I’ve arrived here in Washington to start my new job as CEO of Experience Corps just a few days before the nation celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the Obamas move into the White House.  At first I thought the President-elect and I showing up at the same time was just an inconvenient coincidence (don’t get me started on the traffic!). But upon reflection, maybe there’s something bigger going on here.

At this moment in our nation’s history, I feel – and I suspect many Americans feel – equal parts trepidation and optimism.  Fear of war and the worst economy of our lifetimes.  Hope that we will realize Dr. King’s dream; that we shall, in fact, overcome.

Hope and the belief that anything is possible are powerful emotions.  They helped fuel the civil rights movement and brought about our nation’s civil rights laws.  They helped propel Barack Obama to the nation’s highest office.  And they motivate Experience Corps members across the country to show up every day at some of the nation’s most challenged public schools to help young children overcome the longest of odds.

But hope, as Dr. King knew and as President-elect Obama and Experience Corps members know today, doesn’t get the job done by itself.  Hope alone is not enough.  It takes work, hard work, to make change, to defy odds, to truly overcome.

I learned that lesson in third grade.  Early in the school year, my teacher met with my parents to deliver some sobering news.  She told them I was mentally retarded, that I would be doing well if I learned to function independently.  Perhaps, she suggested, I could aspire to a job as a laborer, “living in a simple room.”  My desk was placed in the hallway where I sat in solitude with a stack of number and word blocks to occupy my time.

Even at the age of nine, I knew my teacher’s assessment was wrong.  And I had three adults – my minister, my barber, and the mother of a friend – in my corner. They all believed in me and pushed me to work harder. I responded to their hope and encouragement.  I repeated third grade but entered fourth grade as an honors student.  In high school, I graduated at the top of my class and was honored as a National Merit Scholar.  I received dozens of offers of scholarships to some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges.

After college, I spent 25 years in broadcast journalism, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  But over time, as so many Americans do, I felt the pull to do something more meaningful, to give back.  I wanted to stop children from being written off, as I almost was.  Like the members of Experience Corps, I was finished with my midlife career and I wanted to make a difference.

So I served as the chief development officer at BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life), which provides rigorous academic support to urban kids after school. And now, at 60, I am so honored to take the reins at Experience Corps, a program that delivers exactly what delivered me from failure – people who believe in the promise of struggling students and the power of hard work.  People who won’t let our children fail.

Education was the way out of tough times for Barack Obama and for me.  And it can – and must – be the way out for millions more.  As America ages, Experience Corps can – and must – be a bigger part of the solution.

Yes, something big is happening here, and it’s not about me or the new residents at the White House. As President-elect Obama and Experience Corps members know, it’s about hope and belief and hard work.  It’s about what happens when people say “yes we can” and then they do.

I believe in America’s promise, I am grateful for this chance to serve, and I am impatient to get started.  I hope you’ll join me in this effort.  In fact, I’m counting on it.

All the best,
--Lester Strong
lstrong@experiencecorps.org

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