- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

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New Jersey Institute of Technology.

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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

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_ It’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone.

Steve Adubato.

This is "Remember Them", with my colleague, Jacqui Tricarico, Jacqui, you kick off this program, honoring Wilhelmina Holder.

Who was she, and who did you interview to remember Ms. Holder?

- Kaleena Berryman, the executive director of Newark Youth Career Pathways joins us for this conversation.

She had a direct relationship with Wilhelmina Holder.

And Wilhelmina Holder was a staple in Newark when it came to education and making sure that kids' voices and parents' voices were heard, not just in the city of Newark but on a state level.

She was often seen in Trenton, making sure that she was standing up and pushing for the rights of children and for parents and their rights when it comes to our kids' education in public schools.

So really powerful conversation with Kaleena and really important that we remember someone who otherwise might not really get the attention that they deserve.

- That's exactly what I was about to say, that, you know, so many people in this series, "Remember Them", it's like, "Oh, yeah, that was Frank Sinatra, a famous singer, or that was so-and-so."

We did something on Willie Mays who had, the great Willie Mays had a connection to Trenton, played minor league baseball there.

But a significant number of people we feature on "Remember Them" are folks who had great impact but were not household names.

That's important, isn't it, Jacqui?

- Right, and Kaleena even says one thing that she learned from Wilhelmina is that one voice can make such a profound impact and change lives.

And that's just one of the many lessons Kaleena has learned from Wilhelmina and what we should all learn from people like her making a difference in their communities and not taking no for an answer.

- We remember Wilhelmina Holder through Jacqui's interview with Kaleena Berryman.

Let's check it out.

- My work in education came about because when my children entered middle school, actually, I was a volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club in Newark, and there was something consistent and troubling for me in that the ones that came in could not read well.

And I used to complain a lot about that to the directors and the other volunteers and people at the Boys and Girls Club.

And one of them, my dear friend, said to me, "Well, do something about it."

I was sort of pushed into.

(laughs) I'd like to say, that I believe in justice and I'm just perplexed as to why systems don't really work well for people.

And then the understanding is we have to educate people about their place in the system and how they have to engage.

So we found it was a lack of information.

I loved seeing the young people, some young adults, now, some young children who say to me, my life has made better.

I think for me, that's the biggest joy, that people trust me and believe in me.

- Joining us now as we look back at the life and legacy of Education Advocate, Wilhelmina Holder is Kaleena Berryman, who is the executive director of Newark Youth Career Pathways.

So great to have you with us, Kaleena.

- So great to be here.

It is still unreal to be talking about the legacy and the life of Ms. Holder, but I'm very proud to do so today with you, so thank you for having me.

- Yeah, 'cause she passed just not too long ago, as we're taping this in February of 2025.

And I know that she was a mentor of yours in so many different ways throughout your life.

First, can you talk to us about your relationship with Ms. Holder and how she was a mentor to you, not just professionally, but personally as well?

- Well sure.

I met Ms. Holder 20 years ago when I came to work for Julius Williams at the Abbott Leadership Institute.

And in many ways, he founded the institute, but she was like a co-founder.

And the Abbott Leadership Institute is dedicated to empowering parent and young people and community to fight for great schools.

And so, meeting Ms. Holder at that time in my life when I was just soaking up everything that I could was life changing.

Her presence, Mr. Williams, the Abbott Leadership Institute, just learning how to love children from her, learning how to fight and be unapologetic in our belief that children of Newark deserve the best education possible.

She just taught us to be fearless and to be about the fat, and to really go hard for students.

And so, you know, her life, her legacy has shaped my entire career.

Personally, she was like a mom, a sister, a counsel, a cheerleader, that's what I miss the most.

And just being there for every accomplishment, every, every bit of good news, providing counsel, but also correction when needed.

I could just go on and on about the impact that she had on my life.

But I will just, you know, aside from being with her on the front lines, fighting for education for young people, I will just miss seeing her in the College Success Center talking to kids, miss her phone calls just to check on me.

We just, we just all, Newark is very different without her here.

- I know you mentioned her being kind of a parent to so many and she was known as the Newark grandmother in so many ways, and the community there knew her so well.

How was she there for you when you became a parent?

- So, when I became a parent, so Ms. Holder is a mom extraordinaire.

You know, her children, her grandchildren, her partner, her family are her life.

And so when I became a mom, my son was born preterm.

He was born one pound five ounces and in the NICU.

And she basically said to me from the beginning that your work is important.

We love you.

But your child and your family come first.

And so you need to fight and make sure that you are taking notes in that NICU, that you are advocating for what he needs, that you are sitting by his side and being present.

Her favorite slogan was, "An empowered parent is a child's best friend."

And so, you know, her advice to me was to continue to become empowered, to understand every part of that NICU experience.

And now my son is special needs, so it continues.

