"We have to believe in the power of education to transform our communities for the better..."
I always knew I would be involved in education. The only question in my life has always been how I would be involved. The first day a teacher walks into a classroom the seriousness of your position hits you like a bolt of lightning. You enter in this room with about twenty-five sets of eyes focused on you, wanting nothing more than to be taught how to use the resources you have for them to navigate through this place we call time. It is our job as educators to empower them to do more than navigate but to dream big and work hard to live those dreams.
The very first day I decided to get involved in my community was after a wave of school violence seemed to take over the media while I was in junior high school. Little did I know that my decision to join the Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) would kick off a long career of community activism spanning the entire country.
After fighting to reclaim our my schools hallways in this California community, Fresno City Councilwoman Cynthia Sterling asked me to accept an appointment to the Edison Merger II Planning Committee at the age of 18. The body was tasked with helping the city redevelop an older, mostly poor area of the city not far from where I lived made up of a large black community. After spending more than a year on the committee I resigned in protest after the committee and City Council voted to take private property held by many black families, many times for decades dating back well over a hundred years, to instead use for private development. It was my first big political stance but one that I knew I had to take. The private development wasnt going to create long-term sustainable jobs for members of the community and the companies coming into the community werent interested in paying the families anything near what their homes were worth on the market. It became my first real experience with money and politics.
After leaving the committee I accepted a position in Washington, DC leading a literacy program in some of the citys most under performing schools. For the next six years I have worked as a teacher and administrator in schools in DC, Virginia, and Baltimore City before accepting my current role with a private school based in southeast DC for students in that community.
I am proud to now reside in Cheverly, Maryland in Prince Georges County where I continue my work fighting for real leadership with real solutions and new leaders as Executive Vice President of the Young Democrats of Maryland. I was also recently was appointed to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's Riders Advisory Council representing Prince Georges County and as President of the Prince Georges Association of Talented and Gifted. I also serve in a number of other community roles throughout Prince Georges County and the country.
This campaign will be nothing if we don't have the support of the community. Your support today is vital to ensuring we have the resources we need to win on election day. Any little bit helps but your giving will truly make a difference.
No one should ever run for a seat on the Board of Education to be somebody, they should run to do something.
Over the last year I have had the honor to work with teachers, students, parents, and community leaders all over our county to develop a plan I believe will help us move our school system forward. I call it my #PGCPSForward plan.
It breaks down the key themes of my campaign, "Restoring Leadership and Independence of the Board," "Making Education Reform a True Community Effort," and "Passing a Budget that Truly Makes Student Achivement Our Top Priority."
Read the details of my plan and then join me in an ongoing community conversation on how we move PGCPS forward.
PGCPSForward Memo REVISED.pdf
Reid Temple Youth Job Fair 1.21.12 10AM until 4PM
Bank of America's Student Leader's Program is for juniors and seniors who are destined to make a difference in their community. Students participate in: an eight-week paid internship at a nonprofit/charitable organization and a week-long Student Leadership Summit in Washington, DC (July). Application deadline is January 25th . Click here for more .
Make this summer count by getting a jump start on your career. Sign up today to get information about the new Department of Labor Summer Jobs Program. Click here.
Work at one of the nation's largest theme parks right here in Prince George's County. Apply today for Six Flags.
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Tel: (240) 342-6493
Email: info_josephkitchen.com
Website: josephkitchen.com
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