Every child can rise

As president of 鈥� (HCZ), a world-renowned education and poverty-fighting organization based in New York City, Canada has made it his life鈥檚 work to help young people from under-resourced communities succeed. , HCZ now serves more than 34,000 students and families living in a 97-block area of Central Harlem in New York City.

Growing up in an impoverished south Bronx neighborhood, Canada said he has seen firsthand the result of young people not receiving quality education.

鈥淚t鈥檚 life and death,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y mother had four sons, but only three made it. At 72-years-old, not one of my friends I grew up with is alive today,鈥� said Canada. 鈥淚t means the ability to take care of your family or fall into a black hole that sucks you in and destroys lives.鈥�

Canada鈥檚 keynote speech was a commentary on the state-of-affairs in education and a rally cry to educators to change their perspective on what it means to stand up for every child.

Aftermath of COVID-19

Today鈥檚 educators, schools and students face daunting challenges, many exacerbated by the upheaval and trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic.

鈥淟earning loss is real, and many kids have not caught up academically and never will unless we do something,鈥� said Canada. 鈥淲e may think things have returned to normal, but our children have not recovered. What we are doing is passing along a whole generation of kids who don鈥檛 have the ability to be college ready.鈥�

Canada said that makes it more important than ever to offer programs like UofL鈥檚 newly launched , which reaches out to youth in middle and high school to equip and nurture them with essential skills, mentoring, supports and networks they need to be ready for the higher education experience and success in life.

鈥淲e need to give these young people just a sniff of the American dream so they can believe there is a way for them to make it,鈥� he said.

Through his hard work with the Harlem Children鈥檚 Zone, Canada鈥檚 efforts have resulted in placement of nearly 1,000 kids in college 鈥� kids who never thought college could be part of their future. Canada said changing expectations is key to shifting that culture from believing college is not for them to believing college is definitely for them.

鈥淲hen 1,000 kids come home in the summer from college, they see people they know and start to think, 鈥業f he can go to college, I could go to college.鈥� It becomes normal,鈥� Canada explained.

Thinking creatively 聽

Although Canada attended one of the worst schools in the nation as a child, he said unfortunately not much has changed.

鈥淚f you go in those schools today, they start and end at the same time, and kids are taught the same way, even though we know that for 60 years, it hasn鈥檛 worked,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e must do different things.鈥�

In an effort to lead change, Canada created a charter school in Harlem where there are after-school supports until 7 p.m. Saturday school also is available throughout the year for struggling kids. These efforts, he said, have yielded considerable progress in closing achievement gaps in math and reading.

鈥淲hy do we think we can teach the same way to everyone? What are the diverse ways we can save these young people? We can save some kids through academics, or athletics, or art, or mental health or physical health, or parents, grandparents or siblings,鈥� he said.

For university educators, Canada believes they, too, need to continue figuring out what is working and what is not, especially for young people with little exposure to college.

鈥淭hese are complicated times, but our mission cannot change, and we cannot sit on the sidelines,鈥� said Canada. 鈥淲e have to take a stand.鈥�

鈥淲ith the name 鈥楥ardinals Rising,鈥� I immediately thought of a nest,鈥� Mahone said. 鈥淗ow do we build a nest for our students so that when they graduate high school, they are ready to come to UofL, or ready to go into their careers? At UofL, there鈥檚 a nest here to help them nurture and hone their skills and abilities so they can succeed in a higher learning institution.鈥�

, which was announced Aug. 28 at the , is designed to serve students in grades 8-12 and will bridge the educational divide for underserved, low-income and first-generation students and their families to help build a thriving college-going culture. The program is a collaborative effort with UofL’s academic colleges and resources that will provide year-round engagement and ongoing development through mentorship and enrichment activities.

鈥淥ur mission is to empower students by creating and cultivating pathways to higher education through an infrastructure of intentional relationships and strategic investment,鈥� Mahone said. 鈥淲e want to create a future where every student, regardless of background or circumstances, has equitable access to higher education and the opportunities that it brings.鈥�

The initial phase of the program will focus on recruiting a pilot group of male students from and connect them with UofL Cardinals Rising ambassadors. Later phases of the program will introduce opportunities for female students and broaden the scope.

