Improving our education system

By Jeff Ritterman

Our children are our most important resource. Investing in education is the smartest investment we can make. We have begun work on three exciting partnerships to help improve our educational opportunities for our youth.

Our Campaign for a Healthier Richmond is partnering with RichmondBuild, a unique building trades job training program. RichmondBuild is creating a new program where our high school students will receive training in the green economy. We will start by teaching energy conservation. The students will learn how to develop action plans to help make our homes and businesses more energy efficient by preventing energy loss. The second step in the program will be to train the students in weatherizing our homes and businesses. Each student in the program will be guaranteed a part-time job in this field if they stay in school.

Our campaign is also partnering with ArtsChange to create after school programs in the arts. The plan will be to bring these after school programs to all of Richmond's schools. The programs will also continue our theme of job creation as we will hire artists from the Richmond community to serve as mentors and instructors to our students. This exciting program is just being formulated. If you are interested, please join our effort.

We are partnering with the Niroga Institute to bring instruction in Transformative Life Skills to our students. Transformative Life Skills are a combination of training in yoga, meditation and mindfulness. We are calling the program Richmond Arise! The idea is to have these programs available wherever our young people gather; in the schools, in the parks and recreation centers, and in the institutions of our juvenile criminal justice system. Transformative Life Skill training can improve self esteem, and self control and can lessen stress.

These three plans only begin to scratch the surface of what we need to do. Please feel free to share your ideas on how we can improve our education system. Our children are our most important resource.