Mayor Shirley Franklin keeps it real at Salute
By Meliqueica Meadows
Of the St. Louis American
“The world is not gonna wait for us to educate our children,” Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin told a sold-out crowd of more than 1,600 people Friday at the St. Louis American Foundation’s 19th Annual Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship and Awards Banquet.
Franklin, who had just returned from a trip abroad to China, spoke with full-throated passion from start to finish.
“To the extent that we educate young people from the inner cities, we have an opportunity to influence the world,” she said.
“We better get started.”
She said it is important to help all children – not just the best and brightest – to pursue higher education. Franklin practices what she preaches. She established the Next Step program and made a vow to personally meet with all of the nearly 2,000 senior-level high school students in her city in an effort to encourage them to pursue higher education.
The program has succeeded, because of Franklin’s work ethic and the dedication of key partners, including Lincoln University in Jefferson City. The institution partnered with Franklin’s Next Step program and provided full scholarships to seven Atlanta youth – “all of whom we met in court,” Franklin said.
The mayor said that Atlanta is currently graduating 72 percent of its high school students.
“This year in the Next Step program, 715 students have been helped with laptops, money, plane tickets, instruments – anything to meet their unmet financial need,” Franklin said.
“And you know what? It cost less than $1 million.”
She said there are numerous scholarships and grants for the top achievers, but students with less-stellar transcripts are often neglected. Franklin said that it is incumbent upon adults and educators to stop operating on a system that says, “Kids who can will, and kids who cannot will not.”
“To say to our young people that they have to fit into a box and, if not, then we’re not going to help them is to deny our heritage,” Franklin said.
“My urge is to not forget anyone.”
With college tuition skyrocketing, the Bush administration recently made cuts to federal financial aid. This, Franklin said, is deplorable.
“For the first time in the history of the Department of Education, the budget has been cut,” Franklin said.
“They print money in Washington, D.C. Can they print some for our kids? If you’re going to be trillions of dollars in debt, you might as well go all the way.”
Franklin said there should be more programs like Next Step and Salute to Excellence in Education to ensure that all children are given the opportunity to improve their lives through education.
“This program has to grow to a level where you are doubling and tripling the number you are honoring,” she said of the Salute scholarship program.
“You’ve got to do it for yourself, because you can’t build enough prisons,” she said. “You can’t build enough gated communities. You can’t move far enough away from the inner city.”
A mayor of ‘firsts’
Franklin was introduced by the 2006 Salute to Excellence in Education general chairperson Johnny Furr Jr., vice president of urban marketing and community affairs for Anheuser-Busch Inc.
“Anheuser-Busch is proud to be a major supporter of education and a supporter of the Salute to Excellence in Education,” he said. “As a former resident of Atlanta I am proud to see what this sister has done for that city.”
Franklin, a world-class mayor, garners a bevy of media attention – and all the right kind. Furr described her as a politician “known to the nation for her firsts.”
Indeed, she was the first African-American woman to head a major Southern city. Her historic career began in 1978 under former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson as commissioner of Cultural Affairs. Later she was named chief administrative officer/city manager under then Mayor Andrew Young. Franklin was the first woman in the nation to hold that office.
“What better experience could a future mayor get than working for not one but two legendary mayors and civil rights leaders?” Furr said.
Furr described education as “the path that has always taken us on the journey to where we want to be.”
“These young people are our passengers, and they are who are going to take us to the Promised Land,” Franklin said of students.
“But progress is not an easy road. You have to make whatever effort is necessary to get to the other side.”
Franklin reached deep for an historical comparison to make her point.
“We have to remove the barriers of all students,” Franklin said.
“I know we can do this, because we are a people of Harriet Tubman. That’s the kind of resolve we need.”
