NY Daily News Op-Ed: “The Sting of Eviction Day” by Rev. Richard Del Rio and Jeremy Del Rio (2/12/12)

Today, if Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott have their way, our church — Abounding Grace Ministries, which holds weekly services at PS 34 on Avenue D on Manhattan’s lower East Side — will be one of 60 or more evicted from public schools citywide. …

As we contemplate eviction, Mayor Bloomberg’s declaration 17 months ago haunts us. In defending the right of a mosque to build near Ground Zero, he said: “We in New York . . . are Americans, each with an equal right to worship and pray where we choose. There is nowhere in the five boroughs that is off-limits to any religion. By affirming that basic idea, we will honor America’s values, and we will keep New York the most open, diverse, tolerant and free city in the world.”

Full article.

NY1: Inside City Hall (2/8/12)

Jeremy Del Rio debates New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman, Esq., hosted by Errol Louis.

Watch the video here. (Embed not available.)

Glen Beck: On the Record, GBTV.com (2/10/12)

Jeremy Del Rio joins guests NYC Councilman Fernando Cabrera and Rev. Richard Del Rio to discuss Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to evict 60+ congregations from holding weekend services at public schools.

CNN: Pastors Protest School Rule (1/15/12)

Jeremy Del Rio discusses civil disobedience by 40+ clergy and others who got arrested protesting Mayor Bloomberg’s eviction of congregations from schools.

On February 2, 2012, Jeremy Del Rio represented 20/20 Vision for Schools as a witness on congregation and school partnerships at the NY City Council Education Committee hearing concerning the Department of Education’s pending eviction of sixty-eight congregations from schools on February 12. Below is his prepared statement in support of Resolution 1155.

_______________

February 2, 2012
Testimony before the NY City Council Education Committee
By Jeremy Del Rio, Esq., Executive Director
20/20 Vision for Schools

Chairman Jackson and honorable education committee members:

I am Jeremy Del Rio from 20/20 Vision for Schools, representing more than 100 organizations that have partnered with local public schools to improve educational outcomes for vulnerable students since 2008. Several of those partners are among the congregations threatened with eviction in ten days. I am also a public school parent.

Others will testify to the discrimination, Constitutionality, and disparate impact of the Mayor’s Unequal Access policy. I am here to speak to a second tragedy it exacerbates.

Last June, Mayor Bloomberg lauded a record graduation rate of 65%. One month later, the City disclosed that only 25% of those students graduated college or career ready.

After a decade of reform, the odds that graduates of New York public schools will finish equipped for life is still only one-in-four. Three out of every four students who believed us when we told them graduation is their ticket out of poverty were betrayed by empty promises. Remediation awaits the lucky ones.

New York City can do better. Indeed, we must do better.

Today I urge the City Council to elevate this conversation from solely a debate about space to a long-term strategy that partners local schools with community stakeholders who can invest in the sustainable reform of our City’s schools.

Rather than evict congregations, mobilize them for the leverage they alone can provide in the fight for educational justice. Loving neighbors, pursuing justice, educating children – these are universal religious imperatives. Regardless of tradition, 70%-90% of the faithful are directly or indirectly connected to schools, positioned for impact.

Transformational change requires us to see beyond parochial interests and forge partnerships on behalf of 1.1 million students. Let’s model for them how neighbors of all faiths can co-create a more just New York. We can begin by passing Resolution 1155.

The January 29 march generated a fair amount of media coverage. Below are several of the stories:

• WORLDmag.com | NYC pastor faces eviction from community he loves to serve (Profile of Abounding Grace pastor Richard Del Rio and 20/20 executive director Jeremy Del Rio).
• Huckabee: War on common sense? (From Mike Huckabee’s opening monologue: ”Now that same city recently arrested New York City pastors and Christians because they peacefully protested an idiotic decision by the same heavy-handed Mayor to no longer allow unused public school buildings to be used by local churches.”)
• Massive march for fairness to NYC churches › A Journey through NYC religions
• Worshipers Blast Ban On Rented Space At City Schools > NY1 (Includes an interview with Jeremy Del Rio)
• http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=305734&position=1&news_type=news (News 12 coverage includes overhead helicopter footage.)
• Rally For Religious Gathering In Schools >Fox 5
• Hunger strike ends, fasting begins. Worship in public school controversy enters new stage on Sunday.
• Fernando Cabrera Marching Across The Brooklyn Bridge To Protest Ban On Churches Renting School Space
• http://www.amny.com/share/1.812039/1.3488614 (“It’s unnecessarily discriminatory against Houses Of Worship in New York City,” City Comptroller and John Liu told amNewYork.)
• Let religious groups rent NYC schools > NY Post
• Thousands March To Protest Ban On Using Public Schools For Religious Services > CBS 2

________________________ 

Join 20/20 Vision for Schools on Sunday, January 29 at 3:30 pm, as we march across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall in solidarity with 68 congregations the City is presently evicting from schools on February 12.

