New York State Assemblyman Carl Heastie – the first African American to serve as Speaker of the Assembly – took a tour of New Rochelle High School with Principal Reggie Richardson and Superintendent Brian Osborne Wednesday morning before taking place in a public panel discussion with local leaders that afternoon.
As the first municipality in Westchester County to accept Obama’s challenge, Heastie was on hand to learn about the city’s plan, alongside Assembly members Amy Paulin, Steve Otis and New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson.
That afternoon, the high school hosted a formal conversation between legislators, “My Brother’s Keeper” stakeholders, students and district leaders that was led by youth ambassadors and “My Brother’s Keeper” co-chairs Richardson and City Councilman Jared Rice.
In April, New Rochelle became the only municipality in Westchester to accept the challenge, which is a cradle-to-career initiative that is aimed toward assisting children to live and lead productive lives.
Since then, a steering committee comprised of members of the City Council, school district and prominent community members have been hard at work, tasked with “creating action steps to address six areas of focus – the goals of the challenge – that are critical to ensuring that youth can succeed from pre-K, all the way up through college and careers.”
Last month, the committee presented a 24-page Action Plan report that outlined the goals and steps that will be taken to meet Obama’s challenge. The co-chairs outlined a total of 27 goals, 33 action steps and 20 performance measures to address six milestones that need to be met.
“The My Brother's Keeper Community Challenge is about providing opportunities so that everyone can reach their potential, particularly, boys and young men of color," the steering committee said in a joint statement. "We all want success for our children, yet in our community, despite the diversity, rich history and cultural heritage of which we are so proud, we are not seeing success for all of our kids. The My Brother’s Keeper New Rochelle initiative seeks to build upon and improve the conditions in our community to ensure success for all.”
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