When we are called to serve, the greatest thing we can do is answer.

In the summer of 2020, as the nation took to the streets after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Richard Ferry felt God’s call to serve the Black community. We need to respond to this call, he told his grandson, Quentin Orem, the executive director of the Richard and Maude Ferry Foundation.

Within months, the Ferry Foundation partnered with the Fulcrum Foundation, which supports Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Seattle, to create the Becraft Scholars Program, an equity program that builds a pathway of access to Catholic education with a focus on Black and African American students and families.

Becraft Scholars partners with archdiocesan schools — including Holy Family Bilingual School, St. George School and St. Therese Catholic Academy in Seattle; and Visitation Catholic STEM Academy in Tacoma — to foster a culture of belonging and inclusion from the ground up.

Our Catholic schools are blessed with spiritual guidance that calls us to put our faith into action. We are called to see the humanity in each person, knowing that we are far greater when we value the beauty of diversity.

No one embodied this way of living more than my late grandfather, Sam Cook. A Black man from Greenville, Mississippi, who lived much of his life in Seattle’s Mount Baker neighborhood, my grandfather was a lifelong Catholic committed to making education accessible for all people. He made an impact on countless young men and women from all backgrounds and walks of life. Although I was only 3 when he passed away, I can’t count the number of times people have told me that they were the first in their family to go to college because my grandfather impressed upon them the value of education.

So last November, when I learned the Becraft Scholars Program was seeking a director, I felt the call to continue my grandfather’s legacy and expand my ability to serve the communities I belong to. Both personally and professionally, I have seen and experienced the disparities for Black children within the education system. I knew that my lived experience could help create change.

The National Center for Education Statistics reports that the achievement gap between Black and white students nationwide has not been closed — with contributing factors such as educator bias and lack of opportunity in the classroom.

Gender and racial biases among students themselves also play a large role. A 2010 study found that young children were more likely to assign positive attributes to images of children with light skin tones than dark. Most of these children associated beauty, intelligence and kindness with whiteness. Children as young as 4 can show racial and gender bias, meaning the process of creating change must start at a young age.

Through school and community partnerships, the Fulcrum Foundation has set out to impact those hit hardest by oppression and racism while enriching the Catholic school experience for all students and families.

The Becraft Scholars Program accepts 12 kindergarteners each year and will provide their families with $5,000 annual scholarships throughout their K–8 experience.

However, it is not enough to simply provide scholarships without ensuring a loving and caring environment where students and families can thrive. When students enter school, they deserve to be understood for who they are and supported to be the best version of themselves. Parents and guardians deserve to feel welcomed and seen as key partners in their children’s education. So as the program director for Becraft Scholars, I work with school principals to strengthen cultures of inclusion that benefit all students and families.

My grandfather was a man who put his faith into action. He didn’t care if you were Black or white or if you had money or didn’t. He genuinely loved people, and he responded to the call that lives inside all of us.

My grandfather’s life is my guiding light in leading the Becraft Scholars Program — a call to help people, care for people and, most of all, love people. All of them.

Northwest Catholic – October/November 2021