Read. Think. Act.

Catherine Read

Archives for 2015

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Supporting Foster Care Children and Families

This show looks at the Foster Care system in Northern Virginia, the programs available to serve children and to support foster care parents as well as finding permanent families for children and adolescents.

Guests from the Fairfax County Department of Family Services are Kamonya Omatete, Program Manager for the Foster Care and Adoption Program; Emma Marshall, a Community Educator in the Foster Care and Adoption Resource Support Program; and Chauncey Strong (MSW), Supervisor of the Permanency and Life Skills Unit in the Foster Care and Adoption Resource Support Program.

The last segment features Lynn Davis, Operations Manager for Foster Care to Success (formerly Orphan Foundation of America.) This organization provides support for young adults who have aged out of foster care and are attending colleges and universities across the country.

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The Future of Women in Virginia Politics – Inside Scoop

Virginia has a weak track record in electing women to office. Women make up less than 18% of the legislature, there are no women elected to statewide office (only one has ever been elected – Mary Sue Terry in 1989 as Attorney General), and there is only one woman Representative out of 11 Congressional Districts in 2016.

The first guest is Kate Hanley, former Chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, former Secretary of the Commonwealth, and a principal instructor for Emerge Virginia – a candidate training program for Democratic women.

Amy Laufer is the Chair of the Charlottesville School Board and the founder of the Women Leaders of Virginia PAC that supports Democratic women running for state office with early money and fundraising support.

Delegate Jennifer Boysko was elected to office in the 86th House District in November 2015. She previously ran against the long term incumbent in 2013 narrowly losing by 32 votes. This year she ran in an open seat. She was not endorsed by the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce or The Washington Post, but prevailed with nearly 60% of the votes cast.

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Triggers – Marshall Goldsmith

TriggersI’m a Marshall Goldmsith fan. I loved his book “What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There” and have recommended it to many people. This book is useful only if you are focused on wanting to get more out of your life. It’s one of those instances where the student needs to be ready in order for the teacher to appear. Those who read it with no intention of actually changing anything about how they think or structure their days will quite likely miss the point of this book. While Goldsmith is indeed a very successful “Executive Coach” we are all the executives of our own lives. So move past the title to the material.

It’s not that this work is groundbreaking or provides some secret formula, it’s designed to help us organize, prioritize and identify what matters to us. His questions focus on what gives our life meaning and value and how we can structure our days to support those things we have identified as priorities.

It’s simple, but not easy. True of so many things in life. I found it helpful. I’m at a “sorting out” place in my life where I want more structure, more meaning and a better defined purpose. There are lots of moving parts to actually figuring that out.

Here are six questions he suggests we ask ourselves everyday to stay on track in meeting our own self defined priorities:

1. Did I do my best to set clear goals today?
2. Did I do my best to make progress toward my goals today?
3. Did I do my best to find meaning today?
4. Did I do my best to be happy today?
5. Did I do my best to build positive relationships today?
6. Did I do my best to be fully engaged today?

Notice it’s about measuring effort over outcome. It makes sense that consistent effort produces the outcomes we want. We don’t just leapfrog over the process to meeting our goals and arrive at success.

I definitely walked away with ideas for habits and routines I would like to cultivate. To that end, this book was well worth the time invested.

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The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace

Short Tragic Life of Robert PeaceSo I’m not black, I did not grow up in inner city poverty, my father was not incarcerated for murder and I did not attend Yale. That is Rob Peace’s world in East Orange, NJ. I cannot know that world except through the story of his life told by his Yale roommate of 4 years, author Jeff Hobbs.

I loved this book. I was drawn into Rob/Shawn’s story and wanted so much for him to realize the mythological “American Dream” that says it’s about sacrifice, hard work and a good education. But the title told me it would not be a happy ending. I’m glad the author tells us that up front. It allows us to suspend our judgments of his choices and just wait for events to unfold. By the end of the book, I cared so much about this smart, dedicated, hardworking young man who wanted so much to do right by his family and his friends. He got dealt a set of cards the day he was born. Some things he could control and some things he couldn’t – that is the story of every human life.

