KALEIDOSCOPE

Host: Dr. Jonathan D. Lawrence, Canisius College
Guest:  Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell(Baptist), U.S. Department of Education

In this episode, Dr. Lawrence and Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell discuss the roles faith based organizations can play in communities. Rev. Girton-Mitchel talks about the fact that their job at the office is to be the ears on the ground in order to understand what is happening in local communities.They try to find partnerships which help further benefit the school, whether it is parents or volunteers. She speaks of the fact she is ordained in the Metropolitan Baptist church in Washington, D.C, and affiliates herself with Progressive Baptist Christianity. She talks of the plans they try to create for the community including a fatherhood initiative aimed at getting men more engaged in the lives of their children to create good leadership roles. They work with low performing schools in order to show the community how they can connect and help out. Some challenges faced with bettering education is money, and if people don’t have money to donate or give then they are encouraged to offer the gift of self, time, imagination, and the gift of inspiration.