Along with a three-member panel, UW-Madison alumnus and Teach For America recruiter Mike Perkins presented programs to help impoverished children gain access to quality education Wednesday.
Panelists included TFA Milwaukee Executive Director, a charter consultant for Madison Urban League and a PhD student at the UW-Madison School of Education.
According to panelists, 15 million American children in poverty have limited access to quality education, and programs like the TFA are among the best way to address the problem.
TFA is an organization that helps children growing up in poverty receive a high quality education.
But according to panel, TFA is not the only way to get involved.
A campus group, Students for Education Reform (SFER), tutors and mentors low-income student from kindergarten through high school.
""Our goal is to close the [inequality] gap by enlisting students as the next generation of leaders in the education reform,"" SFER President Eric Hill said.
Surprisingly, low-income communities are more prevalent in Wisconsin than any other state, Perkins said.
""The amount of students from these low-income areas to graduate college is only eight percent, which is an extremely small number compared to the 80 percent of college graduates from higher income areas,"" Perkins said.
Panelists said the success of organizations like TFA is largely thanks to people who are committed to ending institutional racism in low-income schools.
