All Stars Project INC.

Gabrielle L. Kurlander, President and CEO of the All Stars Project (ASP), gave the following talk at the ASP's annual corporate luncheon to an audience of 350 business leaders and All Stars supporters, at the Hilton NY Hotel in New York City on December 4, 2009. The benefit raised $506,000, all through private funding sources, for the innovative after-school programs of the All Stars Project.

Good afternoon. You are probably one of the largest and most distinguished groupings of business and government leaders ever to come out to support an after-school effort. Welcome.

This I believe is a sign of the times, because there is growing interest in after-school programs as a means of dealing with the failure of public schools, particularly for poor and minority youth.

But most after-school programs look to "remediate" the failures of the classroom. However, remediation as an overall approach, does not work.

Replicating the methodology of failure inside of school, by doing roughly the same thing outside of school does not, indeed, can not, solve the problem. The All Stars Project and our partners in the business community have made a clean break with the paradigm of remediation.

We have taken a hard look at the root causes of why minority children are failing to learn in our public schools. Some of these root causes, such as poverty, can't be addressed by the after-school arena. But others, the psychological, cultural and developmental roots of failure, can be addressed. And that's what we do at the All Stars.

Simply put, underdevelopment produces failure. But failure can be reversed by introducing development. At the All Stars, we have created a privately-funded grassroots experiment involving hundreds of thousands of poor, inner-city youth over nearly 30 years. Our results prove that young people's underdevelopment can effectively be dealt with through high quality, after-school programs that expose youth to people, places and things beyond what they experience in ordinary life. These experiences awaken a sense of worldliness and belonging that helps them to grow and develop.

Our case for after-school rests on a new paradigm where the key to helping young people to learn is finding ways to help them develop. Learning is not just learning to pass tests. It's learning how to embrace knowledge, to embrace oneself, to embrace one's community. Once our young people are developed, they can do more with and in the public schools. The root problem is not the teachers, though we need to improve the quality of teaching. The root problem is not the parents, though parents need support to deal with the developmental issues they face. The problem is not the curriculum, though curriculum must keep pace with changes in technology, science and the humanities. But, the vital contribution of the after-school movement is that this is where we can ignite young people's development, giving them the kinds of outside-of-school experiences that help them become learners. These vitally important breakthroughs have been largely unrecognized for decades. And that is why it is so important that you are all here today and that together we are shining a light on these critical discoveries and innovations in after-school. Thank you for being here and being a part of this new after-school movement.

I have the privilege of introducing our special guest whose extraordinary credentials include a vital interest in outside-of-school learning. We feel a special kinship with Sheila because she is someone who challenges conventional wisdom and institutional failure and we have very strong respect for people with the courage and tenacity to do that.

Sheila Bair is Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and a member of its Board of Directors. In 2009, Chairman Bair was named one of TIME magazine's 100 most influential people. In 2008, she topped the Wall Street Journal's annual 50 "Women to Watch" list, and Forbes magazine named her among a short list of the most powerful women in the world.

Today, the young people of the All Stars Project Development School for Youth will be presenting Chairman Bair with an Honorary Doctorate of Development. Their award not only recognizes her influence on Wall Street and in Washington, but also honors her for helping young people become financially literate and relating to them not just as citizens of the nursery but as citizens of the world. Chairman Bair has written two children's books, Rock, Brock and the Savings Shock and Isabel's Car Wash, which she wrote to inspire her daughter and other girls to start businesses of their own.

On behalf of the All Stars Project, I want to express my appreciation to Sheila for taking the time out of her busy schedule at this highly-pressured moment and coming here to help us shine a light on the importance of after-school and leadership of inner-city young people. When All Stars youth heard she was coming, they came up with this little known fact. With Chairman Bair at its helm, FDIC stands for more than the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It also means: "For the Development of our Inner Cities."

Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to the chairman of the FDIC, Sheila Bair.