And when I was accepted to and eventually graduated from Harvard University, my mom could not have been more proud.<\/p>\n
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I often think of my mom and other moms like her at Rocketship. My mom\u2019s advocacy despite the formidable challenges she was experiencing is reflected in every single Rocketeer parent. It\u2019s reflected in the parent who yells at a teacher for the way he spoke to her child. It\u2019s reflected in the parent who brings his child to school, no matter how late. It\u2019s reflected every time a parent questions a decision or expresses anger or distrust. I acutely experienced the impact of my mom\u2019s trauma and I see the impact in parents who snap at their children or fail to comfort them, and in parents who have given up on the educational system altogether. But these actions do not reflect parents who don\u2019t care, instead, it reflects that these parents are grappling with life\u2019s challenges.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Screen-Shot-2019-05-10-at-10.05.55-AM-300x300.png\")
Khadijah Williams is a Senior Education Organizer at Rocketship DC<\/p><\/div>\n
I believe all parents are capable of being parent leaders, but my own history makes clear that acting on this belief must be done as part of a collaborative effort with school teams. I have seen the power in organizing, at DC City Council meetings, at candidate forums in San Jose, and at school board meetings across the country. I see it in parents\u2019 new engagement to advocate for Rocketship Legacy Prep and Rise because they know that I acutely understand the barriers they face, because they value our weekly meetings, and because they believe in the power of our shared vision for systemic advocacy for their children. This power is too precious to not share with every single Rocketship parent. As my own story can attest, the Rocketeer parent who is not fully engaged in the school can very well raise a future Harvard<\/span> graduate who uses her own skills and experience to support parents in reconnecting with their own inherent power. Imagine what can be accomplished when all parents are fully engaged in our schools? I can\u2019t wait to experience what magic is possible in DC when we fully unleash the potential of our parents and ourselves. I continue to see the glimmer of what is possible in parent power and I look forward to the work in all of our regions. I can\u2019t wait to help a Rocketeer parent help the next Harvard<\/span> graduate thrive.<\/p>\n Khadijah\u00a0Williams\u00a0is a nationally recognized advocate for homeless youth and a survivor. After nearly 20 years of homelessness \u2014 including in Los Angeles\u2019 infamous Skid Row\u2014\u00a0Khadijah\u00a0was accepted into Harvard University, where she graduated in 2013 with a bachelor\u2019s of arts in sociology. Her journey from homelessness to Harvard was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show<\/a> in 2009, and she has since completed dozens of interviews and speaking engagements across the country. She\u2019s received advocacy awards from School on Wheels, the Union Rescue Mission, and the New York City Department of Education; and her story has been featured in the New York Times<\/a>, Los Angeles Times<\/a>, Essence Magazine<\/a>y Oprah\u2019s Where Are They Now?<\/a>.\u00a0Khadijah\u00a0Williams\u00a0is a member of the Board of Directors at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty and is also an education policy professional.<\/p>\n Khadijah recently completed nearly four years at the DC Board of Education Office of the Ombudsman for Public Education, where she was promoted to Legislative Affairs Specialist. In this role, she educated councilmembers and other decision makers on the policy implications of the problems DC families faced in the public school system and made policy recommendations based on these implications. Khadijah now leads the Rocketship Public School’s DC region’s work in parent leadership development, organizing, and mobilizing as the Senior Education Organizer.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Los refugios no son lugares para familias, sin embargo, muchos \"DC Rocketeers\" viven en ellos. V\u00edas de \u00faltimo recurso, alojamientos secretos por violencia dom\u00e9stica, moteles comerciales y situaciones de hacinamiento con familias compartiendo vivienda, los refugios son a menudo espacios s\u00f3rdidos, infestados y cerrados de desesperaci\u00f3n, enfermedad y trauma f\u00edsico y mental. Lo s\u00e9 porque esa fue mi vida durante m\u00e1s de 10 a\u00f1os. Mi\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":15726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[118,176],"tips_for_teachers":[],"class_list":["post-15716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parent-experience","tag-dc","tag-parent-power","featured_on_homepage-yes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n