Name: Leah Maathey
Social Justice Group: 2018-2019, Education: Dropping Out
Date of Fieldwork: December 7, 2018
Name of Organization: College Bound Initiative
Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Jon Roure
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did:
We got an interview with Jon Roure, a specialist that works for College Bound Initiative. College Bound Initiative is a program that helps high school students get into colleges by placing guidance counselors in schools, organizing application boot camps and help teacher’s make their students college aware. We took a short tour of his offices and after we interviewed him in his office.
What I learned:
We learned that a lot of kids have no idea what college is like because there is no one around them who has experienced it, they have no reference. It’s not something they are exposed to so it’s hard to know what will happen and it can give them reasons not to go. The first step to a higher education is an exposure and knowledge about the process. We also learned that poverty in our country has a lot to do with how our country was established, disenfranchised groups, hundreds of years of systematic oppression of certain groups and the marginalization of people of color are all large contributors to the segregation, lack of equity in NY public schools. We also learned about the importance of exposure both racially and academically.
What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:
Through this interview with Joh Roure I learned that although there is a solution to these human rights issues, there is no way to solve it quickly. 80% of people in NYC qualify for free lunch. If in one generation they can get their child to not qualify that’s already a step towards ending generational poverty. By just having someone in their house who went to college or who has more money than their parents is a method of chipping away at the cycle. I’ve begun to realize goal of these organizers, despite their differences, is to give these people the tools to get out of poverty. There is a difference between teaching them and giving them the skills they need and charity.
