Markeshia Ricks Photo
Officers Paul Finch, Dana Martin, Elizabeth White, and Todd Kelly and Lt. Sam Brown had a frank talk with young people at Monday’s event.
Nicole Jackson can usually be found at a Wells Fargo Bank branch helping people manage their money. But on Monday she was in a classroom at Wexler-Grant School talking to teens and adults about setting goals for their money.
Instead of celebrating Monday as another day off, Jackson volunteered her knowledge about finances during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Conference as part of the tradition of observing the day as one of service, or a day “on.”
“You can do anything in the world if you have a plan,” she told her workshop attendees. “I didn’t come from wealth.”
Yet at 19 Jackson managed to buy her own car. When she paid it off, she knew enough to keep making that payment to herself.
That strategy eventually helped her pay her way through school, buy the car of her dreams, a BMW, a house and start a business.
Jackson (pictured) didn’t try to convince anyone in the room Monday that her dreams should be theirs. She simply sought to get them to think through their dreams and think ahead about a financial plan that could help them become reality.
“This is my audience,” she said of the young people in the room. “In my opinion, getting this information early is such a key part of success.”
As usual on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Wexler-Grant Monday was transformed from a one-stop shop for reading, writing and arithmetic, into a one-stop shop for everything from haircuts and tips for money management to politics 101 and the 411 on police use of force.
For the third consecutive year, Dixwell top cop, Lt. Sam Brown and four of his officers fielded questions about policing. They sought to help the community make sense of why police officers do what they do. It is a conversation that Brown said is becoming more important given the local and national focus on policing.
Hill resident Fred Tucker had no problem asking the hard questions. He asked why cities like New Haven attract so many white cops, but the reverse isn’t true of minority cops in the suburbs.
Officer Paul Finch suggested that it might be a cultural difference: More whites are exposed to the field through friends and family members, and are more likely to choose and pursue the profession than are minorities.
A member of the audience suggested that exposing more minorities to the profession at an earlier age could make it more attractive career path.
Dixwell Alder Jeannette Morrison (pictured) spent her fifth consecutive Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the school talking about the importance of local elections and voting, and why it’s even more important that people participate even when it’s not time to vote for the president.
“People always talk about President Obama,” Morrison said, “But it’s at the local level where the laws that govern you day-to-day, are made.”
Morrison said the event is known for attracting a lot of youth, but she’s often impressed with the number of adults who engage in the workshop and are excited to learn what the various parts of government does and how they can be involved. It’s part of the reason she likes to celebrate King’s birthday as one of service.
“This is not a day off,” she said, “but a day on.”
