During the two-hour gathering, teachers related their personal experiences, ideas, and needs related to addressing the dropout rate in their schools and districts. Many teachers illustrated the need for students to feel cared for by their teachers by sharing stories from their years in education. Others emphasized the importance of daily support from principals, superintendents, education leaders, families, and community members. Throughout the Town Hall, participants shared laughs, tears, experiences, and ideas related to the dropout issue in Alabama.

Though the Mathews Center’s dropout forum series has concluded, we are always excited to see the statewide
conversation expand and gain new life. We hope that the Teacher Town Hall will spark further discussion on the dropout issue across Alabama. The Town Hall will air on Alabama Public Television Sunday, May 20, 2012 at 2:00PM.  For further information, please view APT’s description of the broadcast here.

The Teacher Town Hall is a component of the “American-Graduate: Let’s make it Happen” public media initiative sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and made possible by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Mathews Center has had the privilege of collaborating with APT’s American Graduate efforts by sponsoring a moderator development workshop for a number of the network’s employees. In addition, APT’s American Graduate program presented at “Our Community, Our Future” on March 6, 2012. For further information on the initiative, please visit http://americangraduate.org/

- Cristin Foster (Assistant Program Director)

The Mathews Center recently began research on the bullying issue, and plans to frame a deliberative issue guide with the help of Alabama citizens at the 2nd Annual Auburn University Anti-Bullying Summit, entitled “Be a Hero, Take a Stand.”

“Be a Hero, Take a Stand” will be held July 11-13, 2012 at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Alabama. Auburn University’s Truman Pierce Institute (TPI) and the Office of Professional and Continuing Education (OPCE) will host the Summit. The conference website relates that the purpose of the Summit is “to facilitate action-oriented conversations via a premiere conference designed to share information, current thinking, and research about a serious problem facing our schools and communities…” The Summit will bring together educators, higher education faculty and administrators, policymakers, community leaders, mental health professionals, students, and others interested in eliminating bullying in their schools and communities.

The Mathews Center will hold a three-hour workshop, entitled “Citizens’ Congress: Naming and Framing the Bullying Issue,” at the Summit. The workshop will focus on naming the bullying issue and developing a multi-approach framework that can be used in public forums across the state. Alabama citizens play an invaluable role in the naming and framing process prior to an AIF project cycle.  “Be a Hero, Take a Stand” will provide an excellent backdrop for engaging a wide range of citizens in creating an effective decision-making tool on bullying. The Mathews Center does not advocate any particular approach to eliminating bullying.

The workshop format will be highly-interactive and will encourage participants to name and frame the bulling issue by analyzing and sharing what they hold valuable in relation to eliminating bullying, identifying community-based approaches to addressing bullying, and sharing and actively listening to a variety of viewpoints on the bullying issue. Naming and framing a public issue drives citizens to identify common ground, while also addressing tensions and tradeoffs.

Participants in the “Citizens’ Congress” workshop will make a significant contribution to helping citizens across Alabama make decisions and enact positive changes in eliminating bullying in their communities. The framework that participants develop will be used to engage with Alabamians from every race, ethnicity, age, and socio-economic background in thinking through the complex dimensions of the bullying issue in deliberative community forums during the AIF 2012-2013 forum series. The framework will spur deliberation, and will lead, hopefully, to citizens making decisions to act together in their communities to eliminate bullying.

Please visit the Summit website for further information about “Be a Hero, Take a Stand.”

Dr. Robert H. McKenzie, President of the David Mathews Center for Civic Life, provided opening remarks and welcomed citizens to “A Conversation on Alabama’s Civic Health.” Dr. Ed Bridges, Director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, welcomed attendees to the Archives.

Chris McCauley, Executive Director of the Mathews Center, then provided an overview of the Alabama Civic Health Index project.  The ACHI, co-authored by the Mathews Center, University of Alabama’s New College, Auburn University’s College of Liberal Arts, and the National Conference on Citizenship, focuses on civic indicators—such as voting and volunteerism—that reflect the civic health of the state. McCauley addressed the three categories of civic engagement—political action, social connectedness, and public work—that the ACHI highlights. One of the most encouraging data points to emerge from the ACHI reveals that Alabama ranks fourth nationally for the percentage of residents who exchange favors frequently with neighbors. McCauley urged citizens to use the data in the ACHI to spur on existing civic efforts in the state and to inspire new and innovative approaches to improve the state’s overall civic health.

