From Cradle-to-Career

Last weekend, I was honored to meet with families from the Mission at the launch of one of the city’s largest collaborative efforts to combat poverty: the Mission Promise Neighborhood. This city-wide partnership supports children, youth and their families living, working, or attending school in the Mission District.

One out of five Latino children in the Mission currently lives in poverty – which is nearly twice San Francisco’s poverty rate – and seven of the San Francisco school district’s 10 lowest performing schools are located in the Mission District. These children deserve better.

With this five-year, $30 million Promise Neighborhoods implementation grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement, these children and their families will receive high-quality, coordinated health, social, community, and educational support. The Mission Economic Development Agency will partner with the San Francisco Unified School District, the Office of Mayor Ed Lee, UC Berkeley’s Center for Latino Policy Research, the United Way of the Bay Area and many other community groups to ensure that children in the Mission are provided a path for success, from cradle-to-career.

By linking student achievement with a family’s economic security, this innovative initiative empowers our community to break the cycles of poverty that block too many children from achieving their dreams.

Twelve years ago, our nation was shaken, our hearts were broken, and our country came together. All of us remember where we were when the Twin Towers fell, when the Pentagon was struck, when Flight 93 was brought down in Pennsylvania.

No one could ever forget the courage of the firefighters and first responders who ran into the carnage to save others and search for survivors, without regard for their own safety. No one could ever forget the 9/11 families, who turned their grief into action to make America safer, to protect the health of first responders, and to cherish the memories of loved ones forever. May the story of that day always inspire us to stay true to the character of our country and our common values as Americans and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

The names of these four young girls who died in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing remain seared in our hearts: Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley. Their legacies remain a sober reminder of our tasks today: to ensure that equality is a birthright never denied and defend the right of all Americans, regardless of race, to lead their lives without fear. So, half-a-century later, we only hope to have the strength and wisdom to live up to their legacies as we award them the highest honor that Congress can bestow: the Congressional Gold Medal.

In a New York Times op-ed this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote, “we must not forget that God created us equal.” Hopefully, he includes gays and lesbians in Russia as well.