Paul Tough

Writer & Speaker

Posts Tagged ‘speeches’


Tuesday, September 4th, 2012

Pub Day!

“How Children Succeed” comes out today! Please stop by your local independent bookstore or online bookseller and pick up a copy. As well, please check out the interview I did this morning on NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

Finally: If you’re in New York City, please come to the bookstore event I’m doing with Ira Glass of “This American Life” tonight at 7 pm at the Barnes & Noble at 82nd and Broadway. See you there!


Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

A Talk in Atlanta

On Oct. 3, I’ll be speaking in Atlanta, in the beautiful building above, as part of SCAD’s Ivy Hall Writers Series. More details on this and other talks I’ll be doing this fall can be found on the new Appearances page on my website.


Monday, June 4th, 2012

Bowdoin Speech Audio

Over at This Week in Education, Alexander Russo has turned up some audio from the speech I gave at Bowdoin College in April. I talked a lot about my forthcoming book, How Children Succeed, and also about lab rats, attachment, affluent teenagers, and my two-year-old son.


Sunday, March 18th, 2012

Conference at Bowdoin

On Friday, April 6, I’ll be giving a talk at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, as part of a two-day conference on “The New Politics of Parenthood.” My talk, drawn from the reporting I did for my forthcoming book, “How Children Succeed” is titled “How Children Succeed: Schools, Parents, and the Cultivation of Character.”


Friday, November 4th, 2011

Fostering Hope

I had a great time last week visiting Salem, Oregon, to give the keynote address at the Closing the Gap Summit run by Salem’s Fostering Hope Initiative. Saerom Yoo, a reporter for the Salem Statesman-Journal, wrote this report on the event.


Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

Speech in Oregon

On October 25, I’ll be giving the keynote address at the Fostering Hope/Closing the Gap Summit in Salem, Oregon, organized by the Catholic Community Services organization in the region. The summit is part of a new project called the Fostering Hope Initiative, designed to strengthen families and protect children. A reporter for the Statesman-Journal wrote about the initiative here, and included some comments from me about the Harlem Children Zone model.


Monday, May 9th, 2011

Cleveland Fed speech

On June 10, I’ll be giving the closing keynote speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s 2011 Policy Summit. The summit is devoted to discussions of housing, human capital, and inequality:

Income inequality in this country is at an all–time high, and is among the highest in the developed world. In this environment, it is critical to revisit education and asset building policies, through the lenses of research and practice, that will support stability and upward mobility in poor communities.


Saturday, April 9th, 2011

Community Forum in Lame Deer

On Monday morning, I’ll be giving a speech and sitting on a panel at a community forum in Lame Deer, a small town in eastern Montana, on the Northern Cheyenne reservation. As a post on Indian Country Today explains:

The author will discuss [Geoffrey] Canada’s creation of a cradle-to-college program for children of Harlem, New York. After his talk, Montana residents will talk about what resources worked for them, and everyone will brainstorm how to create an infrastructure that will support youth of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in their career goals.

The forum is being organized by the Boys and Girls Club of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, which last year became one of 21 community groups nationwide that received a Promise Neighborhood planning grant.

There’s more information in this story from the Billings Gazette, including details on how to RSVP.


Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

Georgetown/Chavez talk

As I mentioned earlier, I’m going to be giving a talk and speaking on a panel this Thursday at Georgetown University, at an event hosted by Georgetown and the Cesar Chavez Schools. I’ll be talking about character education and academic achievement.

There’s now a bit more information on the talk posted here.


Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

The News from Kenilworth-Parkside

There was news about the D.C. Promise Neighborhood initiative in two Washington newspapers last week. The Washington City Paper reported on the groundbreaking for a new early-childhood center in the Kenilworth-Parkside neighborhood in D.C.’s Ward 7, adding,

the Educare building, as it’s known, is much more than a school. It’s also the first piece of a federally-funded plan to replicate the success of the Harlem Children’s Zone in Manhattan, using a model of integrated educational and social services to transform a kid’s whole environment, not just the time they spend in a classroom.

The Washington Post added that the effort was

spearheaded by Irasema Salcido, the charismatic educator who founded the Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy in the community, but its unusual strength lies in the 70 nonprofits, businesses, churches, foundations and resident associations that have signed on. In a refreshing partnership, two traditional public schools, Kenilworth and Neval Thomas elementary schools, have joined the coalition with their charter neighbor.

Next week, I’ll be visiting the Cesar Chavez schools and giving a speech at Georgetown University about character development and student achievement — and how those topics relate to the Promise Neighborhood initiative.