Education choice advocates discuss equity for children of color

Step Up For Students’ Keith Jacobs made a recent guest appearance on The Soul Purpose Show, a podcast with the goal of educating, enlightening and empowering listeners through engaging and thoughtful conversation on topics including education, relationships and pop culture.

The episode, which aired June 20, was one in a three-part series titled “Education Matters” and was hosted by Keith Harris, CEO of a youth services nonprofit, and Monica Williams Harris, Esq. Appearing with Jacobs were Kendra Spence-Wester, veteran educator and principal of Renaissance Charter School at Cypress in West Palm Beach, Florida; and Katrina Long-Robinson, vice mayor of Westlake, Florida, owner of KLR Consulting and a former charter school administrator.

Running at just under an hour, the podcast touches on a host of issues regarding traditional public and charter schools, exploring questions such as:

·       Is it realistic to say that education is the great equalizer, or is education equity merely an aspirational goal?

·       If education equity is possible, what would it look like?

·       How can communities move beyond blame for a failure to address systemic issues and move toward solutions?

The participants, all of whom benefited from education choice within the traditional public school system when they were students, also discuss the importance of high expectations and rigor for children of color, the intrinsic connection between school funding and education outcomes, and the importance of advocating for change as opposed to settling for a mere promise that education will improve.

You can listen to the podcast here.

The Soul Purpose Show airs every Saturday at 11 a.m. on Facebook Live, YouTube and NTouch News Radio. 


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BY reimaginED staff