Guiding at-risk youths to promising futures is the purpose of Dr. Maudie Williams and her partners at the Winona-area Project Empowerment Leadership Institute (PELI).

Williams, a Winona State professor of education, and other PELI leaders strive to connect minority and low-income families to the educational paths and resources needed for their children to enter successful walks of life.

The PELI board consists of educators, businesspeople, parents, community members, and college students who have strong personal interests in making cultural diversity a reality. They want to ensure that all people, regardless of background or status, have the same opportunity to achieve the American Dream.

Williams explained that "at the age of seven and living in the deep south, I was experiencing and internalizing the 1954 Supreme Court decision of Brown vs. Board of Education to dismantle racial segregation in public schools, public accommodations, the workplace, housing, and in the voting booth." Because of family and educational upbringings denoting 'tough love' and 'educational empowerment', I knew no other choice than to keep dreaming."

"'Cultural diversity' is education for an open society," Williams said, "an open society that lets people come in from wherever they are, thrive, and prosper … Period."

According to Williams, years of systematic oppression still leave an aftermath that plagues our communities. Minority and low-income populations often do not think it is possible for them to enter popular, mainstream society, or they do not have the means at their disposal to do so. This theory has been measured and documented as the "Academic Achievement Gap."

Between the early 1970s and late 80s, impressive strides were made in closing the achievement gap. The academic difference between African-American students and Caucasian students narrowed to half of what it had been, and the gap between Latinos and Caucasians narrowed by one third. For unknown reasons, the gap has been widening since the late 80s, and the problem has been generally overlooked. It must now be addressed, even as the situation worsens, said Williams. "The effect of racism is an internal struggle. And the achievement gap we are addressing is not something we can fix overnight; it is something that is embedded."

Williams has found that young students do not perceive doors opening for them as easily as they do for others. Minorities or students of low-income families believe that, due to their background or financial shortcomings, higher education and the opportunities it brings are not possible for them. They perceive that these advantages are only for others.

The PELI strives to tear down mental barriers that keep dreams forever hidden away as just dreams in the imagination of our children. Group members coordinate directly with community families to empower them with the tools necessary to attain desired goals. The tools are knowledge, guidance, and inspiration.

Growing up on a farm in Georgia Williams now works tirelessly as an educator and an agent of social change. She tries to instill her painstaking work ethic in Winona State students and in community youth, challenging them to build their own futures. "We don't know the potential our students hold," Williams said. "We work to empower parents to help their children to become all they can become and to inspire pre-service teachers to gain these skills." University students enrolled in the Teacher Education Program provide daily, ongoing mentoring and tutoring and lead educational meetings for families partnering in the PELI program. Major project activities engage participants in transformative learning. Student Empowerment Seminars guide K-12 youngsters in developing academic aspirations. Parent Empowerment Seminars prepare guardians to play a major role in helping shape their kids' school plans. Educational colloquiums introduce specific, important topics to educators and community members in order to help break cycles of racism and classism that contribute to poor schooling and underachievement in underrepresented populations.

Williams believes in "transformative learning as a pathway to change." "Learning," she said, "is more than the accumulation of additional information. Transformation means experiencing a deep shift in the basic premises of thoughts, feelings, and actions."

WSU student-leaders will experience psyche-altering processes that will change the lens through which they view life. This work will allow the teachers-in-training to approach their calling with developed sensitivities for minority and low-income students, and these teachers will then be able to become agents of change in their respective communities.

A $20,000 government grant from Diversity Endowment Funds (DEF) of The St. Paul Foundation to Winona State University in 2003 aids in financing the outreach activities. The purpose of the grant is to develop innovative projects that impact the effects of racism and to change prejudicial attitudes and behaviors. DEF was created to support communities of color and eliminate social barriers and oppression.

One of Williams' ongoing goals is to integrate multi-cultural education in university curriculum and to add new courses which emphasize cultural diversity. Implementing this unobserved realm into academia will allow for a more complete educational opportunity for all students and will provide an atmosphere more conducive to the success of minority students. Since 1994, she has worked through the Minnesota Department of Education and Minnesota legislation to acquire more than $300,000 in scholarships for minority and non-minority student development in multicultural education at Winona State University.

Williams has taught at the university level for more than 30 years. Since arriving at Winona State in 1989, she has coordinated community leaders in a fight to overcome the societal struggle of racism, dating nationally since the birth of the U.S.A.

"What drives us is hope. 'Hope' is the pathological belief in the creation of the impossible. So much that is out there seems impossible to solve, but we are going to get there through persevering and becoming maniacs in the process. There is a certain degree of madness in the process, and there is a lot of hard work in the process - but we can't give up," said Williams. "In a sense, when I think about it, I see Brown as a metaphor for the American Dream."

For more information on the Project Empowerment Leadership Institute or to offer your support, please call the WSU Department of Education at 507.457.5350.

Last Modified: Monday, December 06, 2004 16:26 by