Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsay Gary .
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lindsay. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started The Re-education Project to positively impact the educational realities of African American children. Unfortunately, many black children in America still don’t have access to equitable and quality education. With my backgrounds in public policy and education, I personally witnessed the ways these circumstances continue to drastically hinder our children and communities. I decided that four hundred years of educational racism in the United States was enough; I was no longer willing to wait for someone to save our children. Our children deserve targeted and culturally-relevant education that will enable them to be innovative and global change agents, and The Re-education Project was born.
We are currently in our first year and recently held our very first student conference. Students learned black history and created social justice and entrepreneurial business plans. We also emphasized literacy, critical thinking, discovery learning, public speaking, and social intelligence.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Although there have been a few challenges as with any start-up, the process has been a very rewarding one. I honestly feel God has blessed me with an awesome team of board members, consultants, and supporters that have been dedicated to helping me implement my vision.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the The Re-education Project story. Tell us more about the business.
The Re-education Project is dedicated to equipping and empowering African American youth with the tools, strategies, and educational resources to become global change agents. We envision a world where our youth are empowered, confident, and have a keen sense of awareness about who they are and the imprint that they will leave on the world we live in. We believe all youth should have access to learning about their rich and multifaceted culture; appreciation of one’s history, culture, and personal identity is correlated to higher self-efficacy; positive self-worth and awareness of one’s culture is a key indicator of future success; youth who participate in extracurricular activities are more likely to have higher self-esteem, better grades, improved organizational skills, and greater self-accountability; and that we can close the global achievement gap by providing skills and strategies that will promote strong literacy, critical thinking abilities, public speaking, research skills, social entrepreneurship, financial literacy, global exchange, technology, professionalism, and etiquette.
The five pillars of this organization are black history, social justice, social intelligence, entrepreneurship, and literacy. Through my experience and research, I found that these are five critical areas that are not only lacking in our present educational system, but that if provided directly to African American youth, can help transform and advance these communities. We are currently implementing these objectives through student conferences and we will be launching our summer and after-school programs next year.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I do not believe in luck. I only believe in blessings. I work hard and smart which has gotten the organization far in a short amount of time. But I do believe my blessings have been instrumental in overcoming obstacles and in providing favorable outcomes when hard work wasn’t enough.
Contact Info:
- Website: thereeducationproject.org
- Email: thereeducationproject@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/thereeducationproject
- Facebook: facebook.com/thereeducationproject
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