{"id":1809,"date":"2025-02-03T19:16:29","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T19:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fortworthep.org\/?p=1809"},"modified":"2026-05-04T18:44:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:44:01","slug":"advocacy-adding-our-voices-to-the-chorus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fortworthep.org\/es\/advocacy-adding-our-voices-to-the-chorus\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocacy: Adding Our Voices to the Chorus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mission of the\u00a0Fort Worth Asociaci\u00f3n De Educaci\u00f3n<\/a>\u00a0is to support, invest in, and coordinate opportunities that increase access to a high-quality education for Fort Worth children.<\/p>\n

As we go about this work, one of the words that comes up often is \u201cadvocacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

After you do this work for a while, you begin to realize that it is not enough to provide funding to worthwhile programs, organizations, and schools (although that is a lot). You also have to\u00a0advocate<\/em>\u00a0for these opportunities for families and children. And, even more importantly, you begin to realize that you have to empower those same families and children to\u00a0themselves<\/em>\u00a0be advocates for these opportunities.<\/p>\n

That is why the word \u201cadvocacy\u201d comes up so often in our work.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until recently that I thought about the word \u201cadvocacy\u201d itself. The word \u201cadvocate\u201d actually comes from the courtroom. Its root is the Latin word\u00a0vocare<\/em>, which means \u201cvoice\u201d or \u201ccalling.\u201d It\u2019s where we get our word \u201cvocation,\u201d which is the idea that we are all called to something in our lives; our vocation is our calling.<\/p>\n

The \u201cad\u201d at the beginning of the word \u201cadvocate\u201d\u00a0means \u201cin the direction of\u201d or \u201cin addition to.\u201d So an advocate is some who \u201cadds\u201d a \u201cvoice.\u201d To advocate is to add a voice<\/em> to a cause or a person. An advocate is anyone who adds that voice by representing another person in court, or by supporting or working toward a particular course of action.<\/p>\n

So, in that sense, what a sacred privilege it is to \u201cadd a voice\u201d to the voices of children and families in Fort Worth who are in need of and who are seeking the life-transforming opportunity of a high-quality education.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0unfortunate reality<\/a>\u00a0right now is that many, many children in our public school systems are struggling, for all kinds of complex social and systemic reasons, and they are not prepared for academic success beyond high school. Fewer than 10% of economically disadvantaged kids in Fort Worth are earning a two or four year degree within six years of graduating from high school.<\/p>\n

There are parents and families in Fort Worth who are seeking something different and better, and rightfully so. They are working for it and speaking up for it. They are calling for the opportunity that each child in our city deserves. Some of these parents combined their voices into advocacy organizations, such as Parent Shield<\/a> and Fort Worth Families Forward<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Count me in as an\u00a0advocate <\/em>for Fort Worth children and families. In fact, I when I think about what my vocation is these days, I believe it is to do what I am able to \u201cadd a voice\u201d to theirs. I hope you will add your voice, as well, so that it becomes a rising chorus calling for opportunities for all to receive a great and life-changing education.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mission of the\u00a0Fort Worth Education Partnership\u00a0is to support, invest in, and coordinate opportunities that increase access to a high-quality education for Fort Worth children. As we go about this work, one of the words that comes up often is \u201cadvocacy.\u201d After you do this work for a while, you begin to realize that it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-blog","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fortworthep.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fortworthep.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fortworthep.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fortworthep.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fortworthep.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fortworthep.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fortworthep.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fortworthep.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fortworthep.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}