THE DECONSTRUCTION OF INTERGENERATIONAL POVERTY VIA PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT      

EWORKSTYLE®

 

 

Communications Strategy and Innovation

JOIN

SIGN IN

URBAN LEAGUE CONFERENCE . . . . . PUBLICATIONS EVENTS
BECOME A SPONSOR
Become a Fellow Invitation
ALUMNI HALL
GATES ON GATES
Bill Gates & Skip Gates
Left Bill Gates, Founder Microsoft, Right Skip Gates Harvard Educator

The National Urban League pulled together a major achievement by bringing two of the nations thought leaders together for an intimate discussion on education, jobs and the future. See the story below. . .  

Bill Gates is well known for founding Microsoft with its 90k+ employees in 139 countries worldwide and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with 850 employees.  These two accomplishments alone give Bill Gates a solid 20/20 perspective on what is happening with jobs today and in the future across the United States and around the world.

Dr. Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr, is an educator, scholar, writer, editor and intellectual who co developed Encarta® Africana, a comprehensive multimedia encyclopedia of Africans and people of African descent throughout the world.  Dr. Gates is best known as Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University and host of several PBS documentaries including one on DNA for Genealogy.  Professor Gates has lectured for more than 40 years.

Boston Convention Center

Above: The National Urban League and the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts pulled together a wide range of speakers and vendors to create a convention of fun activities that deliver important information on through conferences on education& work. Jobs Rebuild America was held at the Boston Convention Center. - FULL STORY BELOW

INSIDE EWORKSTYLE
EWORKSTYLE® participated on the Urban League of Eastern MA Community Media Advisory. Our focus was to give the public a broader understanding of the history and industry of media. Our goal is to enable the public to know how and why to develop proficiency in digital literacy and the internet.
- GET OUR REPORT HERE.
URBAN LEAGUE
 
NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE: JOBS REBUILD AMERICA CONFERENCE
Bill Gates & Skip Gates in Auditorium
PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS
Round direction sign
Wilma J Peeples Georgetown, KY
Among the attendees: Wilma J. Peeples,
Psychotherapist, Georgetown, KY
Above: Skip Gates talks with Bill Gates (red center curtains) enlarged on two screens, before an audience of 500. Attendees arrived from across the country and all walks of life. As we sampled the stories of participants, each shared important reasons for attending along with interesting perspectives on education, employment and entrepreneurship - THOSE STORIES ARE COMING SOON as we showcase important work going on in Economy Work & Style or Eworkstyle.
GATES ON GATES: EDUCATION KEY TO JOBS OF THE FUTURE

During this discussion, Bill Gates focused on his lesser known Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) program.  GMS selects 1,000 talented students each year to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship to use at any college or university of their choice.  Gates Millennium Scholars receive personal and professional development through leadership programs, along with academic support throughout their college career.  The goal of GMS is to promote academic excellence opportunities for outstanding minority students with significant financial need to reach their highest potential by:

  • Reducing financial barriers for African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American and Hispanic American students with high academic and leadership promise who have significant financial need;
  • Increasing the representation of these target groups in the disciplines of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health and the sciences, where these groups are severely underrepresented;
  • Developing a diversified cadre of future leaders for America by facilitating successful completion of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees; and
  • Providing seamless support from undergraduate through doctoral programs, for students selected as Gates Millennium Scholars entering target disciplines.

Bill Gates:  In my 40’s I started to look around at the schools to see what was not being done and was shocked to see the inequities, that’s when I decided to tackle education.  My friend Warren Buffet told me; “If you’re lucky enough to develop a lot of wealth then giving it all to your children is not the best for them or society – especially when you can help solve the issues of inequity.”  Education is the pivotal tool to solve inequity. As a philanthropist we look for what is working well and those who started the Charter school movement are doing something magical.  When you go spend a day at one of the Charter schools to see what’s going on and you understand that Charter schools are spending a lot less money per child than public schools, then you understand something magic is happening.  However, it’s very clear that the real magic is in the choices they make.  Charter schools are careful about the teachers they pick and parents sign contracts to make sure their kids understand the commitment is to get the child into college. 

Touch Radio
Left: Fern Humprey stands with, Touch 106.1 FM
Founder Charles Clemons, & friend Hattie Smith
Eugene Rivers & Friends

Skip Gates:  Math and science are so important and our kids are failing these.  Many of our kids think it’s easier to get into the NBA than to be a cardiologist.  Statistically that’s impossible – there are only 350 Black NBA players verses 670 Black cardiologists. 

Bill Gates:  The Gates Millennium Scholars are examples of successes as role models for those coming behind.  The most talented kids are usually the most disruptive – we’ve got to harness that energy into areas of academic leadership.  We have GMS pilot districts where many interesting things are going on.  We video tape the programs to capture best practices and to look at diagnostic practices to be better and to make a science of quality teaching.  Some teachers are able to get students quieted easily where they quickly get kids engaged.  Others have a hard time working with kids and don’t know the answers.  The understanding of what needs to be measured and how to improve is not a part of the status quo in teaching.  There are no standards in 99% of K-12 classrooms that measure teaching ability. 

One of the most interesting studies was the tracking of two sets of urban and suburban kids.  During the school year – both sets of kids were tracked at the same learning level.  However during the summer, suburban kids had accelerated learning programs that allowed them to surpass urban kids and that’s where the gaps began.  Urban kids not only need accelerated reading programs, they need mentoring, longer school hours and extra curriculum opportunities to stay ahead.  Unemployment is higher in communities of color and I believe it’s based within the communities' abilities to educate their children.  It must be disheartening to see the negative statistics. 

Mentoring and volunteer work is a fantastic thing.  Philanthropy is important, but almost everyone can get involved in mentoring or volunteerism in some way.  Philanthropists need mentors and models too.  Everybody who got involved in the Charter School movement is buzzing about its success and philanthropists are getting involved because we’re hearing about it. You should know, getting the stories out about success will make philanthropy easier because we can see and access the models that are working.  
  

US Army, West Point NY
West Point Captain Vallejos & Drill Sergeant Smith
outreach officers for the US Army, NY

©  EWORKSTYLE INSTITUTE, EST 1995, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED