posted on June 14, 2004 11:07:03 AM new
HAYWARD, Calif. (June 14) - Michael Tatmon stood on the stage of the community college, a brand-new diploma in his hand, his eyes raking the crowd. Standing at the front of the audience, an elegantly dressed woman waved madly. "Yeah!" Oral Lee Brown yelled to Tatmon.
The hundreds of people sitting in the wind-swept courtyard of Chabot College didn't know they were watching a dream come true - for both Tatmon, the student, and Brown, his benefactor.
It was 17 years ago when their paths first crossed.
Tatmon was a student at an inner-city Oakland elementary school with some of the lowest test scores in the district, living in a neighborhood beset by temptation and transgression.
Tatmon, now 23, only vaguely remembers the day Brown walked in and told his first-grade class she would pay for them to go to college - if they got that far.
It wasn't until much later that he realized what that meant.
"I just know a lady came and said that she was going to end up paying for us to go to school," he says. "In high school, it started to come to reality. I started really understanding more."
Brown, a real estate agent, had been moved to make her unusual promise after a chance encounter with a hungry little girl skipping school. At the time, 1987, she was making about $45,000 a year and the idea that she could set aside $10,000 a year in a trust fund as promised seemed about as far-fetched as the hope the children would be able to live up to their part of the bargain.
Still, Brookfield Elementary officials were soon won over as Brown became a fixture, meeting with children, meeting with parents, drumming home her message: You can do better.
"It has been a job," Brown says simply. "It's something I have to do as long as I am able to do it."
Brown wasn't the first to shepherd strangers to college. In 1981, businessman Gene Lang was moved to guarantee college funding when he gave a speech at his old elementary in New York City's Harlem neighborhood.
Today, The "I Have a Dream" Foundation founded by Lang has seen 180 projects in 27 states and has served more than 13,000 students, says Marina Winton, president of the organization.
Though not all the sponsors are wildly rich, the endeavor does require a significant financial commitment. And just telling a child that college is an option isn't enough. The key is daily contact and mentoring by a caring adult, either the sponsor or a hired project coordinator, Winton says.
"Essentially, we're taking kids where they're typically graduating at a rate of 20 to 40 percent and we're converting those rates to 60 to 100 percent," Winton says.
Over the years, Brown has become an established fund-raiser, creating the Oral Lee Brown Foundation and holding an annual dinner that has helped swell the college fund to about $375,000. She keeps the money in a trust - "I can't afford to put the kids' future on Wall Street."
Brown saw three of her Brookfield students graduate college last year - "They've reached the mountain," she says - and this year three more are graduating.
Meanwhile, she is sponsoring 89 new students from Oakland schools, selecting them by soliciting applications districtwide two years ago from grades 5 and 7. "The need is still there," she says.
When she meets a new group of students, she asks them the same thing she asked Tatmon and his classmates: "What are your dreams? Do you want to go to college?"
Typically, every little hand goes up - so Brown tries to explain what it's going to take.
They have to get up every morning excited to go to school. They have to ask questions and not be afraid if they don't understand something. Ask, it's OK. You won't feel like a dummy, and even if you do, so what? Dummies need answers, too.
Of the original 23 Brookfield students, 19 went to college and many are taking longer than four years to finish, often because they must take care of turmoil at home.
Some decided to take a different path, which Brown doesn't count as a failure; she's proud of the young man who dropped out of college to follow his dream of becoming a firefighter.
Some have fallen along the way. Tracy Easterling was shot as she walked down a street in Oakland. She was 21 years old.
"That was real hard," Tatmon said. "That took a toll out on everybody."
But there were triumphs, too, like the girl who was temporarily sidelined by an unexpected pregnancy but is now finishing college and taking care of her 6-year-old.
"That's life," Brown says. "If they had been angels and perfect little kids they would have never needed Ms. Brown anyway.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
[ edited by fenix03 on Jun 14, 2004 11:08 AM ]
posted on June 14, 2004 04:11:01 PM new
A wonderful story, fenix - thanks for sharing it.
We're lucky to have people like Oral Lee Brown in this country. We need more selfless people like her - who actively work to help others - who are willing to sacrifice themselves so other's can have a chance to improve their lives. A very special lady in my book.
posted on June 15, 2004 08:29:21 AM new
Ora Lee Brown knows that the children are the future and she has invested wisely. My hats off to her and also to Gene Lang.
posted on June 15, 2004 08:42:17 AM new
But here, as througout the United States we have a problem of greed and hypocrisy. While positively recognizing one individual who has supported some children in their right to attend college many are at the same time opposed to the allocation of funds toward education which might provide that same opportunity to all children. That could mean higher property taxes or a reassessment of our budget which favors corporate welfare and warfare.
posted on June 15, 2004 09:02:50 AM new
helen - You always want the government to make things better - to add more programs so that all pay for what YOU decided is needed. You and everyone else that chooses to could become another Oral Lee Brown...and put your OWN money where your mouth is without 'requiring' everyone pay for what YOU find important. Those who agree with your position are free to donate funds, like those who have followed in Orals footsteps.
posted on June 15, 2004 09:19:14 AM new
I barely had enough money to send my own children to college. Most people in America are in the same financial position and as tuition is rising today, the problem is becoming more and more difficult. Schools with less funds are decreasing financial aid to studends who are in need of assistance. In your comment at the beginning of this thread you indicated a belief that this help is a worthy pursuit. But then, you don't support allocating tax funds to pay for it. That's greedy and hypocritical.
posted on June 15, 2004 09:46:39 AM new
No, it's not helen. It's saying everybody has the same chance to obtain what they want in life. If they want it bad enough, they will find a way. Many have done just that.
It's saying that I don't support MORE government....but rather appreciate people and organizations like Oral who put their money where their mouth is instead of constantly calling for those who have to be forced to spend their money where the socialists want it spent. They earned it....they should be free to choose where and how it's spent.
That doesn't mean I don't support more education....it's means there are other ways to accomplish getting the results while not increasing entitlement programs.
posted on June 15, 2004 10:31:07 AM new "No, it's not helen. It's saying everybody has the same chance to obtain what they want in life. If they want it bad enough, they will find a way. Many have done just that."
To greed and hypocrisy indicated in your previous comments, that statement adds ignorance. The belief that "everyone has the same chance to obtain what they want" is appallingly insensitive and wrong.
posted on June 15, 2004 11:25:06 AM new
Maybe to those like yourself who wish to see our government take care of people from cradle to grave. I prefer we take the power away from the government and become more self reliant.
The government [the taxpayers] who like yourself feel it took all they had to put their own children through college, shouldn't be *required* to put others through also IF they don't wish to. They should be free to give to the organizations/people that help the less fortunate out of their own generosity not government mandate.