Following 20/20 Vision for Schools’ Statement on the School/Church Eviction Controversy on January 12th, here are links to various media reports, as well as several embedded videos.

Watch CNN’s coverage here.

Jeremy Del Rio of 20/20 Vision for Schools believes that the ban will hurt low-income communities where most of the 68 congregations affected by the ban are located. “Mayor Bloomberg believes that children in New York City can’t tell the difference between the church that rents the building on Sundays and the academic instruction that takes place Monday through Friday. New York is smarter than that. Our children are smarter than that. They know the difference.”

GOLDEN LEGISLATION ALLOWING USE OF SCHOOLS FOR WORSHIP SERVICES PASSES SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

Cabrera: “We are optimistic.” | WORLD New York

NYC Worship Protests Intensify

NYC Clergy/Councilman protest of DOE (Youtube Video link)

NYC’s senseless slap at prayer (NY Post)

Protest movement grows, Bronx Pastor willing to die to oppose city policy against churches meeting

NYC Press Conference 01/18/12 (Vimeo video link)

NYC Press Conference 01/18/12 from Christian Monzon on Vimeo.

WNYC News Blog – Clergy, Politicians Protest Ban on Worship in Public Schools

Perp Walk for Praying (Youtube video link)

Waves of pastors, professors, politicians, lay people arrested at Bloomberg’s annual State of City

At least 30 arrested at rally against public space service ban (News 12 video link)

City Council Members Make the Case For Houses Of Worship in Closed Public Schools (NY1 video link)

Temperature check: how the crowd outside see the Bloomberg administration

For the last couple of years churches have worked as partners with many city public schools. Jeremy Del Rio of 20/20 Vision warned that the churches cannot let the conflict with the city government to reduce their focus on the important role that churches are playing in sustaining and improving their communities. “The biggest challenge is that we have reduced the relationship between churches and schools to a landlord tenant relationship. We’re not just tenants in buildings, but were partners in the transformation of our schools.”

Churches Change Tactics to Fight Ouster From N.Y.C. Schools (NY Times)

New York City Church Leaders Arrested Fighting for Right to Worship

Clergymen in Cuffs as Protesters Are Arrested (NY Times Cityroom Blog)

20/20 Vision for Schools stands in solidarity with the sixty-eight congregations scheduled for eviction from New York City public schools a month from today, February 12, 2012.

We join our voice with theirs to urge Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Chancellor Dennis Walcott, and the City of New York to reverse a short-sighted policy that excludes congregations alone from renting school space for community activities outside of regular school hours. This policy, rooted in the misguided idea that New Yorkers cannot tell the difference between a congregation renting space on weekends and the school that otherwise meets in the building Monday – Friday, disproportionately affects low income New Yorkers in gentrifying neighborhoods where affordable space is scarce.

We also urge those sixty-eight churches and those who stand with them to elevate the conversation from solely a protest about space to a long-term strategy to partner with the City of New York and invest in the sustainable reform of our City’s schools. What might happen if the congregations currently threatened with eviction, PLUS those who stand in solidarity with them, shift their perception of public schools from solely a space to hold services, to a place to lead service? Meaningful service. Transformational service. Monday through Friday, not just on Sunday.

When only 25% of the graduates of NYC public schools graduate college or career ready, as they did in 2011, our city has a crisis far beyond where sixty-eight congregations worship on weekends. When the City can decide in the same year to evict congregations from underperforming schools, it’s at least partly because the city does not perceive in them any value beyond a rent check.

The best educators are life-long students, ever learning, ever curious about the world and people around them. Schools and congregations alike are places of learning, where people come to grow as individuals and in community. We invite the City of New York, the Department of Education, and New York City’s various faith communities to embrace this controversy as a uniquely teachable moment.  Let us model for 1.1 million New York City public school students how neighbors who share many, if not most, interests in common can achieve understanding and peace rather than hostility and resentment.

In an effort to unite the City, rather than perpetuate policies of division, let us mobilize congregations for the unique leverage they alone can provide in the fight for educational equity. At any given worship service, regardless of tradition, 70%-90% of the people in the pews are directly or indirectly connected to a school, positioned for impact if only their leaders would activate them for service.