The National Conference on Citizenship’s (NCoC) Chief Program Officer, Kristen Campbell, thanked the Alabama partners for their collaboration with the NCoC on the ACHI. Campbell then provided a brief snapshot of the mission and work of the NCoC.

Dr. Cathy Randall, David Mathews Center Board Member, then took the stage to introduce the evening’s keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Putnam, Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.

In his address, Dr. Putnam provided insight on how social bonds affect our nation’s civic and physical health, and the importance of strengthening community.  According to Dr. Putnam, social capital – which focuses on the real value of social networks – has declined dramatically in the United States since the 1970s. Reasons for this decline are many and include the prevalence of television and the sprawling nature of our modern communities. After addressing the nature of the decline in social capital in the United States, its many causes, and the ensuing decline in trust, Dr. Putnam ended on an uplifting note by relating that the generation of young people who were in school and came of age during the September 11 terrorist attacks are reversing some of the trends of previous generations by becoming more civically involved than their forebears. Upon conclusion of the keynote, Dr. Putnam engaged with the audience during a question and answer session.

To conclude the evening’s agenda, Ashley Kontos, Director of Community-Based Research for the University of Alabama’s New College and one of the authors of the ACHI, provided closing remarks, and thanked Dr. Putnam and those in attendance.

The Mathews Center would like to thank the Alabama Department of Archives and History for the use of their beautiful facility; Auburn University, the University of Alabama, and the National Conference on Citizenship for their partnership on the ACHI; and the Mathews Center Board of Directors for their tremendous support. “Thank you” to all attendees for making “A Conversation on Alabama’s Civic Health” an engaging event. We would also like to thank the NCoC’s Kristen Campbell for coming from Washington D.C. to participate in the event. And most especially, we would like to thank Dr. Robert Putnam, and his lovely wife, for journeying all the way to Alabama to inform and inspire the work of citizens in this state!

We do not want the “Conversation on Alabama’s Civic Health” to end with the conclusion of the formal event, so we invite you to continue the conversation here at mathewscenter.org by commenting on this post. We look forward to working with all of you continue improving the civic health of our great state!

A digital copy of the Alabama Civic Health Index is available here. To view photos from “A Conversation on Alabama’s Civic Health, please view our Flickr site.

- Cristin Foster (DMC Assistant Program Director)

At the beginning of the event, the interns introduced the film and asked the group to actively watch and listen. “Concrete, Steel, and Paint” is a dynamic film that focuses on a group of prisoners, victims, and victim advocates in Philadelphia, PA. In the documentary, a group of prisoners are introduced to Jane Golden, a prolific mural painter. She exposes the men to mural painting, and they begin working on projects in the prison. As times goes on, the men decide that they want to paint a mural that can be displayed in the community.

Jane is attracted to the idea, but she immediately decides that the community and the victims (as well as victim advocates) need to play a role in deciding what the mural will communicate.

After deciding to engage the community, Jane finds herself in a precarious and delicate position. The victims and victim advocates are supportive of the idea, but they also want to ensure that the prisoners are not simply painting the mural for their own healing. Instead, they want the healing to be experienced by the individuals that were harmed by the prisoners.

Jane recognizes the need for common ground, and she decides to initiate a dialogue between the prisoners and the victims. Some may classify the sessions as “restorative justice,” but there also elements of deliberation included into the process. Rather than simply working to examine false assumptions, learn from one another, and heal, the two groups are tasked with finding common ground and taking action. If they want the mural to become a reality, they must determine what they hold valuable, and what they want the mural to communicate to the community.

Eventually, the groups decide to create two murals. One is “prisoner-centric,” while the other is “victim-centric.” In the end, the prisoners and the victims paint the murals side-by-side, and the community is given two new pieces of meaningful artwork.

Following the film, the UAB interns distributed a sheet of paper featuring several questions. The students that watched the film were asked to review the questions, and deliberate on certain aspects the mural project.

Most of the students struggled with the same questions. Were the prisoners victims too? Was it a successful project if two murals were painted instead of one? What affect will the murals have on the community?

The participants worked through these difficult questions (including the tensions within the questions), and some common ground eventually emerged.

