LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Great Public Schools --
A Basic Right for YOUR Child.

You are your child's first teacher and their greatest advocate. NEA knows this and wants to stand with you and your child. We're providing resources and tools you can use to help your child succeed in school. You can help us improve America's public schools and ensure that all of our children reach their potential.

NEA is scheduling Town Hall Meetings to engage Caribbean and African communities in becoming strong advocates of public education. These will be updated as dates are confirmed, so please check back regularly.

NEW YORK
Caribbean Town Hall -- Summer 2008, Date TBD
African Town Hall -- Summer 2008, Date TBD

Slideshow: 'Jerk' Chicken Festival

Our outreach efforts were well-received this past summer in Atlanta. See for yourself!

Stand Up For Your Child's Education!

Sign up for our free electronic newsletter.	Contact your member of Congress.

English As A Second Language (ESL)

'No Child Left Behind'

Parental Assistance

School Safety

Teacher Quality/Certification

Student Success

Drop Out Prevention

Uniforms

» I Love My African Child
» I Love My Haitian Child
» I Love My Jamaican Child
» I Love My Trini Child

Should you be able to pick your child's teachers?

According to a newspaper article ("Picky parents ask for certain teachers," Atlanta Journal- Constitution, July 31, 2006), parents in metro Atlanta were contacting school administrators in record numbers. Their goal? To make sure their children were matched with teachers whom parents felt were best suited to address the needs of their children.

Should parents have a say in the matter, or is the decision best left to school administrators?

Visit our message board and tell us what you think.

LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Great Public Schools --
A Basic Right for YOUR Child.

You are your child's first teacher and their greatest advocate. NEA knows this and wants to stand with you and your child. We're providing resources and tools you can use to help your child succeed in school. You can help us improve America's public schools and ensure that all of our children reach their potential.

NEA is scheduling Town Hall Meetings to engage Caribbean and African communities in becoming strong advocates of public education. These will be updated as dates are confirmed, so please check back regularly.

NEW YORK
Caribbean Town Hall -- Summer 2008, Date TBD
African Town Hall -- Summer 2008, Date TBD

Slideshow: 'Jerk' Chicken Festival

Our outreach efforts were well-received this past summer in Atlanta. See for yourself!

Stand Up For Your Child's Education!

Sign up for our free electronic newsletter.	Contact your member of Congress.

English As A Second Language (ESL)

'No Child Left Behind'

Parental Assistance

School Safety

Teacher Quality/Certification

Student Success

Drop Out Prevention

Uniforms

» I Love My African Child
» I Love My Haitian Child
» I Love My Jamaican Child
» I Love My Trini Child

Should you be able to pick your child's teachers?

According to a newspaper article ("Picky parents ask for certain teachers," Atlanta Journal- Constitution, July 31, 2006), parents in metro Atlanta were contacting school administrators in record numbers. Their goal? To make sure their children were matched with teachers whom parents felt were best suited to address the needs of their children.

Should parents have a say in the matter, or is the decision best left to school administrators?

Visit our message board and tell us what you think.

LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Great Public Schools --
A Basic Right for YOUR Child.

You are your child's first teacher and their greatest advocate. NEA knows this and wants to stand with you and your child. We're providing resources and tools you can use to help your child succeed in school. You can help us improve America's public schools and ensure that all of our children reach their potential.

NEA is scheduling Town Hall Meetings to engage Caribbean and African communities in becoming strong advocates of public education. These will be updated as dates are confirmed, so please check back regularly.

NEW YORK
Caribbean Town Hall -- Summer 2008, Date TBD
African Town Hall -- Summer 2008, Date TBD

Slideshow: 'Jerk' Chicken Festival

Our outreach efforts were well-received this past summer in Atlanta. See for yourself!

Stand Up For Your Child's Education!

Sign up for our free electronic newsletter.	Contact your member of Congress.

English As A Second Language (ESL)

'No Child Left Behind'

Parental Assistance

School Safety

Teacher Quality/Certification

Student Success

Drop Out Prevention

Uniforms

» I Love My African Child
» I Love My Haitian Child
» I Love My Jamaican Child
» I Love My Trini Child

Should you be able to pick your child's teachers?

According to a newspaper article ("Picky parents ask for certain teachers," Atlanta Journal- Constitution, July 31, 2006), parents in metro Atlanta were contacting school administrators in record numbers. Their goal? To make sure their children were matched with teachers whom parents felt were best suited to address the needs of their children.

Should parents have a say in the matter, or is the decision best left to school administrators?

Visit our message board and tell us what you think.

LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Great Public Schools --
A Basic Right for YOUR Child.

You are your child's first teacher and their greatest advocate. NEA knows this and wants to stand with you and your child. We're providing resources and tools you can use to help your child succeed in school. You can help us improve America's public schools and ensure that all of our children reach their potential.

NEA is scheduling Town Hall Meetings to engage Caribbean and African communities in becoming strong advocates of public education. These will be updated as dates are confirmed, so please check back regularly.

NEW YORK
Caribbean Town Hall -- Summer 2008, Date TBD
African Town Hall -- Summer 2008, Date TBD

Slideshow: 'Jerk' Chicken Festival

Our outreach efforts were well-received this past summer in Atlanta. See for yourself!

Stand Up For Your Child's Education!

Sign up for our free electronic newsletter.	Contact your member of Congress.

English As A Second Language (ESL)

'No Child Left Behind'

Parental Assistance

School Safety

Teacher Quality/Certification

Student Success

Drop Out Prevention

Uniforms

» I Love My African Child
» I Love My Haitian Child
» I Love My Jamaican Child
» I Love My Trini Child

Should you be able to pick your child's teachers?

