Dr Connie Chung: A hope to youth

Dr Connie Chung, EdD, is a Foster America Fellow. She has written, co-edited, or contributed to six books and numerous papers about learning and teaching to thrive in the 21st century and how people and communities can create positive change together.

A former high school teacher, a former foster parent, and former associate director of the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Global Education Innovation Initiative, she has worked with young people since 1994, when she won a fellowship from the W E B Du Bois Research Institute at Harvard University to teach in Children's Defense Fund's Freedom Schools. She holds a doctorate in education, dual master's degrees in international education policy and teaching and curriculum, and a bachelor's degree in English and American Literature, all from Harvard University.

She recently came up with a book "When we thrive, our world thrives." In an exclusive conversation with 'The Hans India,' Dr Connie shares about her book and journey. Let's have a look into it.

Speaking about "When we thrive, our world thrives," Dr Connie says, "The book shares stories of young people who say that when Dream a Dream showed them emotional and psychological support through their after school life skills program and their programs at the Career Connect Center, that the support helped them make a difficult journey easier. Dream a Dream's work in how they teach life skills in an environment of unconditional acceptance and support where young people are encouraged to find their voice and follow their passions - has been received by young people as

being very helpful in overcoming adversity and thriving in spite

of it."

When Dr Connie was questioned why this book is needed as there are many helping other young people, she says "The book was needed to show that young men and women from backgrounds of adversity CAN thrive, if provided proper care and support. The book was needed to show what that proper care and support looks like, from an organisation that has been recognised globally as doing this kind of work well. The book was also needed to show that there is research to support why and how Dream a Dream's practices work. The book was also needed to show how Dream a Dream as an organization became better as it listened to young people and changed their practices accordingly.

"The book shares some of the research on what helps young people from backgrounds of adversity to thrive and also key concepts from the field of positive youth development," she added.

Speaking about her association with the cause and writing about these young people and their stories, Connie said, "I met Vishal Talreja, Dream a Dream's co-founder, in 2016 when I was the associate director of Harvard Graduate School of Education's Global Education Innovation Initiative. Dream a Dream had been recognised by another organisation in India as leading in their work of supporting teachers to teach the whole child. I co-edited a book in 2018 that featured Dream a Dream's work in teacher professional development in one of the chapters. In 2019, after I left Harvard, Vishal invited me to Bangalore to learn more about Dream a Dream and write a book about their work. We thought that featuring 20 stories of young people who shared what they thought helped them to thrive and weaving that with research and best practices from Dream a Dream would make a book that would not only inspire but also help young people and their supporters.