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One Houston Together: Education and Racial Inequities

Published Sep 08, 2020 by A.J. Mistretta

How does race affect the educational opportunities afforded to individuals and communities in the Houston area? What can we do to ensure quality education is accessible to all? 

Those were some of the issues discussed in the second installment of the Partnership’s One Houston Together webinar series, this time focused on Education and Racial Inequities. 

The event featured a conversation that included: Ruth Lopez-Turley, Director, Houston Education Research Consortium; Michael Love, Assistant Superintendent of Career Readiness, Houston Independent School District; Marvin Pierre, Executive Director, Eight Million Stories; and moderator Delicia Jones, Chief Strategy and Investments Officer, Good Reason Houston. 

We invite you to watch the full conversation by clicking the video recording to the right. Important topics included: 

  • How to define and recognize education inequities in our community. 
  • What do racial inequities look like in Houston today and what’s perpetuating those inequities. 
  • What’s currently being done to address inequities and what progress looks like. 
  • The need to expand career awareness among all communities to ensure a full slate of opportunities—from skill-based careers to college—are presented regardless of race. 
  • How resource disparities contribute to learning and achievement gaps. 
  • The correlation between education disparities/lack of resources and the criminal justice system, often referred to as the School to Prison pipeline. 
  • The segregated makeup of Houston area school districts and what it says about our community. 
  • The need for increased conversations to make the broader community aware of education disparities and how to address the issue. 
  • What funding would be necessary to address the systemic education disparities in our region and what form could such fixes take, from direct governmental spending to public-private partnerships. 

Click here for slides illustrating some of these issues. Learn more about One Houston Together

Below are other events related to the series. All Upcoming One Houston Together virtual events that are free to register: 

Watch previous One Houston Together webinar: 

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