According to a newspaper article ("Picky parents ask for certain teachers," Atlanta Journal- Constitution, July 31, 2006), parents in metro Atlanta were contacting school administrators in record numbers. Their goal? To make sure their children were matched with teachers whom parents felt were best suited to address the needs of their children.

Should parents have a say in the matter, or is the decision best left to school administrators?

Visit our message board and tell us what you think.

Six-city grassroots and media campaign seeks to strengthen public education

PHILADELPHIA -- On the heels of its 150th anniversary, the National Education Association July 3 unveiled a six-state grassroots and media outreach initiative. The announcement took place during the Association’s Minority Community Outreach forum. The initiative’s aim is to fortify relationships with the Asian Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, Hispanic, and Caribbean and African communities to make them strong advocates of public education.

“This is a timely and relevant initiative,” said NEA President Reg Weaver. “Today, 40 percent of the nation’s public school students are racial or ethnic minorities. That number is expected to reach 50 percent in the next 20 years. The support of these communities is fundamental to the future of public education. We must work together to ensure great public schools are a basic right for every child.”

The NEA forum included a diverse list of distinguished speakers and presenters, including Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of Los Angeles; Hiep Chu, president, National Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese Americans; Susan Castillo, Oregon superintendent of public instruction; Senator Carol Juneau of Montana; Gregory W. Porter, Indiana state representative; and Wellington E. Webb, former mayor of Denver and the panel’s moderator.

Villaraigosa joined Weaver at the forum, saying public education is “the fundamental civil rights issue of our time.” Recalling his advocacy work for the United Teachers of Los Angeles walking the picket lines with teachers in that city in 1989, he noted “18 years later the things we fought for sadly remain as relevant today as they were back then. We have to challenge ourselves and challenge each other as we address this issue of public education.”

The six cities that will host pilot programs are: Atlanta, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Phoenix, and Seattle. NEA will employ surveys, focus groups, and other research methods to develop resources and materials that resonate and connect with the targeted communities. The initiative will feature outreach efforts that include extensive use of multi-language radio, print and TV ads, as well as new media and social networking activities.

“The campaign is comprehensive and inclusive in scope,” said Cynthia Swann, director of the NEA Office of Governance and Policy’s Minority Community Outreach. “We will utilize a number of creative elements such as regional summits, community ambassadors, and culturally and linguistically diverse products that speak to the pilot-city communities.” 

For parents and families in the six pilot cities, NEA will advertise in the upcoming year throughout the community with information that speaks to their unique, diverse experience. Most notably, parents will see personalized Web sites such as ilovemyafricanchild.com and ilovemyjamaicanchild.com. Parents will have access to online content and pro-public education materials that will enable advocacy for great public schools in their respective communities.

NEW YORK, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Actor Idris Elba, Golden Krust Bakery Founder/CEO Lowell Hawthorne, New York Assemblyman Nick Perry, soca queen Alison Hinds, VP Records, Atlanta Falcons' Ovie Mughelli, Joseph Addai of the Indianapolis Colts, Marlon Hill of the Jamaican Diaspora Southern U.S., Atlanta City Councilman C.T. Martin, Commissioner Dale V.C. Holness of Lauderhill, FL, and Senegalese rap group Gokh-Bi System have joined the National Education Association (NEA) in a groundbreaking URL campaign designed to strengthen relationships with the nation's Caribbean and African communities. This campaign is entitled http://WWW.ILOVEMYCARIBBEANCHILD.COM and http://WWW.ILOVEMYAFRICANCHILD.COM.

To view the Multimedia News Release, go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/nea/29587/

The NEA effort, entitled "I Love My Child," is part of an overall grassroots outreach program targeting the nation's ethnic minority groups, including Asian Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, Hispanic, and Caribbean and African communities.

"In our desire to achieve great public schools for every child, we must make building strong relationships and strategic partnerships with the ethnic minority community a top priority," says NEA President Reg Weaver. "We recognize the Caribbean and African communities as a significant voice in the national dialogue on education."

As part of the outreach, the NEA has partnered with respected individuals from the Caribbean and African communities who will act as campaign "ambassadors."

"I think it is very important for us as parents to understand the public school system and know the people that are responsible for teaching our children," says Elba. "A better relationship with the administration will give the student a better future."

"VP Records is truly proud to support the efforts of the NEA, and we are very excited to participate in the I Love My Child Campaign," states Randy Chin, CEO of VP Records. "As a company with firm Jamaican roots, we recognize the importance of working with our community and its leaders, teachers and parents to ensure that all of our children receive the best education possible."

The NEA will run a series of print, radio and television campaign spots as well as host several Town Hall Meetings in New York, Atlanta and Miami. A website with the urls http://WWW.ILOVEMYJAMAICANCHILD.COM, http://WWW.ILOVEMYHAITIANCHILD.COM, http://WWW.ILOVEMYTRINICHILD.COM, and http://WWW.ILOVEMYAFRICANCHILD.COM has been created to inform Caribbean and African parents about various public school issues, including English as a Second Language (ESL), parental involvement, and teacher quality.

"Public school education needs to be preserved because it still provides an essential foundation on which to build future leaders, provided that the resources are in place," explains Hawthorne, a native of who started his Golden Krust empire in 1989. "All my children are the product of the public education system and they are well rounded individuals of whom I am very proud."

Idris Elba	Lowell Hawthorne	Nick Perry	Dale V.C. Holness
Alison Hinds	VP Records	Ovie Mughelli	Josehp Addai
Gokh-Bi System	Clarence "C.T." Martin	Jamaican Diaspora Southern U.S.