The first participation goal is to attract 200 JCPS students to be evenly placed across the grade levels from 8-12 with 15-20 UofL ambassadors made up of students, staff and faculty recruited for mentorship matching. JCPS principals, counselors and Family Resource Center staff will help recommend and recruit youth for the program.

Once the first cohort of ambassador-student matchups is identified, Mahone said they will meet with parents and host getting- to-know-you sessions with families in spring 2025. Next, the summer academy will offer a weeklong immersive experience on Belknap Campus filled with dynamic college-level activities. Cardinals Rising ambassadors also will meet with students at their own schools and offer holistic support that empowers entire families with tools needed for success.

Mahone said he hopes to eventually expand the program to all JCPS schools and every county in the Commonwealth.

鈥淥ur vision is a community where the talent and the potential of all students is recognized and nurtured, and they contribute to the workforce of the city and state through collaboration and innovation,鈥� he said.

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鈥淩esearch!Louisville is a great opportunity to explore the important role UofL research plays in our day-to-day lives,鈥� said Kevin Gardner, executive vice president for research and innovation. 鈥淭hat work positively impacts our world, from creating meaningful educational experiences and career pathways for students to developing innovative new technologies and companies.鈥�

The event includes a presentation by author and medical ethicist Harriet Washington on Thursday, Oct. 5 from 12 noon to 1 p.m. at Kornhauser Auditorium on the Health Sciences Center campus presented by UofL’s Office of Institutional Equity and the HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Washington鈥檚 latest work is the award-winning “Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Experimentation from Colonial Times to the Present.”聽

UofL News caught up with V. Faye Jones, a pediatrician and associate vice president for health affairs/diversity initiatives at the UofL Health Sciences Center,聽and Kiana Fields, coordinator, UofL Office of Diversity and Inclusion, to talk about the importance of Washington鈥檚 research.

UofL News: What kind of perspective does Harriet Washington bring to the discussion about racial health disparities?

闯辞苍别蝉:听She brings great insight into medical ethics and racism, how they intersect with each other. Our work focuses on the harms inflicted on historically minoritized populations by bringing attention to that history now. For many people, it鈥檚 the first time they are hearing that history. She tells us about things we may have not delved as deep in as we should have and holds all of us accountable for it.

贵颈别濒诲蝉:听Washington鈥檚 been doing this work for decades. She saw a need and a gap within the literature to address the longitudinal atrocities that have taken place. In addition to medical apartheid, she has talked about the erosion of informed consent and how it鈥檚 systemic racism.
She incorporates different identities and different systems of oppression and explores the health impacts and the ethical dilemmas that exist as well.

UofL News: What are some of the specific ways Washington has shined a light on little-known history of medical inequity?

Fields:聽She started going deeper into her research for medical apartheid when she was working in a hospital and saw medical files of kidney failure patients that were different for Blacks and whites. While the files were comparatively similar, in the Black patient鈥檚 file, it said imminent demise was expected. That鈥檚 when she knew some of her suspicions were true and there was more that needed to be uncovered. One other medical story is about J. Marion Sims, who was known as the father of gynecology. This physician and researcher conducted painful experiments without anesthesia using enslaved women, which ultimately led to important gynecological advances. There is a lack of acknowledgement of the harms that were done in that way.

Jones:聽First, we need to acknowledge this, showing that these disparities exist and then understanding why they exist, and then developing and implementing strategies to change it. Just like Kiana said about the kidney patients, there are so many things where if you鈥檙e black then you get this type of treatment, and if you’re not black you get this. So how is that right? It’s not. You focus on these things so that we can correct and hopefully improve patient care and address health disparities to get us more to that standard of health equity.

UofL News: According to CDC data, Black women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women, with most of the maternal deaths being preventable. Multiple factors contribute to these disparities, such as variation in quality health care, underlying chronic conditions, structural racism and implicit bias.听How does Washington鈥檚 examination of the history of medical inequities help inform the present?

Fields:聽With Black maternal and infant mortality disparities, we often think that if you were in a higher socioeconomic status that you would be exempt. But a great example of that is Serena Williams. She had preeclampsia for her first pregnancy and the physicians didn’t take her concerns seriously, and so she found herself in a very precarious situation where both her life and her child’s life were in danger.

