An Opportunity for Stakeholders to Support Trenton's Kids

One of the ideas I recently suggested to the Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson was the creation of a "resource bank," funded through donations by stakeholders in the region, to help support inner city parents that want to support their aspiring kids but lack the means to do so. The idea is to create a fund that families can approach for help, whether it be to provide capital resources or supplemental educational programs for their children to attend. If the proposal is deemed worthwhile, the bank will either grant the funds or provide them at an extremely favorable terms for repayment.

If we as a community are ever going to help bridge the "learning gap" that exists between urban and suburban schools, stakeholders in the area are going to have to fill that "gap" by providing the kind of programs and opportunities often absent in the inner city beyond the reach of parents who desperately want to support their motivated kids.

Trenton schools will never attain the level of quality available in suburban districts like West Windsor-Plainsboro or Princeton. There will never be equity in access to resources, whether human or material, and so support from "others" is a necessity if we truly believe that equality of opportunity is a value worth believing in.

To these ends, I have just created The Trenton Education Resource Bank on the crowdfunding site gofundme.com. The initial goal of the site is to raise $10,000. Once this goal is met I believe we can approach businesses, individuals, and organizations in the Trenton area to raise even more. I encourage others who, like me, believe that children should not be disadvantaged simply by the luck of birth to take up the cause of helping bring equity and opportunity to the children of Trenton. You can access my project by going to  http://www.gofundme.com/knek3c and making a donation, then tell 5 others to do the same. Together we can help support the inner city's future engineers, artists, artisans, entrepreneurs, tradesmen (and women), scientists, and political leaders. If we don't do it, who will?