He made bad decisions and bad choices. We all have a personal responsibility to live with the choices we make. But it needs to be put into the context of the worlds he lived in. And there were two worlds he was straddling: the dangerous poor neighborhoods of East Orange where he grew up, where his mother lived and where he returned after Yale. Then there was his four years at Yale where he excelled academically and received a degree in molecular biophysics and bio chemistry, the tuition funded entirely by a benefactor. He also sold marijuana to fund his additional expenses at Yale and to stockpile money he would use to help support his mother Jackie and launch his future in Rio. I’m not going to delve into the sad history of marijuana in this country and how it has ruined lives for no discernible reason that makes any sense. It’s just one of the factors that played out in this tragedy.Read More

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Transgender Non-Discrimination Policy – Inside Scoop

Catherine Read discusses the issues affecting the transgender community here in Virginia with guests James Parrish, Executive Director of Equality Virginia; Rev. Emma Chattin of Metropolitan Community Church; Roxanne Edwards, Co-Founder of Second Fridays and Fourth Fridays; Sara Simone of Fairfax; and Laura Curtis and her transgender teen Nathan. Topics range from business leadership on trans issues to school policies, legislative goals, the upcoming TIES Conference in October, and ongoing support for Virginia’s Trans Community. The path forward means codifying policies at the state and federal level that protect the transgender and gender non-conforming communities from discrimination in employment, housing, education and medical care.

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A More Beautiful Question – Warren Berger

A More Beautiful Question“Organizations gravitate toward the questions they ask.” And that applies to countries, communities, families and individuals. We all live in the world our questions create. This is according to David Cooperrider, PhD, a professor of Social Entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University.

I loved every aspect of this book. Author Warren Berger has done deep research that is inclusive of so many thought leaders from the academic research world, the business world, educators, marketing gurus . . . people from every walk of life who recognize the value of questioning and who pick apart our cultural bias against it.

Berger’s subjective definition of a “beautiful question” is “an ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something, and that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change.” The title of the book comes from an e.e. cummings poem: “Always the beautiful answer, who asks a more beautiful question.” I saw similar themes explored in Ed Catmull’s “Creativity Inc” and in Brian Grazer’s “A Curious Mind.”

There is a great deal of questioning about how we educate young people. Preschoolers come into the classroom asking hundreds of questions a day and by middle school they ask practically none. The rush to standardize teaching before kindergarten and the continued focus on students memorizing facts comes under serious scrutiny here. The author and a number of education researchers make the case for “continued neoteny” into adulthood. Our ability to learn through questioning should not cease as we get older, it should be the foundation and approach to meeting a world that now has a “glut of knowledge.” Neuroscientist Dr. Stuart Firestein points out that “glut of knowledge makes us more ignorant. The amount an individual knows as relative to the growing body of knowledge is getting smaller.” (Look for his TED Talk)Read More

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SPARC – Specially Adapted Resource Clubs

(June 9, 2015) Catherine Read talks with Donna Goldbranson, Executive Director of SPARC (Specially Adapted Resource Clubs) and Lee Ann Caulkins, Director of SPARC Connects. The community of adults with disabilities continues to search for ways to integrate with the larger social community. This means finding ways of getting people with a variety of challenges engaged in learning new skills, participating in sports and building lasting friendships.

Two SPARC Club Members, Ryan Cotnoir and Rachael Stern, also join the show to talk about their experiences in this organization and what they like best about it. Fairfax County has three locations for SPARC Clubs in Faifax, Reston and McLean.

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Decoding Dyslexia Virginia – Inside Scoop

Dyslexia is a diagnosis that has been known for decades. Many school systems have defaulted to a “wait to fail” model of education that hinges on a waiting until a learning disability can no longer be ignored.

There are simple and inexpensive methods for screening all incoming students for dyslexia. The Fairfax County Public School System recently added a Dyslexia specialist to their staff several months after this segment aired.

On March 11, 2016, activist Joan Moore posted: “Decoding Dyslexia VA is SO EXCITED to announce that ‪#‎HB842‬ has received funding and will soon be on it’s way to the Governor’s desk to become a LAW”.

This is civic engagement at its best.

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The Fight for Affordable Housing in Fairfax

Catherine Read discusses Affordable Housing with Lisa Whetzel, the Executive Director of the non-profit Our Daily Bread, and with Ken McMillon of the Copmmunity Action Advisory Board. With numerous redevelopment projects in Fairfax City being presented for City Council approval, the issue of those displaced must be addressed.

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Regulating Child Care in Virginia – Part II

(Feb. 9, 2015) This is a follow up show to one that aired on December 15, 2014, regarding the regulation of child care homes in Virginia. Mary Cobb Braxton and Kandy Hilliard discuss some of the legislative hurdles on the day before crossover in the Virginia General Assembly. We discuss proposed bills and legislation that would impact the health and safety of children in childcare homes across Virginia. Special guest Elly Lafkin talks about the death of her daughter Camden in an unregulated childcare home by a provider whose felonies in other states did not come up on a name check. The resulting “Cami’s Law” would require fingerprint background checks of all daycare providers.