Build a strong education system for mother of all successes
A press release that celebrated Saturday’s Trenton Family Festival offered these particulars.
First Lady Tammy Murphy successfully hosted her 18th Nurture NJ Family Festival at the Hedgepeth-Williams Intermediate School in Trenton.
The Trenton Family Festival served as a one-stopshop for state, county, and local care, support, and resources. Over 500 people in the area were able to connect with 70 organizations that provided services for expectant and new moms and families with healthcare, housing support, food assistance, child care, New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission services, and more.
“Our capital city holds a special place in my heart, and I was so happy for the community to embrace our Family Festival. These Festivals provide me with a precious opportunity to connect with the incredible mothers, babies, and families of our state, which I eagerly anticipate with each event,”
“Through invaluable partnerships with numerous organizations, these Festivals have become a vital resource for thousands of New Jersey residents, offering easy access to essential services needed to support their growing families. Persevering despite the rain, we look forward to hosting more festivals across the state as we work methodically to make New Jersey the safest and most equitable state in the nation to deliver and raise a baby.”
Murphy, of course, mentioned her Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center to be built in Trenton. The facility will provide pre- and postnatal services, offer perinatal workforce training, and research new models of care. It will further seek to expand the availability of prenatal care.
“Most of you know Trenton is not only a birthing desert. It’s a food desert. It’s our state capitol. And in honor of the late Sheila Y. Oliver, my friend and mentor, we are determined to get Trenton back to where it should be,” New Jersey’s First Lady pledged.
Murphy, who makes as many appearances in Trenton proper as her hubby, Governor Phil, should hold off on predictions about this city making a comeback. Only two initiatives can make Trenton great again. Education. And, beating poverty. Actually, the first-mentioned objective, trumps the second. Period.
Sure, offering mothers, babies and families, all aspects of prenatal and postnatal care sounds terrific. It’s the continuum of care that matters most. Mothers, babies and families that head back to poverty, blight, and eventually enter underperforming education systems, face odds stacked higher than the Empire State.
For the record, approximately 28-percent of Trenton residents live below the poverty level. That’s more than double the national average.
The aforementioned press release collected comments from organizations and politicians, blurbs that caused concern. Not one mention of education after being inside a school named after education equality and integration champions Berline Williams and Gladys Hedgepeth, Black moms who filed suit against the Board of Education after their children were denied entrance to the neighborhood public school.
Instead, their kids were forced to attend an all-Black school several miles away. In 1944, the state Supreme Court found in Hedgepeth and Williams’ favor as New Jersey adopted school desegregation. No mention of poverty and its connectors to other troubles.
Almost 80 years after the Hedgepeth-Williams decision, Trenton and many other New Jersey schools have reverted to segregation. City schools have experienced a shift as Latinos hold a growing majority over Blacks in public school population.
Understanding this seismic social shift should encourage politicians and organizations to present spoken and printed messages in both Spanish and English. Here, the communication rings clearly — a strong education system erases poverty and clears a path for most worthy initiatives.