Jon speaks with Dr. David Penberg, who ran the Liberty Partnership Program at Bank Street College in the 1990s, and two of the participants, Madelyn Baez, and Tara Crichlow. Three decades later, Madelyn, Tara, and David explain how the program changed the trajectory of their lives. The Liberty Partnership was created as a college prep intervention for underserved and marginalized middle school students. For the participants, it was a safe place of “uncomfortable empowerment” where their opinions were taken seriously in a simultaneously supportive and challenging environment.
Overview
00:00-00:45 Intro
00:45-01:56 Liberty Partnership Program (LPP) origin and description
01:56-03:36 What LPP felt like to Madelyn and Tara
03:36-07:03 LPP structure and goals
07:03-09:40 How Madelyn and Tara joined
09:40-14:42 How experiences in the program were different from school
14:42-19:10 Environmental conversations
19:10-19:24 Trip to China
19:24-20:49 Asset-based program; not about “fixing” the young people
20:49-23:03 Opportunities and relationships
23:03-26:04 “Uncomfortable empowerment”
26:04-26:50 Options, opportunities, exposure, experience
26:50-30:37 Bank Street as a place of safety and empowerment during time of demonization
of young people of color after Central Park jogger case
30:37-35:03 Impact on students’ relationships with families and friends
35:03-37:02 Impact on David’s life
37:02-37:52 Remembering youths who died
37:52-40:51 The larger Bank Street environment
40:51-42:15 The “pure love” of the LPP community
42:15- Outro
Transcript
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Soundtrack by Poddington Bear