Standing Even Stronger in Our Commitment
When we started The 431 Exchange nonprofit two years ago, we knew there was an urgent need to address racism and inequality in education. That was what drove our mother, Alice Geoffray, as director of New Orleans’s groundbreaking Adult Education Center in the 1960s, and that is what drives us now.
Meeting in 2018 to launch the 431 Exchange!
Given the recent events—a pandemic disproportionately affecting African Americans; the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others; and the Black Lives Matters protests around the country and globe—we are even more committed to our mission now. We are standing for a world where every student who wants a quality education gets one. If you’re reading this, we bet you are too.
We’ve been closely watching events around the country that parallel our goals. Here are a few of them:
In Washington, D.C., the group Educators for Equity is appealing to the City Council and the mayor for $11 million in the new fiscal year budget to ensure every public school student has access to a device for learning once schools reopen.
In Utah, students at Brigham Young University have started a petition that has more than 18,000 signatures and counting for the university to start requiring all students, most of whom are white, to take a class on ethnicity and race before graduating. According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, the students who created the petition did so because many of their classmates have not understood why people are protesting.
Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix, and his wife, Patricia Ann Quillin, donated $40 million each to historically Black colleges Morehouse and Spelman. They also donated an additional $40 million to UNCF, a key supplier of scholarships to Black colleges. The couple said they hoped the donations would inspire others to donate as well.
“Both of us had the privilege of a great education, and we want to help more students — in particular students of color — get the same start in life," the couple said. "HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities) have a tremendous record, yet are disadvantaged when it comes to giving. Generally, white capital flows to predominantly white institutions, perpetuating capital isolation. We hope this additional $120 million donation will help more Black students follow their dreams and also encourage more people to support these institutions — helping to reverse generations of inequity in our country.”
There’s no question we are in the middle of an inflection point in history. And we need your help.
We want our scholarship fund to impact as many students as possible, so we’d like to ask you to make a tax-deductible donation. Even a small donation has the power to help change a deserving student’s life and help them overcome decades—actually generations—of inequality and struggle. Thank you for your support of The 431 Exchange, and we hope you and your loved ones have been healthy through the pandemic.
Sincerely,
Jeanne Geoffray
Jeff Geoffray