Jones:聽When you look at what happened with Serena Williams and the pulmonary embolism, I think it’s important to note that if that can happen to a person of that stature, that wealth and who is that well known, then what is happening to people who don鈥檛 have voices? Are they invisible? With Black maternal mortality, it鈥檚 amazing how it is present in every community, including in Jefferson County. There is such a disparity there and we must be able to say yes, it exists, and to look into the root causes of it and do something about it, not just talk about it.

UofL News: For those who come to hear Harriet Washington鈥檚 presentation on October 5, what questions and reflections do you hope it prompts for people?

闯辞苍别蝉:听One thing I would hope it would prompt is to ask what does it look like in the health care system and where we are right now where we live and what kind of things can we do?聽Each one of us can make a difference here. We are not waiting for somebody else to take that banner and run with it, but what can we do as individuals to make that difference? Because each of us have the power to make a change.

Fields:聽I believe Harriet Washington, in her work, is elevating that we all have a shared responsibility to start to disrupt these systems of oppression and acknowledge and reimagine our health care system to benefit the most vulnerable populations in our society. How do we continue to strive to uncover the hidden voices? How do we continue to not only take action, but also start reconciling the atrocities and healing some of the harm that has been done so that we can create interventions that are long lasting?

for the event.

Strayhorn is a professor of education and psychology, director of the Center for the Study of HBCUs and principal investigator of聽The Belonging Lab聽at Virginia Union University. He also serves as Diversity Scholar-in-Residence at Harrisburg Area Community College. As president and CEO of , a minority-owned business, Strayhorn partners with hundreds of colleges, universities, corporations and agencies each year to enhance culture, build inclusive environments and boost belonging.

UofL News caught up with Strayhorn to talk about his work, along with his thoughts around Juneteenth, the day commemorating聽the delayed emancipation of enslaved people in the United States on June 19, 1865.

UofL News:聽How has our understanding of Juneteenth shifted the past few years?

Strayhorn: The recognition of Juneteenth as a federal holiday is important because we give time to those things that matter. It creates a collective pause to think and reflect, certainly acknowledging the progress we鈥檝e made as well as raise up some of the continuing challenges that we face so that we can together envision a future that鈥檚 brighter and more equal and more just. It commemorates our freedom and our ever-evolving quest toward racial justice in this country.

UofL News: It鈥檚 been said Juneteenth hopes to inspire change through vision, voice and vote. How do you see activism and engagement bringing change?

Strayhorn: We know that we have some social miseries and nightmares that disproportionately impact communities of color. Right now, with, anti-LGBTQI+ policies, state sponsored violence against Black and Brown communities, police brutality, shameful public killings of African American men and women and trans people, and people who live at the intersection of all these identities, we need to create more change. Juneteenth provides an opportunity to reflect on our progress, being honest about our current status, and then finding appropriate, effective but nonviolent ways to champion the cause of racial justice.

UofL News: In our society today, where do you see a welcome and positive intersection of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging?

Strayhorn: We need more of what we know works well in fostering conditions for racial justice, for collective healing, for sense of belonging. That inclusive environment happens at culturally diverse institutions like Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Black museums and cultural centers, and Black churches, places which have for a long time been safe havens. This is not just for Black students, but for disenfranchised white students, for first generation students, for low-income students, for international students.

In 2020, during Black Lives Matter, when the world was on fire, the people with water to help tame the flame weren鈥檛 court appointed, certified firefighters. It was the people who had fire in their belly and could speak passionately about George Floyd’s killing. It was the millennial, the Gen-Zer, who could take the mic at the rally and help us realize, wow, the future is looking pretty bright because we have some people who are reaching across the aisle and across racial divides and saying, 鈥楴ot on my watch.鈥�

UofL News: How can universities and students at universities best exhibit leadership in commemorating Juneteenth?

Strayhorn: What we need to bring these lessons to life are committed, courageous, socially conscious faculty, students and leaders who can champion a cause and create change.

Everybody wants to belong and it’s what we share in common because we’re human. The message of Eric Garner, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many others is this implication that some people don’t belong here, and that some people’s lives don’t matter. I am profoundly committed on a personal, professional and even a spiritual and metaphysical level to fight that message and to say that we all belong here.

We’re all worthy. We are enough and never too much, but we only get there if we get there together.

Learn more and register for one of the 聽sponsored by the Office of the President, Office of Institutional Equity, College of Business and the Black Faculty and Staff Association (BFSA). Learn more on the .听