I work together with parents and school teachers and other leaders in the community to advocate for my son's school.

And she was right there cheering us on.

So my whole parenting journey, because I had to be an advocate for my son from day one, I was just so grateful to have Ms. Holder's counsel and support.

And really just over the years, 15 years before my son was born, she prepared me for that moment, her and and others.

So just very grateful to have them.

- She touched your life in such a significant way and so many others.

Let's talk about some of her biggest accomplishments when it came to education advocacy, because she was there in Newark on the ground doing what she did, but you would also find her often in Trenton.

- Oh yes.

(chuckling) - Fighting for kids and fighting for parents' rights.

Talk about that.

- Oh my God.

The School Funding Reform Act, changes to high school graduation requirements, maybe anything fighting for children with special, you know, special needs, special education rights.

There was not a single fight that she wasn't ready for.

But more importantly, she brought parents and community with her.

Sometimes she would come to Mr. Williams and say, "We gotta go to Trenton.

We gotta take these parents out of Trenton.

We gotta go to Trenton."

And, "We gotta make sure we feed them.

We gotta make sure we feed them on the bus to Trenton."

And so she just encouraged us to make sure that we were knowledgeable about what was happening at the state level, present, and then to bring that back.

So Ms. Holder had, with Lyndon Brown, the high school academic support program, so that a lot of what was happening in Trenton could be translated to families and young people as they prepared for life after high school.

The Secondary Parents Council with Newark Public Schools, a lot of what happened in Trenton affected secondary parents.

And that council made sure that they were empowered.

And just at the local level as well, being at those school board meetings, you know, calling people to task, saying that we're watching.

And I remember at her funeral, Mayor Baraka said, "Now who's gonna do that?"

You know, who's gonna take that over?

Who's going to be the person that is consistently holding educators accountable?

And you know, many of us have taken pieces of it, you know, so hopefully we're making her proud.

- She definitely didn't take "No" for an answer.

(chuckling) - No.

- That was not what she.

How did she, how did that shape her approach to her advocacy work?

- There was no "No."

I remember when my parent, our parent group at my son's school, when we were fighting for my son and, or not just my son, but all the children, but you know, I'm using my son as an example.

But it was just like, there is no "No."

Like you are entitled.

And what empowered Ms. Holder's inability to take "No" was that it was rights.

You know, she understood that children had a legal right to certain things.

Children had a legal right to the academic supports that they needed to learn.

Children had a legal right to their special education requirements that are in their individualized education plan.

Students had a legal right to be able to prepare, be prepared for life after high school.

And so she understood that their rights were deeply ingrained into her belief system.

And so her inability to take "No" and her counseling us in the same way was just kids had the right to this, parents had the right to ask questions of schools.

So it wasn't like she was making anything up, she was teaching us that you have to own what you know is sure.

And a lot of times parents are not aware of their rights.

Students are not aware of their rights.

And so that was her goal.

You are not asking for this because you're asking for a favor.

You are holding educators, schools, school systems accountable for what they are legally responsible to provide for your child.

And, you know, that's a game changer.

When you know what you know, nothing can stop you.

- Her legacy definitely continues to live on through so many people in Newark, her kids, her grandkids.

And something that I've seen her name attached to, or not just one scholarship, but I feel like it's been a couple scholarships that are offered in the state.

Talk about that and how her legacy continues to live on through those.

- Yes, so the Wilhelmina Holder Scholarship Fund.

And what we, so there's a group of us, there's a committee, it's housed at the Community Foundation of New Jersey.

Various foundations and individuals have poured into this fund.

And it is to continue Ms. Holder's work.

Ms. Holder is the person that you would call if you were $3,000 short under your term bill.

Or if you wanted to go to Costa Rica for some type of a, you know, some type of educational experience.

You would call Ms. Holder, and Ms. Holder would get on the line and she would try to figure out a way to get young people those resources because she understood that these are opportunities and opportunities help to build confidence and a young person's ability to navigate the world.

And so that's what the scholarship is for.

Any age group.

They have to be a resident of Newark and they have to be able to say how this money is going to help them continue their education.

And so there's an application process.

We review it.

We've given out, I don't remember quite the number, but I believe it's about 20 scholarships so far.

We are still giving out, we have about three sessions a year where we give out funding.

And they've ranged, an amount from $1,000 to $7,000.

So we try to make sure that as long as that student has a good case, can show that they've tried in other ways to address the issue.

And that we believe that providing them this money will advance their education and help to transform their life, we try to make it happen.

So the Wilhelmina Holder Scholarship Fund, people can go online to the website and apply.

- Yeah, we'll have the website up because that's just one way that her work continues for so many.

- Yes.

- And we really appreciate you joining us so we can learn more about Wilhelmina Holder and the important work that she did and continues to do even after her passing.

