Hillary Clinton’s campaign is spending today in the St. Louis area, where the Democratic presidential candidate will meet with community leaders and residents intimately connected to last summer’s unrest in nearby Ferguson, Mo., where the shooting death of Michael Brown sparked a national conversation on race and social justice.
Among the select group to meet with Clinton will be Tiffany Anderson, the superintendent of the 3,000-student Jennings school district, which neighbors Ferguson. Since 2012, Anderson and her team of educators have worked to directly address the challenges of poverty in the community—opening a food pantry, laundry facilities, and a clothing boutique, to name a few strategies. The district has provided community service opportunities for students and planned numerous events for youths and police to interact in positive ways—all part of Anderson and her team’s efforts to confront the deep-seated racial divisions and economic and social inequities that were exposed by the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown and the unrest that followed.
Education Week selected Anderson as one of its 2015 Leaders To Learn From for her community schools approach to supporting students and raising achievement.
Clinton’s community conversation in St. Louis will “address the massacre in Charleston and broader issues around strengthening communities,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
It’s not clear how much face time Anderson will get with Clinton, but a district press release said that the superintendent hopes to share “some of the equity issues districts like Jennings faces, particularly in light of the Ferguson unrest.”