When I read, Together, A Future Without Limits, I read and I hear that the children in my community will get a quality education that allows them to choose and create their life, their path, their dreams.
This Is What KIPP’s New Tagline Means To Me
When I read Together, A Future Without Limits, I read and I hear that the children in my community will get a quality education that allows them to choose and create their life, their path, their dreams.
When I read together, I hear, KIPP, their teachers, its students and the families get to collaborate on what quality education looks like to be able to achieve great successes that isn’t limited to their race, gender or any other identity that is currently marginalized.
When I read future, I hear that KIPP believes there is a future available to them. That’s critically important! You know why? So many of our young people don’t believe they will live to the age of 30 years. The messaging is strong in this country. The disparities deeply impact life expectancy for Black and Latinx youth.
I also believe while future is aspirational, it is also inspirational. Acknowledging that they are gifts, that children come with talent, it speaks to the freedom to choose how they take their talents to contribute to the world.
But the most impactful is WITHOUT LIMITS. It is a commitment KIPP has embraced that together with families, students, and teachers, they will take all the talents and gifts they currently have and develop what they don’t have, TOGETHER to remove the barriers that exist to empower students to create a successful fulfilling life for themselves, which has the greatest potential to transform their communities.
That message speaks volumes to my family who have had several children attend charter schools! It spoke to the scores of families and students who were consulted. Read it again and understand that this speaks significantly different to my community. It speaks life, possibility, partnership, commitment, and accountability.
Work hard. Be nice.? Sure, that’s universal. But a future, without limits…that is not something that is readily available to my community.
Written by: Andie Davis, Executive Assistant to Claire Godwin Chief of Policy & Public Affairs – KIPP Foundation
