Hmmm . . . . What’s the true cost of education? What resources are needed to “educate” ie prepare for life a middle/upper middle class child with all the attendant developmental assets in both cognitive skills and personal resilience, versus a low income, urban child, perhaps single parent family, raised in a community experiencing high rates of violence, both between adults, and youth? What truly are the interventions that will make the difference, and what do they cost? This is what’s on my mind these days after twenty years with Big Picture, in low-income BP schools in Providence, Newport, San Francisco, and Oakland.

After twenty years as an advisor, and principal in four BPL schools, I am now working with the Harbor Freight Fellowship program to provide bridge opportunities for youth to pursue careers in the trades and crafts, working to change how CTE, Career Pathways, and Youth Development programs work with youth – get ‘em out of school, and into the world, for god’s sake!! I am loving every minute of it. How lucky am I?