NEW: Julia Steiny Named Bank of America "Local Hero"

Education writer, consultant and a member of Family Service of RI’s board of directors, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER Julia Steiny has been named “a local hero” by Bank of America’s “Neighborhood Excellence” program.

 

She was nominated by Family Service of RI. 

 

“We were pleased to nominate Julia and are delighted she has been selected,” said Family Service of RI CEO Margaret Holland McDuff.  “Julia’s passion for improvements in Rhode Island’s schools has served as a beacon for all who believe that we must do better for our students and their families.” 

 

 

Ms. Steiny has made advocating for children a personal mission for over 20 years.  She focuses much of her writing and advocacy on improving school environments, developing effective education policies and outcome collection data systems, and affecting positive change around all circumstances that challenge children and their chance for success in growing up.

 

She is the founding director of the Youth Restoration Project, a community-building, demonstration initiative focused in Central Falls, one of Rhode Island’s most economically disadvantaged communities.  The project involves a partnership among schools, social service agencies, and local government and replaces punitive approaches for dealing with challenging student behaviors with techniques that help students, families and school staff solve problems while holding students accountable to their community.  

 

Ms. Steiny served on the Providence School Board, hosted the “Education Watch RI” public broadcasting television program, and has written regular columns on education in local and national publications, most recently GoLocalProv, where she is a regular MINDSETTER columnist.  She’s been involved in several data projects, including “Information Works!,” a statewide information source providing data on every public school in the state; and “RI DataHub,” a resource with a wide range of child-related data.

 

 

As a Local Hero, Ms. Steiny received a $5,000 contribution from Bank of America, which she has directed to Family Service of RI to help with the non-profit’s work in the Central Falls Public School District. 

 

“Family Service of RI has been an awesome partner in this exciting project in Central Falls,” she said.  “If I hadn't been serving as a member of their board, I never would have known how creative they are or how incredibly committed they are to challenged children and families.  I'm honored they nominated me, and delighted that Bank of America saw fit to name me a ‘hero.’ Thanks so much to everyone involved.”

 

She was honored on Wednesday, October 26th during the Bank of America 2011 Neighborhood Excellence Initiative award ceremony.

 

Family Service of RI is a statewide non-profit human service and education agency.