Palisadians Attend Soirée to Celebrate Coalition for Engaged Education

Notable Palisadians, celebrities and education advocates took in a night of poetic justice and entertainment on May 28 at The Herb Alpert Educational Village in Santa Monica, while raising awareness of the importance of engaged education.

Founded by Paul Cummins, the co-founder of nearby Crossroads School, the non-profit Coalition for Engaged Education (formerly New Visions) celebrated its one-year capital campaign that night. It also feted Cummins’ and the coalition’s work to connect dropout, foster and incarcerated youth with educational opportunities.

“Our belief is that every child in America should get a quality education,” Cummins told the Palisadian-Post. “We want to make kids want to come to school versus drop out. There are 7,000 dropouts a year. They’re disengaged.”

Cummins, who co-founded Crossroads in 1971, said today it spends an average of $33,000 annually per pupil.

On hand were Palisadians Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, as well as Jessica Capshaw Gavigan and Sasha Spielberg, who donated toward the creation of the Capshaw-Spielberg Center for Arts and Educational Justice on the Santa Monica campus.

“He’s completely committed to serving all kids,” Capshaw told the Post.

The coalition originated out of Crossroads and its first project was the creation of New Roads School, which took the Crossroads educational model and brought it to a more diverse student body. Fifty percent of New Roads students receive some form of financial aid and it is committed to all forms of diversity.

From there, the coalition expanded to co-launch three charter schools, as well as programs for the most underserved youth in Los Angeles County.

The evening included spoken word and poetry readings from students, as well as celebrities, including Jonah Hill, Henry Winkler, Gwenyth Paltrow, Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg and more.

Palisadians Jonnie and Rachael Davis said they love to support Crossroads. The couple was also there to support Max Winkler, Henry’s son and one of the directors of that night’s performances.

“I’m here to support the place that broadened his imagination and to see the manifestation of education,” said Jonnie Davis, who’s also president of 20th Century Fox Television.

Bradford Bancroft, a coalition board member, called the Capshaw-Spielberg Center incredible.“There are 18 to 20 non-profits working together to help these kids to make sure they don’t fall through the cracks,” he said. “We need exposure. Paul started so many charter schools. He’s absolutely incredible.”