Helping Students Choose to Transform the World: Remarks from Causes and Cocktails

At Aspire, we believe that education is about reading at grade level, just as much as is about teaching student’s character and preparing them to be compassionate citizens that can change the world. That belief was at the heart of Aspire’s CEO Paula Fynboh’s remarks at Volunteer Arlington’s Causes & Cocktails: Education event on October 7, where local nonprofits came together to celebrate the power of partnerships and collective impact.

At Volunteer Arlington’s Causes & Cocktails: Education event, Aspire joined with partners across Arlington to highlight the importance of collaboration in education and the urgent need to move beyond competition and scarcity toward abundance and shared success. You can read more about Paula’s remarks below:

Good evening, everyone.

It’s really such an honor to be here with you tonight at Causes & Cocktails: Education. I’m especially grateful to Volunteer Arlington for bringing us together and to all of the nonprofit partners in this room who work every single day to ensure that our community has the opportunities, resources, and relationships they need to thrive.

I want to begin with the words of James Baldwin, who said:

“The purpose of education is to help young people face the truth of the world and still choose to transform it.”

That truth is not always easy. Many of our students face barriers rooted in poverty, racism, language access, and other systemic inequities. Education, when done well, doesn’t shy away from those truths, but rather, it prepares young people to confront them with courage, imagination, and the belief that they can change the world.

And James Baldwin’s quote also calls us, the adults, to something bigger. If we expect our young people to transform the world, we have to show them what transformation looks like.

We know education is holistic and relational. It’s more than being caught up on homework assignments and getting to class on time. We know our kids can’t learn if they have empty bellies and they and their families feel unsafe in the community.

When it comes to education, it’s not just what we do, but it’s how we do it. And that starts with how we work together.

Too often, in the nonprofit and education sectors, we’re told we have to operate with a scarcity mindset. We’re part of bigger systems that asks us to compete for funding, attention, and recognition. But just because we’re told this, doesn’t make it true and this scarcity mindset doesn’t serve our students and their families. The truth is that the potential of our young people is too great and their needs are too interconnected for any one of us to do this alone.

And we see that here tonight:

• The Arlington Historical Society reminds us that understanding our past is essential to shaping a better future.
• Arlington Public Schools and programs like RISE Mentoring are showing young people the power of consistent support and trusted relationships.
• Encore Learning shows us that education is lifelong, and that curiosity doesn’t retire.
• The English Empowerment Center is breaking down barriers for immigrants and newcomers and giving families the tools to fully participate in civic and community life.
• Latinas Leading Tomorrow is nurturing leadership and confidence in the next generation of young women.
• Read Early and Daily is ensuring that books and the love of reading are in every home, regardless of zip code.
• Rosie Riveters is sparking curiosity and confidence in girls through STEM.
• Northern Virginia Family Services reminds us that when families are strong and supported, children can thrive.
• And the Center for Youth & Family Advocacy’s restorative practices empowers youth to create just futures for themselves and their communities.
• And last but certainty not least, my own team at Aspire Afterschool Learning provides no-cost daily afterschool and summer learning programming to ensure that children from historically underserved communities succeed in school and dream big about their futures. We work in deep partnership with parents, caregivers, schools, and other nonprofits across all of our work.

The organizations that Volunteer Arlington brought together tonight is not an accident. Each one of us strengthens the whole. When a child learns to read, she is better prepared to succeed in STEM. When a parent gains English skills, the entire household is more connected to opportunity. When a community honors its history, it can more honestly face its future.

The challenges and threats to education before us right now are real and they are big, but so is our collective strength. Let’s reject the mindset of scarcity and competition and instead embrace the abundance that comes when we partner, share resources, and root for one another. After all, a READ student is an Aspire student and an Aspire student is a future Latinas Leading Tomorrow and Center for Youth & Family Advocacy youth leader and mentor.

Let’s love on and lift up every one of our young people and community members as our own. Let’s show young people that choosing to transform the world is not just their calling, but it’s ours, too.

And one more way you can do this tonight is to take a few minutes and share the impact of afterschool programs in our community. We have postcards featuring original art by Aspire students at our table. Please share why afterschool programming is important to you and we’ll distribute them to elected officials during the national Lights on Afterschool day on October 23.

Thank you!