They applauded the mural project, but, at the same time, they felt as if both groups isolated themselves during the first dialogue session. The students noted that the victims and victim advocates were unwilling to hear about the pain and strife that was experienced by many of the prisoners, which frustrated them. After several participants analyzed the initial communicative relationship between the prisoners and the victims, a student in the crowd noted her frustration with the direction of the discussion. She expressed empathy for the victims and victim advocates, and asked the students to think about how they would react if they too were victims of vicious crimes.

Following her comments, the group worked to identify what they commonly held valuable – public safety and personal safety. Upon embracing this common ground, the group then evaluated the mural project. Was it a success if the two groups could not decide on one mural? Some of the students believed it was, while others saw it as a minor failure. The students that saw it as a failure expressed a desire to see one unified mural emerge from the project. Since the prisoners and the victims could not decide on one painting, the students believed that the initial goal was not reached. Other participants noted that with so many voices and experiences needing to be included in the mural, the decision to paint two pieces was appropriate.

By the end of the deliberative session, many members of the groups noted that they were thinking about the issue/project differently. Though inspiring, the mural project has many complex components that can be difficult to evaluate. Overall, the students did seem very impressed by the project.

- Chris McCauley (DMC Executive Director)

Building a Competitive Workforce highlights five major themes, or approaches, that southerners identified in a forum series in 2007 as most important to developing a more competitive workforce in the region. Those five themes are: create a culture of learning, get more parents involved, strengthen soft skills, expand knowledge of careers and education options, and facilitate collaboration between different workforce players.

After a welcome and introductions, Chris McCauley, DMC Executive Director, asked forum participants to relate any ways their work has changed since beginning their work life, and any skills that they had to update. Many spoke of adapting to new technology in the past two decades and trying to “do more with less” in the recent tough economic times.

After reflecting on their personal stake in the issue of workforce development, forum participants delved into the discussion guide’s five themes. Connecting themes one and two, “Create a Culture of Learning” and “Get More Parents Involved,” participants focused on addressing the cycle that often emerges when parents have low educational levels and/or have little time to help their children with schoolwork. A number of forum participants suggested strengthening the area’s daycare and Head Start programs to help break those cycles at a young age.

Theme three, “Strengthen Soft Skills,” resonated deeply with forum participants. Several participants related stories of interactions with young people with poor work ethics and bad manners that left them “appalled.” One lady diagnosed it as a “culture of dwindling expectations” for the community’s young people.  In order to combat the loss of soft skills in the rising workforce, forum participants suggested that homework requirements and school expectations ought to hold students to high standards. Others put forth that community sports, arts, and after-school programs could play a huge role in instilling and encouraging good soft skills. Many felt that mentoring programs that pair a college student or community member with a student play a vital role in helping young people develop soft skills.

Theme four, “Expand Knowledge of Careers and Education Options,” met with broad agreement from forum participants. Many advocated the need to expose students to a variety of career options, not just those that require a four-year degree. Participants suggested that career fairs often serve as vital conduits of information to students about technical careers they may not hear of otherwise. Several forum participants put forth that students must be made aware of the realities of the careers and studies they desire to pursue, so that they are not blindly assuming that a 2.0 GPA will get them into medical school, for example.

Theme five, “Facilitate Collaboration,” emphasizes the need for improved communication between workforce players, particularly education and industry. Theme five produced the greatest excitement amongst forum participants as they related what is already being done in this area and what they can do to facilitate collaboration. Forum participants would like to see increased dialogue between schools and industry, apprenticeship programs expanded, and more career mentoring for ninth and tenth graders provided.

Forum participants also acknowledged the potential obstacles to increased collaboration: the “stigma” many place on career tech, industries content on remaining in “their own little world,” the halls of academia that are resistant to community involvement, and businesspersons and educators that are not often used to interacting.  Despite the challenges, forum participants agreed that, in their case, Auburn University, Auburn City Schools, and the Auburn community must continue to work together to facilitate greater collaboration in order to develop a more competitive workforce.

Forum participants found common ground in identifying the role that the entire community must play in order to produce a competitive workforce. One participant remarked that all of the community resources, “until brought together, are just potential.” Forum participants asked themselves, “How do we get everybody headed in the same direction?” Many participants shared contact information with each other, provided further resources on their particular initiatives, and related that community centers could form the hub for continued conversations on the subject of workforce development.