- Yes.

Thank you.

So happy to be here and we hope that folks will check out the scholarship and donate.

We need people to donate.

So if you're inspired by her, we welcome you to make a donation.

- Perfect.

Log onto our website to learn more.

And thank you again.

We really appreciate it.

And we'll be right back after this.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

We now remember someone who was such a powerful, important figure in politics and government in Newark, in the State of New Jersey, had international connections to Africa as well, that is former president of the Newark City Council, Mildred Crump, the first African American to serve in that post.

And we talked to Lawrence Crump, her son, who is also now the president of the city council.

Jacqui, we did that interview.

You watched it.

What was your biggest takeaway?

- Actually, my biggest takeaway, Steve, was right before you even started the interview, you had a quick conversation like you usually do with our guests.

And Mr. Crump said you could just see that it was still raw for him, 'cause his mom did just pass away this past December, 2024.

We're taping this in February, 2025, and he had just received yesterday the flag that was flown at half-mast during the time that his mom passed away.

And then in the interview, you see him getting a little emotional talking about his mom and just the impact that she had on his life, his career.

And we know the impact too through this interview that she had on so many in our state.

- Yeah, lemme just share this.

My mom, Fran, who was the former, she watches the show, she'll make sure I get this right.

She was the former chair of the Democratic Party in the North Ward of Newark, one of the five wards in the city of Newark.

And she was very close to Mildred.

Mildred, you gotta realize, a woman, an African American woman, leading the city council.

She broke the gender color line there, as well as the first female.

But she was dealing, and we talked about this with Councilman Crump, her son, Newark City politics, not for the faint of heart.

And my mom would always say this about Mildred Crump, "Man is she tough."

She had a big heart, cared deeply about people, but you couldn't mess with her.

You couldn't BS her.

And if you crossed her, she remembered it.

She was a great public servant, a terrific politician.

I mean that in the best sense of the word who made a difference in the city of Newark.

So for Jacqui, myself, and our entire team, we talked to Lawrence Crump about his mom, Mildred Crump.

- We're now joined by C. Lawrence Crump, who's the City Council President in Brick City, Newark, New Jersey.

Good to see you, Council President.

- Good to see you too, Steve.

- So listen, we can talk about your mom, people can go on Wikipedia, find out her bio, but what they can't find out is your perspective on what made her so special, not just as a public servant, but as a mother.

- Well, I could tell you what her statement would sometimes be is that she's from the Midwest, you know, she's born and reared in Detroit, Michigan before she moved to New Jersey in the mid '60s.

And she was a person who, to me, was a public servant.

You know, I would say about four or five things about her that she would love to say about herself, and that she would be happy to hear is that number one, she was a faithful Christian, she was a mother, a wife, a great daughter, a great sister, and a public servant.

And I think those are the things that really describe who she was.

- Council, lemme ask you this.

Your mom became a braille teacher.

Why?

- The funny thing is she happened to just be at, or when she was in college, you know how they had those little strips of ads on the college bulletin boards?

And she wanted to help somebody with braille.

And so she took it and she called up the number and she just thought she was gonna do it for a little, you know, extra money.

But she ended up falling in love with that and doing wonderful things.

You know, she wanted to help people, and that's another way she was able to help folks.

- To what degree did that influence you, not just as a son, but as a future public official, giving back to the community, particularly a community that she loved and you love, and those of us who were born and raised in Newark appreciate why the city is so great more than most?

How did she impact you in that way?

- So, lemme say, I was raised by a dynamic duo.

My father was an amazing man.

A lot of folks don't know him, but he spoke eight languages fluently and could get by about with another four or five.

He traveled around the world working with AT&T, but he was also here in Newark doing a lot of good things.

Worked with Ron Rice, Senator Rice at the time.

- The great Ron Rice.

- Yeah.

In fact, Ron Rice's first campaign was run out of our house because my father and him were such good friends.

And what they did was they did a lot of public service in terms of dealing with children, forming little leagues and things like that.

And so that's one side of my family that people don't really know much about.

But my mother was one of those folks who, you know, influenced me tremendously because she was around much longer.

My dad passed over 30 years ago, and I watched her, I learned from her.

I saw what it was about in terms of it's important to help people.

You know, one of the things I always say is, my success doesn't occur without your success.

And I get that from my mother, you know, she would, to the point where I sometimes I would be concerned about her.

She would run, run, run to help people and not focus on her own health and her own safety.

Come home at two or three in the morning after being out, you know, in the dark by herself, or just helping somebody and just running and running until her body said, "Take a break."

And she'd be, you know, home resting for a day or two.

So, I learned a lot about, it's important to try to help out everybody you can, and do whatever you can as often.

- Yeah, I don't know if people can appreciate this, but Newark City Council meetings, rough, tough, loud, aggressive.

Are you recognizing any of this so far?

