Yesterday thousands of people in 80 cities across the country and around the world gathered for Q Commons. The event has been described as “TED for culturally engaged Christians”. It features important conversations aimed at promoting the connections between faith and the common good at a local and national level.
As one of the local speakers at Q Commons DC, Nicole Baker Fulgham spotlighted some of the troubling facts about how education inequality is playing out in our nation’s capital and how people of faith are responding to the issue. We also launched a brand new campaign called Hope for Students!
Here’s just a sampling of what people saw and how they responded:
.@nicolebfulgham highlights the problem of educational inequality in DC. #QCommons pic.twitter.com/QCrorlARYg
— Justin Fung (@justinfung) September 24, 2015
Compassionate service + faithful advocacy are what we need to change the statistics in #education inequality. #OnMissionEveryDay #QCommons — aoneeight (@aoneeight) September 24, 2015
300,000 congragations in America and less than 50,000 high poverty schools. Ratio is 6:1. Let’s be #onmissioneveryday Church! #QCommons — LaTia Walker (@Tiaromia) September 24, 2015
“Where you are born often determines your academic destiny.” Sobering statistics at #qcommons #education pic.twitter.com/CbkvvUZMz7 — The Body Politic (@ChristianCivics) September 24, 2015
The biggest thing that stood out to us was just how many of the local talks focused on education equity. In addition to Nicole’s talk, we heard a passionate appeal from Jeff Franco, the leader of City Year in Washington, DC, for people of faith to move from bystanders to student mentors, and from student mentors to invested champions.
People of faith are moving on this issue. We believe the rumblings of a national movement are underway. If you’re already playing a role in this movement, let us know! How? What does that look like? If you’re looking for ways to get more involved – GREAT – we’re here to help you. Start here by taking the Hope for Students pledge.
And if you missed the Q Commons event, fear not! We’ll be posting the full text of Nicole remarks in a blog post next week.
