The RISE education initiative in Colorado
Solving education inequity in America wont happen overnight, but there are grassroots efforts taking place around the country with that colossal goal in mind. SEE…
RISE Colorado co-founders Veronica Palmer, Milagros Barsallo and Tangia Al-awaji Estrada. Both Palmer and Barsallo are Teach For America alumnae. TFA is a non- profit organization that works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty. (Credit: Teach For America)
Solving education inequity in America wont happen overnight, but there are grassroots efforts taking place around the country with that colossal goal in mind.
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Take for instance, RISE Colorado, which was created less than a year ago by Latinas Veronica Palmer, Milagros Barsallo and Tangia Estrada. The groups mission statement is to educate, engage and empower low-income families and families of color to end educational inequity in Colorado public schools.
What brought us together was that we all shared a belief that families of students most impacted by educational inequities are valuable stakeholders that are not currently being involved in the movement, Barsallo told VOXXI. A lot of us in this field have information about the opportunity gaps, so we chose to work with urgency to find a solution.
RISE Colorado co-founders Tangia Al-awaji Estrada and Milagros Barsallo, Teach For America founder and CEO Wendy Kopp and RISE Colorado co-founder Veronica Palmer. (Credit: Teach For America)
Part of that solution involves educating families regarding the obstacles and challenges their children are going to face to find success. Barsallo said her RISE Colorado partners share a belief that just like in past social justice movements that were systematic in nature, the issue today is underprivileged families often arent aware an education inequality exists.
RISE Colorado currently bridges the lack of access to information by working on the ground in three Aurora Public Schools, as well as with Aurora refugee communities (Nepali, Somali, and Burmese) and recently piloted a secondary high school partnership in Denver.
With Latino families, there needs to be support for families in being comfortable and feeling confident enough to engage with their school and the school system in a way that makes sense for them, Estrada told VOXXI.
We see Latino families often referring to the professional in the room and having a lot of respect for their school leaders and teachers, but out of that respect not feeling confident enough in their own education background to be able to question or challenge things about whats happening.
Explaining that cultural barrier is what RISE Colorado has successfully accomplished by staging 13 recent workshops where dozens of parents learn firsthand the importance of getting involved in their childs education.
RISE Colorado co-founders Veronica Palmer, Tangia Al-awaji Estrada and Milagros Barsallo. Both Palmer and Barsallo are Teach For America alumnae. Credit: Teach For America)
We had 100 percent of our families agree they learned new information, wanted to get more involved and they will not allow their children to become another statistic of not graduating from high school, not graduating from college, Palmer told VOXXI. So we have data that our workshops are working. There is a need for them. And families want to continue to learn more.
In terms of making a difference in the community and garnering attention on a national level, RISE Colorado was recently announced as a 2014 Teach For America Social Innovation Award Winner. The annual competition provides budding Teach For America alumni entrepreneurs seed funding and professional coaching.
Teach For America,which works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty, awarded $80,000 and 10 hours of consulting support to RISE Colorado.
Its a huge help to grow our program to reach more families where we work in Aurora, Barsallo said. In addition, being three young Latinas who started this organization, its a really powerful validation of the importance that our leadership brings to our community, and to the movement for educational equity.”
Were really proud we were selected as the winners because it shows that our perspective in what were bringing to the table is different and necessary about what solutions can end educational inequities.
