Joseph Named Highlands Coalition Executive Director

Today, the Highlands Coalition released the following statement regarding the appointment of Wendy Joseph as the new Executive Director of the Highlands Coalition:

The Highlands Coalition announced today the appointment of Wendy Joseph as its next Executive Director. The Highlands Coalition is a Social Justice Organization working in Lynn concentrating on The Highlands Neighborhood and its residents, advocating for the economic, social, and political advancement of this historic area.

"I am delighted to be chosen to lead The Highlands Coalition at this important time in the Organization's development." Joseph said. "I have enjoyed my previous roles as Organizer and Project Manager and look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie before us."

"We are very grateful to our outgoing Executive Director David Gass for his enduring passion and achievements during his tenure." said Leslie Greenberg, Chair of The Highlands Coalition Board. "David's continued involvement as The Highland Coalition's Plant Manager will ensure consistency for the ongoing Garden activities."

"We are fortunate and pleased to have recruited Joseph, who has proved herself to be an exceptional leader and manger while working as a member of the Coalition." continued Greenberg.

During her time as a regular member of The Highlands Coalition, Joseph partnered with other organizations such as LYSOA, (Lynn's Youth Outreach Advocacy) team Antonio Gutierrez and Teresa DiGregorio and Councilor Billy Trahant, working to restore Henry Avenue Park, which had fallen into disrepair and was taken over by gangs. With an 'Engaging New Audiences' Grant from Mass Humanities, Joseph partnered with other local non-profits Girls Inc. and Kaya along with The Lynn Museum and North Shore Community College to film oral histories of immigrants and elders in The Highlands.

Continuing her association with Mass Humanities and working with Councilor Rich Collucci Joseph created the popular July 3rd High Rock Tower Park event, now in its 4th year.

Joseph played a lead role in working with the Lynn Human Rights Commission and Lynn City Council in the ongoing effort to bring voting back to the Ford School, and was a speaker at the recent Suffolk University Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights symposium.

Joseph has secured a Partnership Grant with Essex National Heritage to continue The Highlands Oral History Project with the goal of inspiring community pride and changing perceptions of The Highlands Neighborhood.

Highlands Cleaup 6/9/12

There will be a Highlands Cleanup this Saturday, June 9th from 10am - 2pm. Meeting location is the Ford School yard located at 49 Hollingsworth Street and cleaning supplies as well as refreshments will be provided.  Priority areas to clean are:

• Rockaway Street / Rock Avenue
• High Rock Street
• Hollingsworth Street
• Bayview Avenue
• Hamilton Avenue

Both children and adults are welcome to participate.

The Ford School: Comparing Student Populations in 2001 to 2011

Originally founded by English settler Edmund Ingalls in 1629, Lynn has clearly undergone substantial changes in its population since then. Today more than a third of Lynn's population is Hispanic or Latino. Interestingly, some neighborhoods/communities in Lynn have seen more considerable changes in terms of their population in short periods of time than others. One indication of transformations in a specific community's population are changes in its student demographics. The Highlands in Lynn is one neighborhood that has seen an evolution in its population over the past decade as evidenced by changes in the population attending the Ford School. Here we will compare Ford's student population from 2001- 02 to 2011-12. While the actual number of students attending grades K - 5 at Ford in 2011-12 is not much different from 2001-02 (605 versus 592), the demographic composition of the school has in a number of ways.

	2001- 02	2011-12
African American	20.2%	10.5%
Asian	16.4%	9.7%
Hispanic	31.5%	67.2%
Native American	0.2%	0.5%
White	31.7%	9.0%
Multi-Racial, Non-Hispanic	N/A	3.0%
Other	N/A	0.0%

First and foremost, one notices the substantial increase in Hispanic students at Ford; between 2001-02 and 2011-12, this population grew by 113%. Additionally, the African American and Asian student populations at the Ford School have decreased over the past 10 years. The white or Caucasian population has decreased by 72% since 2001-02.

	2001- 02	2011-12
First Language Not English	36.90%	65.1%
Limited English Proficiency	1.5%	37.1%
Low Income	83.50%	90.0%
Special Education	0.0%	7.0%

As the Hispanic and other immigrant student population at the Ford School has increased, so has the percentage of English as a Second Language (ESL) and Limited English proficiency (LEP) populations. The ESL population has increased by 76% while the LEP population has increased by an astounding 2373%.  The low income population has not changed much since 2001. Interestingly, despite changes in ESL and LEP populations, the percentage of students achieving proficiency on the 3rd grade reading MCAS exam has only decreased by 13 percentage points (74% in 2001 vs. 61% in 2011). Thus, from this we see that while Ford continues to educate a majority low income population, language barriers have become a much more salient issue as the LEP and ESL population has grown exponentially. As far as demographic changes in the Highlands as a whole, this data indicates the racial/ethnic makeup of families with younger elementary school age children has changed over the past ten years from almost equal among the racial/ethnic groups to a Hispanic majority. 

*Data taken from: www.doe.mass.edu