Opportunity Matters Roundtable Series
Through IDRA’s Opportunity Matters Roundtable Series, we spotlight key issues in education quality, opportunity and equity.
Remote Viewing and Roundtable Discussion
With Dr. Robert D. Putnam
Held October 18, 2016
IDRA and Voices for Children San Antonio hosted a remote viewing of Dr. Robert D. Putnam’s speaking engagement on “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis.” After the viewing we continued with a conversation about the growing opportunity gap in the United States and how national, state and local policy can work together to close that gap for America’s children.
This event was part of IDRA’s Opportunity Matters Roundtable Series, generously funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The webinar was provided by Partnership for America’s Children to its member organizations (the Voices network) with funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
About our Guest Speaker: Dr. Robert D. Putnam’s latest book, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, is a groundbreaking examination of the growing inequality gap over the last 25 years. Dr. Putnam is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University.
Dr. Melissa Y. Delgado (GTF, 2014) is assistant professor of family and child development, School of Family and Consumer Sciences, Texas State University (Mentor: Dr. Nancy Chavkin, Regents Professor of Social Work, Texas State University). She earned her doctorate and master’s in family and human development from Arizona State University. After that, she completed a W.T. Grant Foundation postdoctoral fellowship. She also has a bachelor of arts in psychology and bachelor of science in Family and Human Development from Arizona State University.
Dr. Edna Alfaro (GTF, 2013), assistant professor of family and child development, School of Family and Consumer Sciences, Texas State University (Mentor: Dr. Stephanie Brickman, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Texas Pan-American). She received her doctorate in family and human development from Arizona State University, obtained a master’s in human development and family studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and completed her undergraduate studies in psychology at St. Mary’s University-San Antonio.
Ms. Leslie Gurrola, strategy manager, Greater Texas Foundation. Ms. Gurrola assists in the implementation of the foundation’s strategic plan to ensure all Texas students are prepared for, have access to, persist in, and complete a postsecondary credential. She has a master of public service administration and a bachelor of science in journalism, both from Texas A&M University.
Paul C. Gorski is an associate professor in New Century College and a Research Fellow in the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being, George Mason University. His work and passion is social justice activism. His areas of scholarly focus include anti-poverty activism and education, economic justice, racial justice, environmental justice, and animal rights. He helped design New Century College’s Social Justice and Human Rights Concentration and Minor around these topics. He also is interested in the ways in which mindfulness practices can strengthen the resiliency of social justice activists.
Conor P. Williams is a senior researcher in the Early Education Initiative at the New America Foundation. His work addresses educational equity, dual language learners, and school choice. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Republic, The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, and elsewhere. Before joining New America, he taught first grade in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.