(upbeat music) - We're now joined by Barbara Martinez, who's the Executive Director of New Jersey Children's Foundation.

Barbara, good to have you with us.

- It's great to be here.

Thank you for having me.

- You got it, the website will be up.

Tell everyone what the New Jersey Children's Foundation is.

- We're a nonprofit based in Newark whose mission is to improve the educational outcomes of children in Newark.

- You know, it's interesting, I'm reading about you.

Your background is fascinating.

You grew up in Newark, right?

- I did.

Yes, that's right.

- Did you grow up in the North Ward of Newark?

- I grew up in the North Ward, yes.

On Grafton Avenue.

- You admit that.

I was on Highland Avenue.

You were on Grafton.

- But you know, I was on Grafton and Highland.

I was right in the corner.

- Look at, listen, I was a patrol boy on that corner, but it wasn't, it was before your time.

So you ready?

I know that you went to school in Belleville, which I also did, to St. Peter's Grammar School.

You had, your mom lied about where you lived, so you could go to school in Belleville.

Then you got thrown out of there.

That experience has had a great impact on you and your view of urban education, has it not?

- Absolutely.

That happened to me when I was 14 years old.

It was a terrifying and traumatic situation for myself and my family.

And yeah, it has shaped me ever since and drives the work that I do and the interest that I have in making schools better in Newark.

- And in many ways your mom did that, like so many others, because she was concerned that the education you were gonna get in Newark was not good enough.

And she wanted you, Belleville is not a suburb for those who know it outside of Newark.

And then you came back.

You went to a Catholic high school, did you not?

- That's right.

So my mom- - It was Good Counsel?

- It was Good Counsel High School, that's right.

- Essex Catholic.

- Not so much about me.

- Yeah.

Essex Catholic on Broadway.

Which my high school doesn't exist anymore and neither does yours.

- Neither does mine.

Right?

Yeah.

You know what my mom was afraid of?

She's immigrants.

We learn, I learned Spanish first and growing up went to Ridge Street School, grade school.

And it was, when it was time to go to high school, the school I was supposed to go to was dangerous.

And she had heard stories and so she didn't know about the academics, you know, English, not her first language.

And she thought it would be, you know, could be violent.

So let's lie about our address.

And we thought we were done.

And, you know, within a couple of months, I got found out.

And you know, they, I what, we didn't know they had a full-time domicile investigator.

This guy's full-time job was to find the kids from Newark.

And he must have been going off an alphabetical list 'cause my friend Maria Gonzalez got caught in November.

And in December, I ended up in the office.

I got called to the office and told to bring everything in my locker.

And I was terrified.

I was 14 years old.

- How did that impact your work at the Children's Foundation?

A and B, how much of this does has to do with alternatives to traditional public schools, AKA charter schools?

- Yeah, that's such a great question.

So the Children's Foundation wants to work with all schools.

So charter schools and district schools and private schools, anywhere where Newark kids are.

We wanna be the resources that help schools get better if they need that help, or if schools are doing really great, we wanna be the resource to help them grow more seats.

- You know, the statistic and getting ready for the interview, the statistic just blew me away.

And we've done a lot of program about the Newark public schools.

They've been a big part of our longtime program Stand and Deliver, which teaches and promotes leadership and communication skills for young people.

But this is just a fact.

81% of third graders in Newark public schools are not reading at grade level.

What are the implications of that, Barbara?

- We know a lot about what happens to you if you do not learn how to read by third grade.

This is scientific, this is not people's opinions.

If you do not learn how to read by third grade, your life outcomes completely change.

And so, and look, this is not just a district problem.

We've got a lot of schools that need to be doing better by kids.

And we can only do that if we collaborate and all get together.

But we have to start from the vantage point that 19% reading rate is just not good enough.

And we can do better.

- Not even close.

Barbara, help us on this.

The FAFSA, the financial form.

The FAFSA stands for?

- Oh, you put me on the spot there.

- I got it here on my notes.

It's the financial form that everyone has to fill out.

It's the free application for student aid.

I apologize for putting you on the spot like that.

Why is that a "on ramp to success," particularly for low income Americans in urban communities?

This FAFSA, no one even knows what it talk, what it, you know, you have to do it, but nobody knows what it stands for.

Go ahead, Barbara.

- You're exactly right.

And that's why we are putting a tremendous amount of resources and efforts to create the FAFSA challenge.

We recently announced that we have a FAFSA challenge in Newark.

It involves every single high school in Newark, whether you're a district, charter, magnet, private, county school.

And we're going up against Camden.

And so we want our kids to fill out more FAFSA forms than Camden.

And the reason why it's so important is because the FAFSA is a gatekeeper document.

You cannot get federal financial aid if you do not fill out this form.

And every year, hundreds of millions of dollars goes unused by Newark students who don't fill out the FAFSA.

And so through a lot of great work that many organizations have already done, including the district, which has made applying through a FAFSA part of your graduation requirement, and I really commend superintendent Roger Leon for doing that two years ago.

The FAFSA completion rate right now in Newark is 66%.

It's higher than the national average and higher than the state average.

And we should be very proud of that.

We can get it higher.

And so we just launched a big campaign and a big collaboration with the city hall, with the district, and with a lot of organizations, Rutgers, NCLC, to push that number even higher 'cause all kids should fill out a FAFSA.

- And by the way, that FAFSA stuff is complicated for those of us who are parents and how do you, what, how, it's complicated and the fact that you and your team are are helping and there's a FAFSA challenge is terrific.

Before I let you go, I'm curious about this.

You come to this work at the New Jersey Children's Foundation and the website will come up again through a background in journalism, a transition.

Why?

- Yeah, ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a reporter and I went to "The Wall Street Journal."

I had a great time at "The Wall Street Journal."

I covered a lot of different beats and the last beat that I covered was public education.

And it really inspired me.

I was in a lot of schools that worked and I was in a lot of schools where kids weren't learning anything.

And it really touched me and really made me realize we don't need, it doesn't need to be this way.

All kids can learn.

And we have to make sure that as grownups, we are creating the systems and schools that make it possible for them to learn and be who they were meant to be and who they want to be.

- You're doing important work, Barbara, and I wanna thank you.

This is Barbara Martinez, who's the Executive Director of a really terrific organization called New Jersey Children's Foundation.

Barbara, I wanna thank you for joining us.

Wish you all the best.

We'll continue this conversation.

We don't do these one-offs.

Hey, we do, did that on urban education.

No, there's a whole range of conversations that need to take place and we look forward to you being a part of that.

Thank you, Barbara.

- Really appreciate it.

Thank you.

- You got it.

I'm Steve Adubato, that's Barbara Martinez.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

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