their community and to the future of this country. mrs. powell, you mentioned that america s promise has the 100 best communities, and that s, in fact, being demonstrated down on the plaza. let s talk about those communities because you ve got already, i think, up on your website as well. yes, we have that up on our website. we have some who are continuous winners. we have not announced yet the winners for this year. but in alexandria, virginia, for example, which has been a winner for the past three or four years, they partner with churches and the urban league to provide mentoring for young black men. americorps works in the community, going into the housing projects with parenting classes and tutoring sessions for young people. that s one example of everybody working together. we brought to massachusetts the boys and girls club has a school on wheels that goes, takes school to homeless children. it s efforts like that in communities that will help to
schools that have the highest problems. we identified early on that there were 2,000 dropout factories in the country. that number has less than more like 1600 now. but in those cities, they ll be digging down to meet the needs of the children in those cities. general powell, how does it work? how do you and america s promise and mrs. powell attack the problem city by city and identify some of the top performing communities? and we re going to get into that in a minute. we work through partnerships. this has to be solved at the community level. it can t be solved in washington. it has to be active people coming into the school place, really. and we can t just look at teachers and schools. you have to look at the community. you have to look at the upbringing of a child. if a child has never been read to, doesn t know colors or numbers, that child is behind. the child doesn t know he or she is behind until about one year in. and then that child realizes,
that? this is not no, absolutely not. there s a father s day aspect to it. it s going to be coming out to catch father s day. and it s going to be a book for young people, for not-so-young people, for corporations, for military units. i want it to be a book that people will enjoy, and it will be short chapters. pull out the chapter you like. don t read the chapter you don t like, but you ll like them all. i ll like them all, indeed. alma powell, so great to see you. general powell, thank you very much, both of you. america s promise and for everything that you re doing and thank you for your service. thank you, andrea. thank you. and be sure to logon to educationnati educationnati educationnation.com to join the conversation. there are live chats you can take part in online. coming up, the florida upset. with a protest vote against rick perry or all of the above. while florida raises cain, it s all about mitt romney in michigan. we ll talk to the michigan republican chair
and we re back live here on the plaza, talking about the state of education in our country with two experts, colin and alma powell, co-founders of america s promise alliance. let s talk about the best communities. you talked a bit about alexandria, virginia, and charlotte, income mnorth caroli. you not only have teachers and parents, but you also have the business community helping. and there s a very important role for the business community to play. what we have to and what the 100 best communities show is that it s a matter of all of us coming together in a community. it s not just one entity. it s not just the schools. it takes everybody, churches, businesses, parents, civic organizations, all working together and coming together around a common cause. just last week, i was down in a very rural community. it isn t one of the 100 best because they didn t even know we had the competition. but they initiated their promise ten years ago, and they invited me back to see what they ha
shout general doing? as good as he has ever been. that guy could have been president of the united states 30 times. some of us are glad he is not. thank you very much. thank you, michael powell, america s promise, alliance with brad nation, america s farmers responsible for our program here today. when we return, talk to the crowd out here in exhibition park in los angeles. be right back. your finances can t manage themselves. but that doesn t mean they won t try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional.