社区黑料

Updated Jan. 29:聽聽Information on one of the speakers at the Feb. 22 event has been updated to reflect a change in the participants.聽

The 74 and prominent African-American journalist Roland Martin are heading to Atlanta next month for the second stop on a 10-city tour they鈥檝e launched to engage black families on issues of educational equity, student achievement, and parent involvement.

In honor of Black History Month, the Feb. 22 town hall event will be held at Morehouse College, one of the nation鈥檚 leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Founded in Atlanta in 1867, Morehouse is recognized for producing some of the nation鈥檚 top black male leaders, including one of the event panelists, Curtis Valentine, deputy director of Reinventing America’s Schools at the Progressive Policy Institute.

The town hall meetings, titled 鈥淚s School Choice the Black Choice?,鈥� are taking place across the country through 2020. The series kicked off in Indianapolis in December with a gathering of some 300 people. Martin headlined a conversation with local and national education leaders there, asking tough questions about the city鈥檚 disparate achievement results, particularly among students of color, and examining the wide range of school choice options available to parents 鈥斅爁rom traditional public to innovation and charter schools.

The Atlanta event will also feature speakers involved in education and equity at the local, state, and national levels. Parents will have the opportunity to network with local education reform, faith, and civic groups and stay engaged in education advocacy efforts. The event is free.

Launched in 2015, 社区黑料 is a nonprofit digital news site covering education in America. The site鈥檚 reporting puts an emphasis on educational approaches and innovative models that are effective at closing achievement gaps between low-income students of color and their white, more well-off peers.

Local Atlanta partners for the town hall include several parent engagement, choice, and school improvement groups, such as Better Outcomes for Our Kids (BOOK), EdConnect, GeorgiaCAN, the Georgia Charter Schools Association, and UNCF Atlanta.

National partners include the American Federation for Children, EdChoice, ExcelinEd, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Progressive Policy Institute, UNCF, and the Walton Family Foundation.

The town hall begins at 6 p.m. at Morehouse College鈥檚 Ray Charles Performing Arts Center, 900 West End Avenue SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30310. There will also be a partner fair 30 minutes before and after the town hall. To register for the free event, please visit

Disclosure: The Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to 社区黑料.

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