Loving neighbors, pursuing justice, educating children – these are universal religious imperatives. When community and spiritual leaders nurture this motivation, exponential change is possible.

Mayor Bloomberg, Chancellor Walcott, faith leaders: the fight for students and schools requires us to see beyond parochial interests and forge partnerships on behalf of our students.  Now is the time. Lead us.

Watch CNN’s coverage here.

Jeremy Del Rio of 20/20 Vision for Schools believes that the ban will hurt low-income communities where most of the 68 congregations affected by the ban are located. “Mayor Bloomberg believes that children in New York City can’t tell the difference between the church that rents the building on Sundays and the academic instruction that takes place Monday through Friday. New York is smarter than that. Our children are smarter than that. They know the difference.”

Listen: Radio Interview with “Family News in Focus”

Along with the assemblies, the official I Am Now website debuted as well: http://iamjamaica.wordpress.com. Check in for multimedia content from the assemblies within the next week or so, and to track the story of the program from start to finish.

The eighteen-week club phase of “I Am Now” launches February 3 and culminates on June 1 with a talent showcase featuring original works developed by the students over the course of the semester. Beginning in Week three, students will choose from three electives: film, spoken word, and music. We are working with the school to offer elective credit for students who complete the program.

Below is a brief summary of the program.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

“I Am Now” is an eighteen-week, performing arts-based student leadership after school club at Jamaica High School presented from February 3 – June 1, 2012. This website tells our story.

Theme

Every student is unique, and therefore exceptional. Exceptional students possess the capacity to create change in the world around them, now. They do not allow others to define them, and are uncomfortable enough with the status quo to create alternatives to it. The status quo that exceptional students reject includes negative stereotypes about inner city students and schools; the future projected by statistics and trends; the exploitation media and marketers attempt; and the myths associated with inner city students. The places exceptional students go are places of adventure and hope, where individuals thrive and create community for others.

Hours

Fridays, 3:00-5:30 pm, February 3 to June 1, 2012

Electives

By the third week of class, each student will choose one of the following performing art electives: spoken word, music, or film. The goal of the electives is to create a platform for students to process the discussion topics creatively through performing arts. Students will focus on both skills development, including interpretation and performance of existing pieces; and expressing their own voice by creating and producing original pieces.

General Weekly Format

50 mins – “I Am … Unplugged” topical discussions
5 mins – Break
70 mins – Performing Art Electives: Music, Spoken Word, or Film
5 mins – Break
20 mins – Take it Home exercise

Showcase Event

“I Am … Now” will work with students and staff to produce a year-end showcase event on June 1 for students, staff, families, and community, along with a possible tour of neighborhood venues, schools, and community partners.

Partners

Young Life, Greater Allen Cathedral, The Towles Group, Bethel Gospel Tabernacle, Calvary Baptist, Beauty of the Heart.

Thanks to all our friends, partners, and supporters for an amazing 2011. Looking forward to an even more incredible 2012.

What Does 20/20 Actually Look Like?

It’s hard sometimes to visualize a paradigm. 20/20 Vision for Schools case studies bring the School Engagement Paradigm to life by profiling on-the-ground stakeholders engaging local students and schools in various ways.

PS 34′s 20/20 Vision Prototype
Stakeholders: Abounding Grace Ministries and Generation Xcel (Manhattan)

The story of PS 34′s adoption by Abounding Grace Ministries and Generation Xcel in Manhattan’s Lower East Side remains the primary inspiration for 20/20 Vision’s school engagement paradigm. Includes narrative, photos, and educational outcome data. // MULTIMEDIA

Welcoming DiverCITY: PS 102 Mural
Stakeholders: Crossroads Christian Church and Storefront Art Center (Brooklyn)

Explore how a Brooklyn church and community art center mobilized 400 volunteers to paint an 875-square foot mural project to create a welcoming environment for hundreds of immigrant students and their families. Includes narrative, photos, and video. // MULTIMEDIA

Operation Backpack
Stakeholders: Christ Tabernacle and The Legacy Center (Queens)

Walk in Pastor Ralph Castillo’s shoes as Christ Tabernacle discovers the “sweet spot” of community engagement for their church. // VIDEO

1.1 Million Students: Every 1 a Leader
Stakeholders: I Am My School (Citywide)

Discover how youth groups in all five boroughs are empowering students to create a culture of achievement in their schools, and provide voice to the most vested stakeholder in the education reform discussion. Includes narrative and external website with photos and video. // MULTIMEDIA

Affecting the ABC’s of Educational Policy
Stakeholders: Citivision and Heart of a Champion (Manhattan)