We would like to thank the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities, the City of Auburn, and the Community Writing Center for sponsoring the forum. Thanks are also due to all of the forum participants who energetically engaged with this issue!

The Auburn community’s feedback from the forum will be used in developing the Southern Growth Policies Board’s 2012 Report on the Future of the South, a high profile policy report that is shared with Southern governors and regional leaders in business and education.

- Cristin Foster (DMC Assistant Program Director)

After a few words of welcome from Martha Lewis of the American Village, Chris McCauley, DMC Executive Director, introduced the day’s agenda and moderated an abbreviated forum using Dropouts: What Should We Do? to guide deliberation. The experience provided many of the participants with their first view of a public deliberative forum. Despite its abbreviated format, participants engaged with the issue, shared personal stories related to dropping out, and dealt with tensions and tradeoffs inherent in the three approaches. Workshop participants reacted positively to the deliberative experience and began asking engaging questions about moderating and recording tips and techniques.

During the second portion of the day’s agenda, participants worked through the Moderator Development Handbook. The Handbook examines the various components of moderating, addresses dealing with challenging forum participants, and provides a significant number of sample questions that stimulate deliberation. Workshop participants engaged with the material in the Handbook, asked numerous questions, provided anecdotes of what has worked for them in various public meetings, and took time to write their own questions to prompt deliberation.

Workshop participants then convened for lunch in the beautiful Liberty Hall.  While enjoying lunch, an American Village interpreter—“Phyllis Wheatley”—spoke to the group about her life as a slave in Boston at the dawn of the American Revolution. She even read some of her poetry.

After lunch, the participants split into two groups to conduct mock forums to practice their newly developed skills as moderators and recorders. During the mock forums, participants took turns moderating and recording the opening section, the three approaches, and the closing reflection portion. The workshop participants took on different personalities to test their colleagues, practiced remaining neutral while moderating, and asked good questions that prompted deliberation.

The workshop closed with a reflection on the day’s experiences. Workshop participants commented on the number of ways they could make use of their newly developed moderating skills at work and in the community.

We would like to thank Alabama Public Television, particularly Dr. Cindy Kirk, Caroline Martin, and Virginia Beale for organizing the workshop. A big ‘Thank You” to all participants for actively engaging with the material and ensuring the success of the workshop!

- Cristin Foster

The day before the summit began, Cristin Foster, Kylee Parks, and Patrick Johnson attended a Youth Leaders Pre-Conference for participants under age 25. The Pre-Conference prepared youth for the upcoming summit, promoted greater understanding of the goals of GradNation, and provided opportunities for young people to collaborate, share ideas, and explore the role of youth in increasing the nation’s graduation rate.

The next morning, Mrs. Alma Powell, chair of America’s Promise Alliance, and Michael Powell, co-chair of GradNation, welcomed attendees at the opening session of the summit before kicking off a packed agenda of engaging break-out sessions, inspiring speakers, and informative panels. The opening session included the unveiling of the latest Building a Grad Nation report, presentations by a number of stakeholders in the GradNation Campaign, and a panel focusing on school improvement grants and dropout prevention, moderated by U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.

Upon conclusion of the opening session, DMC staff and interns split up to attend different break out sessions. University of Montevallo Jean O’Connor Snyder intern Kylee Parks describes the session she attended:

“The first break out session that I attended was entitled Transforming Our Schools, Improving Student Success. This session focused on what the Summit called “dropout factories.” These are the schools in which the graduation rate is at about 50%. The workshop presented ideas as to how to alleviate some of the strain on these schools, as well as the communities that surround them, in order to increase the graduation rate. It was said in this meeting that fewer than 15% of America’s high schools produce half of the nation’s 1.2 million dropouts. There was discussion about how to effectively improve these schools. Community-based wrap around support was one of the most supported ideas.”

The rest of the staff and interns attended a session entitled Community Spotlight: Lessons from Houston and Gwinnett County. Houston and Gwinnett County are large, urban school districts that have made great strides in improving their graduation rates while experiencing rapid growth and demographic shifts. The six presenters from the two school districts highlighted their methods for building a culture that encourages academic success in the lowest-performing students. Some of the themes brought up in this break out session echoed those that Alabamians discussed during the AIF dropout forum series.

