Change We Can Believe In

Rediscovering "Real Religion" for our Churches and our Children

A Promised Salvation“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. 

“If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. - Isaiah 1:18-20

What are those scarlet sins?“Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations, I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

“Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 

“When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean.       

“Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”

- Isaiah 1:13-17 

A Second Conversion“I had to say, ‘God, I repent, because I can’t think of the last time I thought of widows and orphans.’ … And so I went back and I began to read scripture, and it was like blinders came off. Now, I’ve got three advanced degrees. I’ve had four years in Greek and Hebrew and I’ve got doctorates. And how did I miss 2,000 verses in the Bible where it talks about the poor? How did I miss that? I mean, I went to two different seminaries and a Bible school; how did I miss the 2,000 verses on the poor?”

– Rick Warren

Real Religion“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” - James 1:27

The Message: “Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father ...”

The Lord Requires ...“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” - Micah 6:8

Justice = Righting Wrongs » More than acknowledging wrongs» More than compassion or empathy

Justice is about righting the underlying wrongs that create the problem in the first place

“It has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things... who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity

and freedom.” - President Barack Obama

Wrong Choices• US: #1 in incarceration

#18 in graduation• Avg. NYC public school

graduate reads at 8th grade level

• Only 44% graduated in 2008

• 1.2 million students; 60% do not read & 70% do not do math at grade level

How We Got Here• 2006 PPS

Group Prayer & BreakoutAsked: What might happen if 7100 churches prayed for 1400 public schools? What if we became answers to those prayers?

• 2007 PPSGroup Prayer & BreakoutAsked: How can we engage a plugged-in generation? What are the new wineskins?

2006 - 2007

• Coalition of Urban Youth Workers champions adopt-a-school idea

• Redefines youth ministry and youth worker• Our “fish” congregate in “schools”• LPAC & MNYBA invest to refine strategy• Churches begin adopting schools for prayer,

advocacy and service

2008• Launched http://2020schools.net • PPS: Introduced 20/20 Vision for

Schools• Developed 20/20 partnership with

NYCLC• Sept: Launched 20/20 with 153

churches at conference with 1,500 leaders

The Adoption Matrix: A Strategy for Engaging Public Schools

The 20/20

Elements1. Vocational

Calling

2. School

Engagement

3. Student

Leadership

An Urgent Appeal to Engage a

(ge)N(er)ation At-Risk» Sept 18, 2008

» 120 Multi-Sector Executives

» Purpose: Initiate an actionable plan and model to help New York City school-aged youth reach their

highest potential.

Issue I:   Collaboration

Is collaboration across sectors (business, education, non-profit, government, religious, students, and families) for comprehensive education reform even possible?  If so, how so?  What challenges inhibit collaboration and how can they be overcome?

Findings1. Possible IF cross-sector stakeholders commit to intentional communication, trust building, resource sharing, and coordination of efforts, facilitated by catalytic and creative leaders who are mutually agreed and empowered by the stakeholders to shepherd the process on their collective behalf.

2. Challenges include: defining the issues or mission too narrowly; using exclusive language that fractures communities; either-or engagement paradigms that perpetuate mistrust; and traditional "every organization and agenda for itself" approaches.

3. Begins as each stakeholder raises awareness of the crisis within their respective spheres of influence and urges win-win approaches where each sector (and stakeholder) invests from its strengths to aid the others' weaknesses.

Recommendations1. Craft a common communications platform that nurtures trust among stakeholders, dispels suspicions, and open sources education reform by: sharing ideas and access to resources and relationships; identifying and innovating best practices; decentralizing program controls to grassroots partners; and coordinating efforts around a shared mission and common objectives.

2. Identify grassroots community institutions and influencers such as faith congregations, businesses, and non-profits to educate, equip and mobilize individuals to act both personally and collectively for education reform; empower their success by supplying research, best practices, training, and scalable initiatives that can be decentralized and owned at the local level

3. Inject accountability into reform by emphasizing shared ownership, including responsibility for the problems and opportunities to innovate solutions; protect accountability by rejecting old-style blame shifting and focusing instead on rigorous standards, feedback, and evaluation. 

Issue 2: Transcendent Strategies

Do any specific educational issues transcend regional, demographic, and religious differences around which we can mobilize?  Which one/s?  How should we mobilize, and to what end/s?

Findings1. Chronic underperformance metrics nationwide (such as literacy, drop-out rates, college admission and retention, and job readiness), especially in urban and rural communities, suggest widespread institutional and individual failure.

