September 2020 Partner Highlights

City Kids Wilderness Project‘s Alumni Engagement and Success Partner, Priya Cook, wrote an op-ed for Parks and Recreation Magazine focused on the importance of nature being accessible to all. Cook discusses the impact COVID-19 has had on City Kid’s youth and their families. The pandemic has illuminated the need for equitable access to the outdoors, especially during this time of social isolation and institutional closures. The growing Black Lives Matter movement has also forced us to think about why some populations have historically had limited access nature and to think of ways to make the outdoors a resource for all.

Free Minds was recently featured in Washington City Paper  for their very special “On the Same Page: Virtual Write Night,” dedicated to hero, inspiration, and Civil Rights icon Congressman John Lewis. The virtual event featured over 350 volunteers from around the world and included remarks from author and educator Clint Smith III, John Lewis Fellow Shannon and Free Minds Poet Ambassador Gordon.

Generation Hope Founder and CEO Nicole Lynn Lewis published an opinion piece: “College students raising kids were in crisis before coronavirus. Lockdown made it worse” on NBCThink with Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab of the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice. They call on colleges making plans for the fall semester to respond to the reality of their students who are parenting, who make up 1 in 5 of today’s college students, to ensure they can persist and succeed in college and not get off track due to the pandemic.

Elijah Murphy and Niah Woods, two volunteer health educators at The Grassroot Project, were awarded the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award at ESPN’s The ESPY’s award show. Click here to learn more about the athletes’ accomplishments.

First Generation College Bound held their 30th Annual College Celebration in recognition of the class of 2020. Students represented a variety of colleges and universities, including Prince George’s Community College; Morgan State; Towson University; and Hampton University. The evening was a full circle moment for CEO and Founder Joseph Fisher: “Affirmative Action in the 1970’s provided me with an opportunity I will never regret. I was part of the third cohort of black first-generation students to attend Catholic University of America. I majored in education and earned my Masters In Urban Education from Morgan State University 10th Cycle Teacher Corp. I soon recognized the need for a college access program that removed barriers for students living in poverty. This led me to conceive the mission and vision for FCGB.” Click here to watch the full Virtual Graduation Program.