During the lunch plenary session, Summit attendees heard from a panel of educators and education advocates. Jonathan Capehart, opinion writer for The Washington Post, moderated the panel which focused on efforts by the panelists to “disrupt the status quo” in education. Panelists included Michelle Rhee, CEO of StudentsFirst, and Paul Vallas, Superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools.

After lunch, Mathews Center staff and interns attended a break out session entitled Cincinnati Case Study: Focused Community Efforts Improve Success. Kylee Parks relates that

“This session focused on the importance of using data to track student improvement. Not only in this session, but also across the conference there was a lot of support for data tracking as a new method of reinforcing student success. It follows from the idea that success cannot be determined without the proper amount of data to record and compare changes. The data collected in Cincinnati was made possible by community partnerships with the school that provided funding for the project. The data is used system-wide to alert the schools of at-risk students so that their progress can be mentored and monitored toward graduation.”

Upon conclusion of the day’s sessions, DMC staff and interns took the opportunity to see neighboring D.C. sights before reconvening for a sumptuous dinner and a dynamic performance by students from the Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts. The first full day of the summit came to an end with the showing of a documentary entitled Bully, which highlights the experiences of several bullied students from around the United States.

The next morning’s opening plenary session began with a fascinating panel of business leaders from around the nation. The panel, moderated by Maria Bartiromo of CNBC’s Closing Bell, discussed the important role the business community can play in education. Panelists described the efforts of their corporations to provide vocational training, job shadowing, career preparation, and support to the schools in their communities. The vital role of industry in education frequently arose in dropout forums around Alabama.

The final break out session of the conference attended by Mathews Center staff featured a presentation by Julie Turner, School Improvement Specialist for the Dothan City Schools and a presenter at “Our Community, Our Future.” Ms. Turner spoke of the role of Alabama’s data tracking system and community wrap-around support – spearheaded by Yes We Can! Dothan – in decreasing Dothan City School’s dropout rate from 115 students to 3 students!

The Summit concluded with a luncheon and closing remarks by George Lucas and General Colin Powell, the founding Chairman of America’s Promise Alliance.

Pat Johnson, O’C intern at the University of Montevallo, summed up the Summit as an “eye-opening experience” for DMC staff and interns. It was a privilege to engage with so many citizens, corporations, schools, and communities dedicated to increasing the graduation rate in the United States!

- Cristin Foster (DMC Assistant Program Director)

Ms. Donna Thomas, president of the Birmingham City PTA Council, welcomed the group and introduced the day’s program. Cristin Foster (DMC Assistant Program Director) served as moderator, Ashley Kontos (DMC Director of Community-Based Research) recorded, and Leon Evans (Birmingham National Issues Forums leadership team) provided post-forum reflections. To jumpstart the deliberation, forum participants examined brief portions of the introduction to the issue guide, introduced themselves, and related what concerns them most about childhood obesity in their community.

Following the introductions, forum participants grappled with Approach One, “Expect Personal Responsibility for Fitness.” Approach One emphasizes the role of parents, teachers, and other adults in modeling a healthy lifestyle for young people, recognizing the signs of obesity, and educating both children and adults about healthy choices.

The majority of forum participants agreed with Approach One’s emphasis on parental responsibility for modeling and encouraging healthy choices for children. Many participants shared stories of how they encourage healthy weights for their children and grandchildren, while others related the debilitating effects of those adults who model and encourage unhealthy habits and choices for their children. Forum participants wished to see more education made available to parents about “good” fat vs. “bad” fat, metabolic rates, the role of genetics and medications in obesity. Suggestions for educating parents in these areas spanned from conducting more community forums on healthy choices to providing parents and students with handouts on nutrition to bringing health department officials to PTA meetings to discuss healthy living. Forum participants encouraged each other to turn their TVs off more often, steer their children away from video games, visit their child’s school lunchroom, and avoid using candy as a reward for good behavior. Others expressed concern over whether or not parents are willing, or have time, to attend meetings about proper nutrition and cook healthy meals every day.

Approach Two, “Invest in Overall Child Well-Being,” addresses the underlying circumstances that trigger overeating, focuses on building healthy body images in the media, and directions attention at the importance of food security. Forum participants agreed with Approach Two’s assessment of the issue, but chose to shift responsibility to the parents and adults in a community to build healthy body images rather than relying on the media to change. Forum participants also want parents and teachers to instruct children on how to read nutritional labels. Many also want school counselors to be knowledgeable about childhood obesity and healthy nutrition.  The group overwhelmingly agreed that parents, teachers, and community members ought to encourage a healthy body image by promoting differences in appearance, discouraging society/media’s stick-thin image of health and beauty, and by focusing on health, not weight.

