Thank you for your compliment. I appreciate that. This is so not about me. This is about “we”.
When I think about what the college is doing.... We've done our research, looking at the increase in the aging population over the next 35 years. We've looked at the increase in poverty that we are experiencing, not only from our community but from our student body. What I can honestly say is that the key to breaking this cycle of poverty is education. Education has to be new, integrated, and developed in a new, innovative way that provides experiential learning opportunities.
The language around poverty needs to change. That's what we are challenging with our students being involved. It's not “those” people. It's “we” people, because every one of us is impacted by poverty and homelessness. We're all impacted by it. We need to see that we bring strength to the solution. The college has developed three initiatives. One of them is called the generations project. We hope to bring a hub together for all of the volunteer organizations and use all of that as an opportunity for experiential learning.