Will Spearhead Outreach to Elected Officials and Oversee Diversity Initiatives
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kenneth Campbell, president of the Black Alliance for Educational Opportunity (BAEO), is pleased to announce that former Obama Administration official and respected education reform activist Peter Groff has joined BAEO as a Senior Advisor on Legislative Outreach and Diversity, where he will oversee legislative outreach efforts with black elected officials and build stronger coalitions with traditional civil rights organizations on issues related to education reform.
Groff is a longtime veteran of the parental school choice and education reform movements, most recently serving as President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Before joining the Alliance, he served nine years in the Colorado State Legislature, first in the House, then in the Senate, where he served as the State's first Black Senate president. During his tenure in the Colorado State Senate, he was known as the "conscience of the Senate," and successfully sponsored landmark education reform legislation, including bills that led to the creation a statewide charter school authorizer and the Innovative school concept.
While serving in the Colorado Senate, Groff also served as Executive Director of the Center for African-American Policy at the University of Denver and taught public policy at the University's school of Public Policy.
"Joining BAEO at this time will allow me to focus on what I consider to be a critical barrier to education reform – the fact that Black families are not keeping up with the pace of reform or even realizing the extent to which they are being left behind," said Groff. "At BAEO I believe I will have the chance to focus intently on engaging the Black community at all levels on this k-12 education crisis."
Campbell added: "An organization is only as effective as the people who work for it. Peter Groff is one of the best in the business. There is no doubt that changing perceptions about education reform in the Black community is of paramount importance, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather have working on that issue than Peter. He brings to BAEO his invaluable legislative experience and his even more invaluable passion for what we do. We are thrilled to have him onboard."
Contact:
Susan Firey
202.429.2236
susan@baeo.org
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