- Yeah, all of it.

- Okay.

So she was the first African American woman to be the City Council President.

She's dealing with a lot of other council members, many of whom, disproportionately men, very aggressive, a very difficult city to deal in the political world.

What made her so tough?

- Well, I'm gonna say her Detroit upbringing, you know, her father was a union organizer in Detroit.

So, it was rough and tumble back in the days and, you know, in those spaces.

And I think she learned that from him.

And then also from my grandmother.

She learned how to be, I won't use the word gentle, but she would sometimes say, "Don't mistake my kindness for weakness."

You know, she was serious.

- Excuse me.

I never heard her yell.

- Well, see, you weren't her child.

But I- (both laughing) - Hold on, Lawrence, I meant as (laughing), I meant as a public official.

(Lawrence laughing) No matter how loud things got.

- Yeah.

- She wasn't a yeller.

- No, she had this demeanor about herself.

You know, that was very, very, I think unique in a lot of ways because, you know, yelling won't get you anywhere, really yelling back and forth, nothing gets determined.

Nothing gets decided.

And so, you know, she would be congenial, you know, she would be tough though, and she would speak her mind.

And, you know, I think it's more of a statement by speaking in a calmer voice than when you yell and people really listen.

- From Newark to Mama Africa, where does the moniker "Mama Africa" come from?

She was called that for a reason.

- Yeah, so once she became a councilwoman, you know, everybody comes and wants to talk to her about doing certain things.

And one of the things she never had an opportunity to do- - [Steve] You mean, they wanted something?

But go ahead.

(both laughing) - One of the things that she always wanted to do was travel to Africa and she had never done that previously.

She'd been to Europe and other places, but never really to Africa.

And so one of her friends that she met along the way, Lorna Johnson, had a number of excursions to Africa.

And my mom went on several, and several of them, she would pack a lot of supplies, a lot of braille equipment, any equipment for those visually impaired and take them there.

I mean, you know, buckets and buckets and buckets and boxes of supplies there on a regular basis to help the communities over there.

In fact, there's a library and a school named after her because of all the work that she's done in terms of bringing supplies- - After your mom?

- Yes.

Mm-hmm.

- What do you think that meant to her?

- Oh, it meant the world.

It meant the world.

You know, it's one thing, it's important that you take care of home, but when you take care of home and are able to take care of others and particularly in other countries where folks are just like, are in need and you're able to do it, it meant the world to her.

She didn't wanna be called Mother Africa.

She didn't ask to be called Mother Africa, but they decided to call her that, the folks from here and there from Africa, because of all the philanthropic work that she did and loved to do.

- For you to be the city council president and to be in the seat that she held means what to you and your family?

- I'm gonna tell you first when it happened, it was a surreal moment.

And I remember the meeting ended and I called her and she was so happy and yelled on the phone, screaming and hollering, happy, you know, just tearful joy.

I'm getting a little emotional now thinking about it.

Her legacy means so much, to me.

It probably means more to me than it did to her because of all that she did.

It wasn't about, she didn't do it for the legacy.

She did it because she wanted to help people.

And she loved being the council person and able to do that.

And for me, I would say, you know, I'm not gonna mess up the Crump name because she worked hard to do what she did.

Not to make the Crump name what it is, but because it was the right thing to do.

And therefore, me being in this role just means the world.

I mean, it is like the culmination of things that I'd never thought I'd ever imagine being and to walk in her footsteps, or her for high heels as some people say, is just amazing.

And I couldn't imagine something better happening to me.

- You know, over your right shoulder, some great leaders, Dr. King, Barack Obama, Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela.

If there was place for another great leader who made a difference in the lives of others, it'd be Mildred Crump.

And Lawrence, I wanna thank you for joining us to try to pay tribute and remember Mildred Crump, your mom, president of the city council, born and raised in Detroit, but we stole her in Newark.

- Yeah.

- And we got all the good stuff from that.

Thank you, my friend.

- No, thank you for doing this.

This is wonderful and I appreciate it greatly.

- We did the easy part, she did the hard part.

For everyone on the Remember Them team, Jacqui Tricarico and our entire team, and also One-on-One, we thank you for watching.

Just check out, research Mildred Crump.

See you next time.

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

Funding has been provided by The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

NJM Insurance Group.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let’s be healthy together.

The New Jersey Education Association.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

United Airlines.

New Jersey Institute of Technology.

And by New Jersey Sharing Network.

Promotional support provided by New Jersey Globe.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

- (Narrator) New Jersey is home to the best public schools in the nation, and that didn't happen by accident.

It's the result of parents, educators and communities working together year after year to give our students a world class education.

No matter the challenge, because parents and educators know that with a shared commitment to our public schools, our children can learn, grow and thrive.

And together, we can keep New Jersey's public schools the best in the nation.