2.  Inequitable distribution and management of resources – financial, personnel, and otherwise – have contributed to de facto educational apartheid, where the place of one's home often dictates the quality of education one will receive.

3. The need for systemic reform cannot trump the need for character education that empowers personal responsibility (of students, teachers, parents, administrators, etc), and supportive services that compensate for gaps in family and social assistance.  On the contrary, a strategy must integrate all three in a complementary way.

Recommendations1. Appoint a delegation of stakeholders who would craft a comprehensive mission, vision, values, and agenda for an education reform movement that responds to educational injustices and collaborative opportunities for meaningful change.

2. Overcome resource constraints by developing a web of partner supports that identifies existing (and nurtures new) womb through college interventions and services both regionally and at the grassroots level.

3. Build infrastructure for ongoing networking and coordination of efforts, resources, and communication that leverages technology for exponential reach.

Issue 3: LeadershipWhat is the role of leadership in addressing the educational crisis?  What kind of leadership is required (top-down, bottom-up, indigenous, expert, both/and, other)?  How do we discover, develop, and deploy students themselves to provide meaningful leadership in both conceiving and implementing solutions to entrenched problems?

Findings1. Leadership is the linchpin for comprehensive education reform and requires a compelling vision of the future; the courage to pioneer new approaches to both collaboration and education; the determination not to settle for anything short of long-term transformation; the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances; and a willingness to be accountable for results. 

2. Collaborative leadership must be ethnically, economically, gender, and sector diverse, and reflect all of the above leadership styles, without the arrogance that suggests one style, demographic, or sector is inherently more important or valuable than the others in the process.

3. Empowering effective student leadership requires changing our paradigm of students from customer (adults do "for" them by teaching, parenting, etc.) to owner (investing in their lives, communities, and futures by cultivating their own education); and releasing real authority to students – along with corresponding mentorship and supervision – both to make decisions for themselves and their schools and to deal with the consequences thereof, whether good, bad, or messy.

Recommendations1. Define stakeholder roles clearly (while preserving flexibility for adjusting as necessary), even as stakeholders empower a leadership team to lead this effort and align their personal and institutional agendas with that team.

2. Co-create among the diverse groups of leaders by demonstrating a willingness to meet the "other" on their terms, in their space, according to their language and customs.  Model student leadership development by remaining an ever-learning servant leader.

3. Identify existing and potential student leaders, whether formally through student groups and achievement records, or informally through personal observation and peer or teacher recommendations; nurture student leadership development inside or outside schools through mentoring, leadership clubs, and formal training; and create platforms for them to be heard and to actually lead.

Issue 4: SynergiesWhat will you bring (individually and organizationally) to an ongoing engagement strategy?  How can NYCLC help facilitate your continuing participation both locally and nationally?  What other institutions and individuals need to be engaged in this dialogue?

Findings1. The capacity exists for the 120 participating executives at the Forum to contribute significantly to education reform in NYC and beyond, both individually and on behalf of their organizations.  Expanding the circle to include others not already at the table only enhances the capacity for systemic and lasting change.

2.  Mobilizing existing networks and spheres of influence (employees, parishioners, friends, etc) requires commitments by each participant to educate themselves on the issues, pledge personal and/or institutional support, and champion the cause whenever and wherever possible.

3. The technological and media capacity exists to open source education reform so that every stakeholder can learn from the others' successes and challenges; innovate and share solutions; and leverage scalable impacts as a result.

Recommendations1. Process the data from the Forum thoroughly and timely; distribute it freely to as wide an audience as possible; and coordinate actionable next steps for existing and future participating stakeholders.

2. Identify from within the current participants names, contact information, and affiliations of others who need to engage the conversation; and create onramps for them to catch-up quickly and contribute meaningfully.

3. Invite specific contributions from participating and future stakeholders.

Engage The School

One School

Within Walking Distance

» Prayer

» Relationship

» Service

» Presence

» Policy

About 20/20 Vision for Schools20/20 Vision for Schools was conceived by the

Coalition of Urban Youth Workers in New York City and operates locally as a partnership between the Coalition and the New York City Leadership Center. 20/20 Vision remains committed to open-sourcing education reform. Join the movement to transform public education nationwide, and feel free to adapt 20/20 Vision experiences and strategy to your city. All we ask is that you freely give to others what you have received from us, and let us know if and how the strategy unfolds for you.

More information: www.2020Schools.net.