RICHMOND – Marian Wright Edelman, the president of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) and best-selling author, will deliver the keynote address at the second annual Great Expectations Education Forum. The educational forum is hosted by the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education (VFCCE) and sponsored by Verizon to educate the public and business and community leaders about the unique challenges facing Virginia’s foster youth.
The forum will take place at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond on Friday, October 23 at 10:00 am. The event is free and open to the public, though advanced registration is required. You can register for the forum by visiting the Great Expectations Web site at www.GreatExpectations.vccs.edu.
Marian Wright Edelman has built a career of advocacy for children and the power of education.
A graduate of Spelman College and Yale Law School, Mrs. Edelman began her career in the mid-60s when, as the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar, she directed the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund office in Jackson, Mississippi. In l968, she moved to Washington, D.C., as counsel for the Poor People's Campaign that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began organizing before his death. She founded the Washington Research Project, a public interest law firm and the parent body of the Children's Defense Fund. For two years she served as the director of the Center for Law and Education at Harvard University and in 1973 began CDF.
Anne Holton, Virginia’s First Lady, will also be featured at the education forum, moderating a panel of Virginia foster youth. Also at the forum, an online resource center for foster youth, their families and social service practitioners will be unveiled.
“We are honored and thrilled to host Mrs. Edelman and the First Lady,” said Glenn DuBois, chancellor of Virginia’s Community Colleges. “Both are strong leaders who have has dedicated their lives to challenging the larger community to ensure that every child has the opportunity to meet their God-given potential. And that’s exactly what our Great Expectations program is all about.”
The Great Expectations program is a major initiative of the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education. Great Expectations, currently operating in more than half of Virginia’s 23 community colleges, is geared toward increasing the percentage of foster youth who enroll in and complete a college or workforce training programs and, ultimately, increasing the percentage of foster youth employed in high demand, high wage careers.
For more information about Great Expectations, please visit www.GreatExpectations.vccs.edu.
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About Virginia’s Community Colleges: Created more than 40 years ago, the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is comprised of 23 community colleges located on 40 campuses across the commonwealth. Together, Virginia’s Community Colleges serve more than a quarter-million credit students each year. For more information, please visit myfuture.vccs.edu.
About the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education: Working hand in hand with Virginia’s 23 community colleges, the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education seeks to guarantee financial assistance to all students who dream of attending college. The foundation is building an endowment that is already generating interest to provide full scholarships to selected community college students. Donors to the fund are invited to endow a single scholarship in their name and designate it to any of Virginia’s community colleges or regions. For more information, please visit www.vccs.edu/Foundation.
About the Children’s Defense Fund: The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) is a non-profit child advocacy organization that has worked relentlessly for 35 years to ensure a level playing field for all children. We champion policies and programs that lift children out of poverty; protect them from abuse and neglect; and ensure their access to health care, quality education and a moral and spiritual foundation. Supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations, CDF advocates nationwide on behalf of children to ensure children are always a priority. For more information, please visit www.childrensdefensefund.org.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jeffrey Kraus
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Public Relations
(804) 819-4949
jkraus@vccs.edu