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Washington, DC Resident Doris Watkins Wins “Unsung Hero” Award Doris Watkins is the City-Wide Senior Coordinator of Tellin’ Stories, a program of Teaching for Change
" I want to be that person that nudges parents on. I want to be that person that says, 'You don’t have to accept this! You can get better. Be a little bit loud sometimes. Be demanding. Don’t settle back, accepting anything that comes along and be satisfied with it. Demand change. Demand your rights.' "--Doris Watkins
The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region has chosen Doris Watkins as a recipient for its 2006 Linowes Leadership Award. Now in its ninth year, the awards program annually recognizes individuals of creativity, vision, and leadership who work in a community in the greater Washington metropolitan area. Doris Watkins has been living and organizing in Ward 7 for the past 20 years, creating coalitions of community residents to address the issues that most impact the well-being of the community— from drugs to housing, law enforcement, business-community relations and education. In her current role as Tellin’ Stories Citywide Senior Coordinator at Teaching for Change, Watkins works to build multi-racial parent power in schools by developing meaningful relationships between parents and taking collective action to transform schools. Watkins empowers parents to create and implement action plans that affect the academic achievement and environment of neighborhood schools through weekly meetings, workshops, trainings, and grassroots organizing.
Watkins has brought an extraordinary vision to Tellin’ Stories over the past several years. For example while facilitating a workshop session at Davis Elementary School, parents identified low expectations for children around literacy as one of their chief concerns. From this session the “Roving Readers” program was born, where parents encourage and develop the love of reading. Watkins envisioned a program where parents read not only in their children’s classroom, but in schools and community centers across the District. Her vision has since become a reality; the Roving Readers have visited over 75 classrooms and reached approximately 1,500 students.
Teaching for Change is honored to have someone who continuously fights for justice with such incredible passion and courage on the leadership staff of the Tellin’ Stories program.
Find out more about Tellin' Stories.
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