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I stopped by the Elks Club on Old Ferry Road last night to look in on Mehmed Ali’s kick-off party for his campaign for city council.  I was pretty early, but the parking lot was full and a crowd was gathering, representing many diverse groups – artists, politicians, business people, non-profit folks, etc.  It seemed to fulfill the expectation that Ali will be a contender in this fall’s election. The little boxing-glove key chains that said “Vote Ali – he’ll fight for you” were a hit (no pun intended, but I predict that we are in for a season of boxing metaphors!).  I couldn’t stay long, so I’ll refer you to an excellent account of the evening by fellow blogger Marie Sweeney.

Last night I stopped by the Ushindi Church Hall at 452 Chelmsford Street for an event organized by the African Assistance Center that brought 25 to 30 African parents out to discuss ways to improve the education of African children in the Lowell public schools. When I arrived, Lowell High Headmaster Bill Samaras was addressing the group and taking questions.  The top concerns seemed to be that the high school is too crowded, that minority children are punished unfairly and that their children have been subject to racial slurs. There wasn’t time for all the issues that the parents wanted to bring up, but Mr. Samaras committed to meeting with the group on a regular basis to keep a dialogue going and to work through these problems.

This was very encouraging, but it got me to thinking about something that has been a concern for years.  Despite our best efforts, the Citywide Parent Council has never been consistently successful in making connections with the minority communities.  We have had meetings on diversity, met in community-friendly locations, translated our materials; we even had a bi-lingual meeting one time at the Mercier Center.  Yet we have never been able to attract more active members from these communities.  After last night, I think it has something to do with the concept of empowerment.  The CPC mission has been “to inform and empower parents,” but maybe you can’t ‘empower’ others—they have to take power for themselves.  Looking around the church hall at the group, I felt that they had done that.  Groups like the AAC and the Ushindi Church helped them to mobilize and brought them into touch with administration and the administration heard their message. I think this is exactly what has to happen in each of Lowell’s minority communities.  And from these newly-empowered groups, perhaps the CPC will begin to get members who have gained the confidence to move out of their own enclaves and make a difference on the citywide level. It gives me great hope for Lowell’s future.