For Kevin Beverly, the key moment was when his son was graduating from high school in Montgomery County a few years ago that he knew he had to take action. As he was witnessing his child taking full advantage of what a well-financed public education could provide a young person of color, it was hard for him to ignore the remarkable differences that existed in his native Dorchester County for kids the same age as his son.
In fact, those differences were almost the same as when he left his family on Taylor’s Island decades ago. Unless one was willing to leave the Eastern Shore, there was little chance for advancement. And for Kevin, that fateful decision led to a remarkably successful career after completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland – College Park. Today, he has just retired as the President and CEO of Social and Scientific Systems. This $100 million company works to improve public health worldwide and now has over 500 employees.
But as Kevin came back to the Shore to look after his mother, he realized he had to do something. Starting with a scholarship program that he and his wife started a few years ago for Dorchester young people, he began to see first hand the systemic issues facing Black students, caught in an unbroken cycle of institutional neglect and poor support structures that seemed to create a pipeline for incarceration rather than school diplomas.
All of which motivated Kevin to join Moving Dorchester Forward, a grassroots organization of volunteers dedicated to finding new solutions to break this vicious cycle of poverty and poor self-esteem. And while Kevin, and his fellow leaders of MDF, including Omeaka Jackson, Steve Rideout, Jymil Thompson, and Chris Wheedleton, have high hopes for reaching their goal of collective impact in turning community resources into true assets, they also know that they must work hard to hear from the community, create trust, and understand the full landscape of challenges before their action plan can be built.
This first step of this project begins in earnest on Tuesday, February 1st, when the first of Moving Dorchester Forward’s Community Conversation will take place by Zoom with dozens of citizens and local leaders. As Kevin explains in his interview with the Spy earlier this morning, this is a critically important step in finding the correct answers for Dorchester and its young people.
This video is approximately thirteen minutes in length. To join the first Community Conversation please go here at 7 pm on February 1st.
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