January 2015
On Martin Luther King Jr.'s Day (last Monday), two strangers have a conversation. Brandon asks Vidal, "Who's influenced you the most in your life?" and receives an unexpected answer: "My principal, Ms. Lopez." Vidal, a 13-year old boy from Brownsville, NY explains, "When we get in trouble, she doesn't suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter."
I should be more forthcoming. Brandon is Brandon Stanton, a street photographer who chronicles the portraits and lives of every day New Yorkers in a poignant and VERY popular blog, Humans of New York, which has almost 12 million Facebook fans.
Long story short, Brandon visits Ms. Nadia Lopez and her staff and learns about Brownsville (a neighborhood in Brooklyn with one of the highest murder rates per capita and highest concentrations of public housing) and their school, Mott Hall Bridges Academy. They discuss the limited horizons of disadvantaged youth, that many of their students don't ever step outside of the neighborhood. They strike an idea: let's send the students to visit Harvard, even if just for one day.
An Indiegogo campaign is launched to raise $100,000 in 18 days. In just a few hours, $185,000. In one day, $365,000. (Oh, at this time, Ms. Lopez is receiving bouquets of flowers from awesome humans on the internet.)
They discuss using the extra funds for a summer program, since most of the students have no structured means for learning (the summer slide). Plus, the neighborhood is dangerous, even the playgrounds and the library. In two days, $570,000. During this time, Brandon continues to feature portraits and stories of students and staff at the Academy. In four days, over $700,000 (from 25,000 donors). To put this in perspective, this money can pay for 10 years of Harvard visits and 10 years of summer programs.
In five days, $1,042,820 (from 34,893 donors).
They meet again. They decide to use funds over $700,000 to establish a scholarship fund available to graduates of MHBA and to lay tracks to continue that support in the future. The scholarship fund is named The Vidal Fund. And, the first recipient is Vidal, the boy who answered a question and inspired a global community.
So, Happy New Year, fellow humans, and welcome to 2015! May this year be good to our students and good to us.