Our children deserve more than our good intentions

By Ty-Licia Hooker

A few months ago, I visited the Black Panther Museum in Oakland.

As I walked through the education exhibit, I found myself reflecting on a lesson that feels as urgent today as it did sixty years ago- be responsive to the needs of our children.

Many of us know that the Black Panther Party didn’t wait for institutions to recognize what children needed. When they saw children arriving at school hungry, they responded. They lived in the community, they listened to the community, they identified the needs of the community, and then they responded to the needs with actions. The Free Breakfast for Children Program became a blueprint for programs that still exist today, including the national free breakfast and school lunch program.

As I reflect on that, I am in awe of how responsive they were to the needs of the children. The BPP understood that when we invest in children, we invest in the future of our communities, but today, I worry we are forgetting that lesson.

As Executive Director of The Children’s Education Project, a former Oakland Unified School District kindergarten teacher, a third-generation OUSD student, and now the mother of an OUSD TK student, I have spent my life witnessing the brilliance of Oakland’s children. From each viewpoint, I can see the same pattern: the lack of responsiveness to students and the lack of investment in their needs and talents.

As a kindergarten teacher, I learned how to be responsive to the unique needs of my students in the Fruitvale. I taught children who arrived at school all excited to learn and happy to be a part of our classroom community, but they came in with vastly different levels of preparation and personal backgrounds. Being able to adapt to their unique needs became a muscle that reminded me of my own time being a student in OUSD and how very few teachers understood or cared enough to be responsive to the needs of me and my peers.

Today, as a mother preparing my own daughter to navigate Oakland’s public school system, I find myself asking the same questions many parents ask, and unsure where to turn for answers. I wonder:

• What is the best school her?

• What school setting will respond to her unique needs?

• Will there be enrichment programs?

• Will there be space for me as a parent to support?

• Will there be mentors or tutors if she falls behind socially or academically?

• Will there be safe spaces where she can discover her gifts?

For too many families, the answers depend on both public systems and on whether a nonprofit can raise enough money to provide those opportunities. That should concern all of us.

According to a 2024 report from Families in Action, only about 2 in 10 Black and Brown students in Oakland are reading at grade level—roughly 14 percentage points below the state average. Half of Black and Brown students are graduating without meeting basic college eligibility requirements.

The education crisis in Oakland is not unique to just Oakland. Across the bridge, things aren’t much better. For years, San Francisco has struggled with one of the largest racial achievement gaps in California. Reporting found that only 19% of Black students met state reading standards, compared to 31% of Black students statewide. Despite being one of the wealthiest cities in the country, San Francisco has long faced troubling disparities in educational outcomes for Black children.

Think about that for a moment.

In two cities surrounded by extraordinary wealth, innovation, and opportunity, far too many Black children aren’t being responded to academically or socially.

For non-profits seeking to support students in schools and working tirelessly to fill gaps that should not exist in the first place, there is a constant need to evaluate their work to see whether it is worth funding for the next school year. Across Oakland and the Bay Area, youth-serving nonprofits are increasingly being asked to do more with less.

Behind every tutoring session, literacy intervention, mentoring relationship, family workshop, and after-school program is an organization that writes grants, cultivates donors, organizes fundraisers, and stretches every dollar to be responsive to the students we serve. We fight for resources so children can have access to opportunities that many families in wealthier communities take for granted.

For nearly three decades, The Children’s Education Project has partnered with Oakland families to help young people build the academic and leadership skills they need to thrive. We have responded by offering tutoring, mentoring, literacy support, enrichment opportunities, and family engagement. We have seen firsthand what happens when children receive consistent support. We’ve seen readers become confident learners, young people discover their voices, and watched families become stronger advocates for their children.

The results remind us that children do not need to be fixed; they need someone to listen and respond to their needs. That belief is why The Children’s Education Project is launching a Listening Campaign across the Bay Area.

Inspired by the Black Panther Party’s responsiveness, we want to begin by listening rather than assuming what children need. We want to hear directly from students, families, educators, and community members.

• What helps children succeed?

• What barriers stand in your way?

• What opportunities do you wish existed?

• What dreams do you have for yourselves and your city?

• What would make you feel more supported, more seen, and more prepared for the future?

The answers to these questions will directly shape future programming at The Children’s Education Project because before we can jump to solutions, we must begin with listening.

Simultaneously, we need leaders willing to prioritize our babies in budget decisions, and we need philanthropy willing to fund long-term solutions instead of short-term projects. We need technology companies and corporations that have benefited from the Bay Area’s prosperity to respond by investing in the communities that make this region possible. We need voters to respond by being willing to demand that children remain at the center of public policy.

And they need all of us to listen because if we choose not to, we risk losing the brilliance of an entire generation of the Bay Area’s most vulnerable children. You can participate in our listening campaign by reaching out to us on Facebook, Instagram, email and if you want to talk or text, you can call us. We want to hear from you. We need to hear from you and we can’t do it with you out. The future belongs to us, today, let’s get to it.

Ty-Licia Hooker is Executive Director, The Children’s Education Project

Facebook and IG: @THECHILDRENSEDUCATIONPROJECT

Email: INFO@THECHILDRENSEDUCATIONPROJECT

Phone: 510-355-6163

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