Acclaimed nonprofit program now enrolling in Newark Public Schools
Live event to broadcast on Wednesday, Sept. 15 at 1 p.m. ET
Judith Berry Griffin, founder and president of Pathways to College, will be featured in the next Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education Webinar presented by Catalyst @ Penn GSE, a center for global education innovation at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. The live virtual event will be broadcast on Wednesday, Sept. 15, from 1 – 2 p.m. ET. Registration is available.
In the event, titled “Catching the Dream for America’s Children of Color,” Griffin will set forth three learning objectives for the audience:
- Understanding and acknowledging that there are many, many students in under-served areas of our country whose gifts – academic and otherwise – could significantly and positively contribute to all facets of American society.
- Understanding and embracing four essential commitments that, when employed, recognize, protect and cultivate the gifts, talents and dreams of children of color.
- Understanding and accepting that all can make a difference through words and deeds.
The conversation will be moderated by L. Michael Golden, executive director of Catalyst @ Penn GSE.
Beginning with the 2021-2022 school year, the proven Pathways to College program has been expanded to all six comprehensive high schools in Newark: Barringer Academy of S.T.E.A.M., Central, East Side, Malcolm X Shabazz, Weequahic and West Side.
In 2008, Griffin was named a McGraw Prize winner for her visionary leadership of Pathways to College, which continued its historic precedent of 100% college acceptance for Scholars in 2021, despite the challenges of the pandemic.
Griffin founded Pathways to College while serving as national president of A Better Chance. Pathways is an afterschool program that helps high-potential students of color develop critical thinking skills and habits of mind to make achieving a college education an attainable goal. Pathways uniquely selects high school Scholars on the basis of potential, not necessarily proven performance. Since 2003, Pathways has been an independent nonprofit organization.
For more than three decades, the McGraw Prize has recognized outstanding individuals deeply committed to harnessing innovation in education to improve the lives of learners worldwide.
Contact: Alyssa Alston, Director of Communications