Who We Are Archives

As Stand for Children celebrates 20 years as an organization, hear from one of our awesome parent leaders, Ginger Spickler, on how joining and being involved with Stand has impacted her life.

I first got involved in Stand during the Memphis City School charter surrender issue, as a way of learning more about why that was happening and what it would mean for our schools. Stand provided not only education on the issue, but provided training on how to make my voice heard during the charter surrender and the Transition Planning Commission’s work immediately after. It was incredibly empowering.

One of the best opportunities Stand afforded me was serving as a facilitator in several Stand UP (University for Parents) courses. I was able to share a lot of what I’d learned about how education works, how we can best support our kids in school, and how we can use our voices as parents to fight for better opportunities for them. It was so rewarding to see parents come back week after week for the class (not for my fabulous facilitating, I know!), but because they were learning so much from each other and feeling more empowered week after week.

I was able to share a lot of what I’d learned about how education works, how we can best support our kids in school, and how we can use our voices as parents to fight for better opportunities for them.

Since joining Stand, I have gained a great deal of confidence in being able to speak up about the education issues that affect Memphis children. I even started a website called Memphis School Guide that serves as a resource to parents about how to find the right school for their children. Being a member of Stand definitely helped give me the knowledge and confidence I needed to take on that challenge. I’ve also met people from throughout our community who I may never have crossed paths with otherwise, but who also have similar concerns about the quality of education their children are getting, and how we might do better by them.

I’m a member of Stand because I have concerns about education in Memphis and beyond, and I believe that Stand for Children has been one of the strongest forces locally for organizing parents and other stakeholders to represent the best interests of kids. As a parent, I see firsthand how challenges in our schools impact my own children and the others they go to school with. We can complain about those challenges, or we can try to make them better—Stand helps me do the latter.

For more information on how you can get involved with Stand, visit www.stand.org/Tennessee.

This year, as Stand for Children celebrates its 20th anniversary as an organization, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on our history in Tennessee.

Since 1999, Stand Tennessee has worked to improve schools across Tennessee and achieve legislative and electoral victories for all students across the state. With affiliate offices in both Nashville and Memphis—founded in 2001 and 2005 respectively—we have actively worked to organize the collective power of parents, teachers, and community members to be a voice for children and make lasting changes in our education system.

Here are some of our highlights over the past 15 years:

In 2006, Stand played a pivotal role in influencing the Shelby County Commission to vote unanimously to fully fund budget requests for Memphis and Shelby County Schools.
In 2008, Stand Nashville secured the release of $100 million in lottery funds to create an “Energy Efficient Schools Initiative” resulting in significant savings to be used to maintain school facilities and build new schools.
Stand Memphis endorsed and campaigned in 2012 for the new unified school board in Shelby County. Members phone banked, canvassed, worked the polls and reached out to 30,000 likely voters and successfully won 4 out of the 7 seats on the board.
In the last two election cycles, Stand Nashville has endorsed and supported five successful candidates for the MNPS Board.
In 2012, Stand Memphis was one of the first affiliates to launch Stand UP, a 10-week course for a university of parents who want to set their children up for success. The program graduated over 200 parents across the community.
In 2013, Stand saved 42 pre-K classrooms from closure and gathered over 2000 petition signatures, benefiting 840 children state-wide.
Successfully advocated for $70 million in federal funding for pre-K in Tennessee, securing grants for both Memphis and Nashville in 2014.
This year, Stand Memphis was successful in working with Memphis charter school parents to advocate for the Shelby County Schools Board to pass a charter compact that would start to build a partnership between the district and the charter school it authorizes. In a unanimous decision, the Charter Compact was passed.

And this is just the beginning! None of these great things could have happened without the hard work and dedication of our members, community leaders, great staff, and supporters.

As we continue working in Tennessee to ensure that all children have a quality education with access to college or career training, we want you to get involved to see how you can help impact education in your community.

For learn more about Stand for Children Tennessee, visit www.stand.org/tennessee.

Category: Who We Are

Why I Stand: Ginger Spickler

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