thank you for inviteding us here today, committee members. we are happy to give you an overview of the new effort that the partnership and the department has called the school partner model. we have a power point that walks through some of the main points and a handout that gives a little bit more description. so the school partner model. >> i'm going to ask you to speak a little more robustly. that's a little tough, if you can. thank you. >> this grew out of the dcyf's education related goals for its current three-year funding cycle. in the planning for this current cycle we initiated conversations about what the needs are of the students and also we're in many meeting with the youth council focusing on how to make sure that work base learning and youth jobs really had its high from educational attainment. so from conversations in the past few years, to reach out to continuation schools and target student who are under-credit or at risk of not graduating high school and really try to link a lot of the great youth development and youth workfo

a few years back i was inviteded to speak in warsaw, prague and other places. people want to know what are the differences between the u.s. and europe, and why are your arab communities not alienated. why have they risen to the top in ways they have not done here? i spoke about the fact that we as a nation have always been different. we have been different in the sense that america as a concept is different and america as a reality is different. no ethnic group defines who they are, no religion defines who we are. bigots have had their time over way, but in the end, ultimately the notion of america as an absorb tiff entity is something. you don't just get a passport here. you get an identity as a -- and americans. you can go an algerian and you will always be one. you can get citizenship. it is an effort, but you never get the nationality. you never get the sense i am part of this people. the narrative doesn't include you. as a kid, when we studied louis and clark, i went with them. when we studied washington on the bought. we were there. we went with them on t