Approach Three, “Change Our Culture to Encourage Fitness,” spurred deliberation forward as participants put forth concrete ideas of how they could act to combat this issue in their communities. Forum participants gravitated toward the holistic—home, school, and community—outlook of Approach Three. A number of citizens brought up the difficulty of providing physical activity for children in neighborhoods with higher safety risks. To combat that danger, forum participants suggested developing informal support systems within each neighborhood so that children have “safe houses” on each block. Others suggested using neighborhood associations to educate parents and young people about healthy choices, and to provide neighborhood “Fun Days” that encourage active lifestyles through games and events.  Forum participants also hoped to see in-school and after-school physical education opportunities expanded.

As the formal agenda for the forum concluded, participants continued sharing their ideas with one another before sitting down to a delicious lunch. I have rarely seen a forum where participants were more intent on identifying what they personally, and as a community, could do to combat childhood obesity in their families, schools, and communities.

We would like to thank Birmingham National Issues Forums Leadership Team and the Birmingham City Council of PTAs for their role in organizing this forum. A big “Thank You” to all of the citizens who gave up the last Saturday of their Spring Break to participate!

- Cristin Foster (DMC Assistant Program Director)

“Our Community, Our Future” began with a brief welcome from Dr. Mark Wilson of Auburn’s College of Liberal Arts. Dr. Wilson thanked all forum conveners and participants, and recognized those who contributed to the Mathews Center’s event “Making Community Decisions About Alabama’s Dropout Situation” held on June 22, 2011.

DMC executive director, Chris McCauley, then took the stage. McCauley discussed the process of naming and framing the “Dropouts: What Should We Do?” issue guide and the methodology for conducting public deliberative forums. He then unpacked the major themes that emerged in the AIF 2010-2011 dropout forum cycle.

McCauley emphasized that the main purpose of public deliberation is not to just talk, but rather to make commitments to act publicly. Cristin Foster, DMC assistant program director, then introduced three presenters—Phenix City Future Problem Solvers, Yes We Can! Dothan/Dothan City Schools, and Alabama Public Television—to talk about their decisions and actions to increase graduation rates in Alabama.

Three students from Phenix City’s Central High School—Michael Bellamy, Shelley McMoy, and Taggert VinZant—presented their efforts as Phenix City Future Problem Solvers to address the dropout issue in their community through a variety of efforts. Most notably, the three young people have produced a documentary highlighting some of the causes of dropping out and a number of possible solutions to the problem. They also recently launched a website to provide resources on dropping out and to connect citizens, businesses, and organizations to those resources. The young people provided an overview of their project, screened their documentary, and exhibited their website at “Our Community, Our Future.”

Julie Mullins-Turner, Dothan City Schools School Improvement Specialist, then gave a presentation on the collaborative efforts of Yes We Can! Dothan and the Dothan City Schools to increase graduation rates in their city by providing wrap-around support for every student. Mullins-Turner highlighted the role of the Dothan community, particularly Yes We Can! Dothan, in helping to bridge the gap between the home and school in the community. Twyla Williams, communications director for Yes We Can! Dothan, provided brochures and handouts on the ongoing collaborative effort.

Rounding out the “Decisions and Actions” segment of the agenda, representatives of Alabama Public Television—Caroline Martin and Virginia Beale—spoke on APT’s American Graduate initiative. American Graduate is a public media initiative of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, in cooperation with America’s Promise Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, designed to raise awareness and coordinate community partners on the dropout situation. The Mathews Center will conduct a moderator development workshop with APT’s American Graduate program at the end of March.

At the conclusion of the presentations, “Our Community, Our Future” attendees sat down to a sumptuous lunch. After attendees had settled in, Kylee Parks, Jean O’Connor Snyder intern at the University of Montevallo, introduced luncheon keynote speaker Dr. Shelley Stewart, president and CEO of o2ideas and founder of the Mattie C. Stewart Foundation.

