her group’s unusual approach on track 4 below —
The Education Town Hall broadcasts from Historic Anacostia in Washington, DC, Thursdays
at 11:00 a.m. Eastern on We Act Radio.
Listen live via TuneIn.
Shows are archived for convenient listening shortly after broadcast.
The Education Town Hall BUS is a monthly program
organized by BadAss Teachers, United Opt Out, and SOS March.
The program regularly airs on the 4th Thursday of each month.
Education Town Hall Forum 