Volume 5 – Introduction

Friends:

Over the past several months I’ve had the pleasure of working with Dr. Irvin Scott and the team at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Institute for Faith and Education when they brought Praxis Connections on to provide a variety of services to assist with its mission of improving educational outcomes through faith-driven efforts in education. It is a very unique & exciting effort!

New York City has several faith-driven educational efforts that are improving educational outcomes for young people throughout our city! For instance, the Abyssinian Baptist Church has catalyzed a Collective Impact educational effort called the the Harlem Renaissance Educational Pipeline (www.hrepinc.org) in School District 5 (Central Harlem) involving several partners. While the Latino Pastoral Action Center has established a faith-driven Charter School model through the Family Life Academy Charter Schools (www.flacsnyc.com) in the South Bronx. Other churches & faith-based organizations have provided mentoring & tutorial services. Praxis Connections has partnered with Nyack College (www.nyack.edu), local churches, and the tech community to launch Code for Life (www.codeforlife.us) in January at two sites located in East Harlem & East Flatbush to equip young people with the skills they need to thrive in this new economy. Over the next several months Praxis Connections will spotlight some of the excellent work being done throughout our city!

On a personal level my family was impacted by a faith-driven effort in education. My grandfather grew up in Boston where his mother (my great grandmother) became a widow just before 1920. Going to the family Priest she sought help in getting her children a good education. I’m sure she was persistent – it’s a family trait. As a result my Grandfather and his brother ended up at BC High School at a time where the average education was barely 8th grade and the high school movement was over a decade away. So he went off to BC High (a great school) and earned a football scholarship from Dartmouth College at a time where less the 5% of America graduated from college. He graduated in 1928 and went to NYC to work on Wall Street, then later moved to Minnesota where he raised a family of seven children of which my Dad was the oldest. Without the church being an advocate none of this would have happened.

Blessings,

Chris Troy
President
Praxis Connections, LLC