Dr. Stewart poignantly, and with great humor, spoke of the importance of relationships in helping students graduate from high school and become whatever they want to be. He encouraged audience members to “reach out” and take an interest in an individual who might need encouragement and support. Recounting stories of his own rise from abandonment, homelessness, and abuse to success, Dr. Stewart illustrated the importance of the relationship he had with a teacher who reached out and encouraged him when he had nothing. Dr. Stewart’s remarks elicited a standing ovation from an enthusiastic audience.

On the high note produced by Dr. Stewart’s inspiring address, Chris McCauley encouraged all attendees to continue the conversation on the Mathews Center’s website, with each other, and in their respective communities. Attendees continued to talk, network, and exchange ideas well after the conclusion of the formal agenda.

We would like to thank Dr. Stewart, the Phenix City Future Problem Solvers, Yes We Can! Dothan/Dothan City Schools, and Alabama Public Television for their parts in making “Our Community, Our Future” a resounding success. A huge thank you to all attendees, as well. We look forward to continuing the conversation!

If you would like to continue the conversation on Alabama’s dropout situation, please feel free to answer the following question (all responses will be summarized in an update blog that will be posted in two weeks):

Reid’s newest book, The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, examines the health care systems of other wealthy nations in hopes of providing an impetus for improving the system of health care in the United States. PBS Frontline followed Reid on his trek through numerous countries while reporting for The Healing of America. The footage was compiled into two documentary films, Sick Around the World and India—A Second Opinion.

Reid opened his remarks by congratulating the Crimson Tide on their football national championship victory, expressing his pleasure at escaping the wintry weather of his Colorado home, and urging the Tuscaloosa community to quickly rebuild his favorite barbecue place that was destroyed by the April 2011 tornados.

After Reid’s lighthearted opening sentences that elicited laughs from the audience, he sprinted through the high points of his book, The Healing of America.

“49.9 million Americans do not have health care coverage,” and “22,000 Americans die a year” of treatable illnesses, related Reid. These stark numbers led Reid to ask three questions about health care systems in affluent countries around the world. First, “How do you cover everybody [as many wealthy countries do], and spend less, and how can we do it?” Second, “Why would a country commit to provide health care for all of its people?” And finally, “Why does the richest country in the world not cover all of its citizens?”

Reid answers these questions in his book by examining the four major categories of health care systems and the nations that fall in each. In the spirit of “a reporter” and “not an editorialist,” Reid related that he would not advocate or champion a particular system, but rather relate how and why they work.

The four systems are: The Beveridge Model, The Bismarck Model, the National Health Insurance Model (also known as the Douglas Model), and the Out-of-pocket Model. The Beveridge Model originated in Great Britain at the end of the Second World War; in it, government owns the hospitals and labs, employs the specialists, and general practitioners bill the government. There are no premiums, co-pays, or doctor bills. The Bismarck Model was created in the recently-unified Germany of the 1870s by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. In the Bismarck Model, doctors, hospitals, and insurance are all private, every citizen is required to buy insurance and split the cost with their employer, and the government picks up the cost if one becomes unemployed. The National Insurance Model came into being in Canada in the mid-twentieth century and it employs private doctors, private (or charity) hospitals, and the government pays the bill. The Out-of-pocket Model is self-explanatory and exists in three quarters of the world.

Reid put forth that the United States makes use of all four models. The Beveridge Model applies to the Veteran’s Affairs health care system, the Bismarck Model encompasses all Americans who share payment for insurance with their employer (about 150 million), the National Health Insurance Model covers all Americans over 65 on Medicare, and the Out-of-pocket Model accounts for the 49.9 million Americans lacking health insurance.

Though cautioning his listeners that he did not find a perfect system in all his travels, Reid nevertheless moved out of the objective reporting that comprised most of his address and exhorted the audience to make the moral commitment to provide “the same access, to the same care, at the same price” for all Americans.

Upon conclusion of his remarks, Reid answered audience questions, signed books, and personably chatted with community members for quite some time.

T.R. Reid’s keynote intersected with the Mathews Center’s goal to work with communities on issues that concern them by providing an opportunity for interested Alabamians to further engage with a national issue. Mathews Center interns at UA are currently employed in framing an issue guide related to health care in Alabama.

The Mathews Center would like to thank T.R. Reid for coming to Alabama to discuss an issue that many Alabamians express concern over.

- Cristin Foster (DMC Assistant Program Director)