Tina Tchen, left, and SLN CEO Yolonda Marshall sit in conversation at the Whole Girl Education National Conference.
On the last day of the Student Leadership Network’s (SLN) Whole Girl Education National Conference: Closing the Gap, CEO Yolonda Marshall reminded attendees why they must continue to elevate and educate young women and gender expansive students: because the political and societal climate is dire. Secondary and postsecondary education must play key roles in the future of the American democracy.
“We’ve been working to close the gap in education for nearly 30 years, to dismantle racial, gender, social and economic inequities that plague so many of our students across the country, and we do it in partnership with you,” said Marshall.
Marshall was joined in conversation by Tina Tchen, executive vice president and chief strategy and impact officer at The Obama Foundation, former assistant to President Barack Obama and chief of staff to First Lady Michelle Obama. Tchen told listeners that, at this moment in time, education and democracy are walking “on the knife’s edge.”
“I am concerned about what’s happening with local school boards, policies, this misnomer that we don’t have to be worried about diversity, equity, and inclusion and we can be a ‘color blind society,’ that it’s what we should be—which is not true,” said Tchen.
Tchen said that activist Gloria Steinem once told her that the most dangerous time for progress is right after you make a lot of progress. "We are living through the inevitable backlash,” she added.
Tina Tchen, executive vice president and chief strategy and impact officer at The Obama Foundation, former assistant to President Barack Obama and chief of staff to First Lady Michelle Obama.
