Throughout my professional journey in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement at the Education Department, I had the privilege of serving as part of the D.C. desk during the Clinton administration. Inspired by the State Department’s country “desks,” this desk was established in response to Superintendent Franklin Smith’s request for a dedicated point of contact. At that time, D.C. schools were facing significant challenges and needed immediate attention.
Among the notable initiatives introduced by the Education Department was “Together We Can.” This program aimed to provide coordinated social, safety, and health services to low-income Title I schools. Over time, although these schools were far from perfect, they showed improvement and became more manageable.
After reading Colbert I. King’s op-ed on July 1 titled “A bleak message to D.C. youths: Your city is not safe,” I couldn’t help but consider a similar approach that could be taken to support families in D.C. who have experienced the loss or injury of a child due to gun violence. The idea would be to actively engage with these families, seeking their input on the type of assistance they need the most and then striving to develop and deliver the services accordingly. By doing so, D.C.’s social, health, and safety services would gain a deeper understanding of these families and the unique challenges they face.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