New York City spends more than $23 Billion annually in education, more than $21,000 for every one student in its public schools.  How it spends that money is a function of policy decisions made at the city and school levels. Read how one 20/20 partner affected the ABC’s of policy – Appointments, Budgets, and Curriculum – at three neighborhood middle schools. Includes narrative, video, and external best practice links. // MULTIMEDIA

Kickin’ it Old Skool: Empowering Authentic Student Leadership
Stakeholder: Latino Pastoral Action Center (Bronx)

Authentic student leadership — where adults release real power and authority to students — is rare. Read how Latino Pastoral Action Center partnered with 20/20 to produce the first student-led student leadership conference in collective memory.  Includes narrative, multimedia slideshow, and external workshop video link. // MULTIMEDIA

Catalyzing Kindness: Paint the Town
Stakeholder: Metro NY Baptist Association (Citywide)

Church denominations sometimes have a reputation for not playing well together, let alone for partnering with public schools.  Read how one denomination helped catalyze the formation of 20/20 by investing in local school beautification efforts. Includes narrative, photos, and impact report. // MULTIMEDIA

Inspiring 2 Million Parents, 1 at a Time
Stakeholder: An Empowered Parent (Brooklyn)

20/20 inspires individuals, not just organizations, to engage education reform meaningfully. Read how one Brooklyn parent took the challenge literally, from volunteering in a classroom to orchestrating a public art mural. Includes narrative and video.  // MULTIMEDIA

For additional 20/20 case studies, go here.

By now you’ve heard the news. Churches are being evicted from New York City schools.

True or False?

Both.

Now the good news. Notwithstanding the Mayor’s crusade, people of faith occupy schools every day. They attend as students, work as teachers, serve as custodians, assist as support staff, vote as parents, volunteer as coaches, tutors, and mentors, and lead as principals and superintendents.

The mayor cannot evict them.

The mayor cannot evict us.

Instead of weekend services, serve Monday – Friday. What would happen if the 160 evicted congregations chose to adopt their prior weekend homes for meaningful weekday service throughout the New Year?

During the holidays and into 2012, New York City’s faith communities have a unique opportunity to turn a tone-deaf policy into a profound season of service. Register today to adopt a school for service.

“They want to close Freedom.”

The words made my insides cringe.

Close Freedom? Freedom cost too much to simply shut it down.

And yet that’s what Ronald Tomlinson, the PTA President of Freedom Academy, was reporting. After dropping from a “B” school in 2010 to an “F” one year later on the October 2011 School Progress Report, the city was threatening to shut down the Brooklyn school, despite a spike in high-risk transfer students along with a decline in necessary supports.

The Department of Education had issued a public “Report to the Community on the Performance of Freedom Academy High School (13K509),” available online here, and the DOE investigator who visited the school left the impression that a shutdown was inevitable.  When given the opportunity to meet with students to hear how the decision would impact its most vested stakeholders, the she reportedly declined, saying: “I don’t need to hear from the students.

Now the PTA was reaching out to 20/20.  Could we help empower students to tell their story and architect a turn around plan?

Mr. Tomlinson arranged a meeting with the principal and School Leadership Team the day before Thanksgiving.  A consensus quickly emerged: the SLT overwhelmingly shared the DOE’s commitment to improving student and school performance at Freedom Academy.  Our counsel: get the DOE’s attention by telling the Freedom story.  Then keep their attention by proposing a meaningful action plan sanctioned by DOE:

Action Plan #1: Developing a targeted action plan for the school that will focus support in areas where intensive assistance is required to improve student performance. The plan will be implemented over the course of the 2011-2012 school year with oversight from the DOE. The plan may include a wide variety of supports, such as:

• Leadership coaching;
• Professional development on instructional strategies for struggling students;
• Identifying grants aimed at specific needs of the school;
• Introducing new programs;
• Supporting the development of a smaller learning environment by decreasing incoming enrollment; and
• Staff and/or leadership changes.

In the ten days since that initial conversation, we have met with school administrators, teachers, student leaders, conducted two student assemblies, facilitated an assessment and preliminary planning time with the PTA, and initiated conversations with potential community partners. The students and teachers organized a first Freedom March which was reported in the media. Students launched a Facebook community, teachers designed a petition, and stakeholders have begun sharing their story through an intentional campaign.

It’s premature to predict an outcome, but hope has returned to Freedom.

Join the Fight for Freedom.  Visit the SOS Freedom blog for all the latest on the effort to save the school, sign their online petition, and like them on FB.