Government officials, teachers, parents and community members got together for a public forum Saturday morning at the Krannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign, to show their concerns on child development and learning in the Champaign-Urbana community.

This is the first of a series of four forums co-organized by the Department of Education and Phi Delta Kappa. The object was to examine what works and what doesn’t so that the community can provide a healthier environment for the children.

Speakers ranged from college professors to concerned parents. Representatives of Project 18 and Voices, groups that work to improve children’s lives in the Champaign County, attended the forum to voice their concerns and call for collaborative efforts to make policy changes possible.

Issues are directed to parents as well as children. Mary Anne Wilson, “Success By 6” Director at United Way of Champaign County, said that early childhood education is important.

“We must help all parents understand that children’s education start at birth, not after they start school,” Wilson said.

Vernessa T. Gipson, the director of the Center for Education in the Urban League of Champaign County, said that a lot has been done but a lot more remains to be done.

“We should investigate before we celebrate,” Gipson said.

While addressing an audience member at the town hall meeting, Gipson said that the problem is not the lack of facilities and resources in the local community, but the lack of information and access to these resources.

“It’s the question of accessibility,” Gipson said. “Are we doing the right thing? Why aren’t people accessing facilities that are out there?”

In the panel discussion, Gipson called attention to the issue of racism.

Gipson pointed out that African American children in the community are not doing well in reading and writing. In her view, the problem is not only about poverty but opportunity and racism.

“Let’s talk about things that are under the union skins,” Gipson said.

She advocated the share of resources.

“I don’t ask for your money, but your time,” Gipson said, asking people at the campus to interact with the community. “I ask you to come and teach a class … I challenge college folks to come out and have dialogues with us. That’s what I call engagement.”

Jamil D. Johnson, a graduate student from the Educational Policy Studies, showed the same concern.

“I think it’s up to the professionals to take care of those underrepresented groups,” Johnson said. “Students should start stepping out of the campus and into the community.”

The founder of the Minority Male Leadership Group and also a member of the Phi Rho Eta, Johnson said he believes that it is important to make connections with the community.

“Some kids out there lack role models,” Johnson said. “And our goal is to be those positive role models for them.”

A third grade teacher and one of the nine children in her family, Jeanette Goines Osler said that giving the children attention is as important as teaching them how to read and write.

“When kids come to you, they are not going to care about what you know until they know that you care,” she said.

Osler said she benefited from the support of the community when she was a child. When her parents were busy taking care of her brothers and sisters, she spent time with her teachers who opened their doors generously, her neighbors and even the candy woman down the street.

Osler said that if she were asked to name five people that influenced her life the most, “they will not be those who have a letter behind their names.”

Nevertheless, they are the people who shaped her personality.

“The integrity, character and intelligence I have today are to be attributed to these people,” Osler said.

The second public forum will take place at the Krannert Art Museum on Jan. 28, 2006, from 9 a.m. to noon. The public will get together for discussions on how to make the federal No Child Left Behind law workable in the community.