>> Tracey Mann: So we're going to
have a little discussion here.
Their full bios are printed for you.
But we have Reverend Hamlin with
the Washington National Cathedral.
Great seeing you. We have
Chris Helfrich, who is with
Eat, Learn, Play in California.
We have David Banks,
who's the Chancellor of the
New York City public school system,
and we have Jeff Martin
with a lot of things
but killing
Children's Literacy Project.
So great, great seeing you all.
You know, that was obviously
a powerful and a heavy film.
A lot of things that I'm going to be
processing for a long, long time.
Before we really start a
discussion and the questions
with that I have for everybody,
just any--
I just want to preface some space for
any comments or any initial thoughts
that you have, kind of,
any immediate reflections
after watching that,
that anybody has.
>> Jeff Martin: I've seen
it a hundred times.
>> Tracey Mann:
Yeah, yeah.
>> David Banks: Well, this is
my first time seeing it.
And all I can say is, wow.
I mean, it's like a visceral punch,
to hear all these stories, to see in
the experiences all across the nation,
no matter what, what race,
what part of the country,
how the lack of literacy and
the inability to read
how it plays out in real time in
the lives of not just the person
who doesn't know how to read,
but the effect that it has on their
entire family is, is real.
And so I think it sets up
for an even more important
conversation about, now what?
>> Tracey Mann:
Yeah. Reverend?
>> Canon Leonard Hamlin: Well,
there's so many points that I could
probably raise and begin. I would say
thank you just to be part
of this conversation.
But when you see a movie like this,
you begin right away just saying,
thank you for the people
that are in your life.
So many times I have
called the name of Mrs. Odom,
who was my first grade teacher,
and I was calling it
and thinking about her
even while I'm sitting here. Grateful
to be sitting next to New York.
I was born and raised
in Brooklyn, New York,
and grew up in New York City.
And so we think about the value
and the roles that we play in
each other's life.
And to be able to look at
something like this, you react
and realize how much
we need each other.
>> Tracey Mann:
So true. A lot to reflect on.
I love the end of the movie.
The line where it says,
"If you teach a child to read,
you give a child a chance."
I just thought that was
a great ending to that.
I love to talk to people in my
district and just ask them,
hey, when you were in kindergarten,
who was your congressman?
No one knows.
[Laughter]
When you were in kindergarten--
But then I asked. But when you
were in kindergarten, who was
your kindergarten teacher?
Everybody knows who their
kindergarten teacher was.
Everybody.
>> David Banks:
Listen, part of the problem is,
if you can ask them in 12th
grade, who was your congressman,
they still don't know.
>> Tracey Mann: Well, that's
true. Yeah. That's true.
And they asked, who are
you in the first place?
But anyway.
The point is everybody
feels that connection, right.
And it's so, so, so important.
So, you know, we'll start, the
film ends, you know, on a
very hopeful note with clips
from volunteers who are taking
action in their communities,
in their schools, serving as
reading mentors, underscoring
the fact that we can all play
a part in responding to this crisis.
You know, our panelists
today and thanks for doing this.
You all, you know, just
represent a handful of the
sectors that can support children's
early literacy development.
Just a question for everybody.
And we can just see where
this conversation goes.
But but first off for you,
Reverend Hamlin.
As a faith leader with
Washington National Cathedral,
which my understanding is just
beginning its focus on early literacy.
Can you share with us why
you and your colleagues felt
called to engage in this work,
and the types of roles that you
envision yourself playing?
In kind of what you're doing.
>> Canon Leonard Hamlin:
First, when we talk about
being involved in each
other's life, I have to say
how I was touched really
sitting next to Jeff.
He's an individual that you
meet, and right away, his
passion for what he's
doing comes across.
Then it moves to how he talks
about his family and the value
of family, those shared values
that many of us who are sitting
here right now, we have
relationships, we have family.
And then you can start thinking
about all of that generationally
about children, grandchildren
and start looking for further out.
Certainly, as we met through
the Washington National Cathedral,
there are many issues
that we are seeking to
address and to give
voice to and to elevate.
I've said to Jeff, and I think
I said to someone this easy
this evening that this is not a hard
road to go down, to sit here and
to look at this particular film,
hopefully we've all been moved.
I don't know how you watch a
movie like this and not be moved
or not think about someone
that you have met.
Before, I'm still full time clergy,
but when I was full time pastoring
in the faith community, we get
to deal with the results.
We sit with families who have
been sentenced generations and
talking to them, and it leaves
an impression upon your life
where hopefully all of us in
here are saying we've got to do
something. So I'm grateful
to be here and part of this
conversation that we might all take
a look at where our feet are planted.
And as I always tell everyone, just
bloom where your feet are planted.
>> Tracey Mann:
Amen. That's good.
Next question for Chris Helfrich.
You lead Stephen and Ayesha Curry's
philanthropic endeavors with
children in Oakland, California.
What can you tell us about what
Eat, Learn, Play is doing to support
children's well-being and
educational success in Oakland,
and your thoughts on what nonprofit
organizations can be doing?
And I've heard a little
bit about what you all are up to.
It seems incredible, but would
you just fill everybody in
on the project you're undertaking?
>> Chris Helfrich: Absolutely.
First of all, thank you.
Thank you for allowing
us to be a part of this.
This means a lot to us.
Stephen and Ayesha, we launched
Eat, Learn, Play in 2019.
And really, the mission
is all about, you know,
uplifting this next generation,
making sure they have the
resources to support the love
that they need to reach their
full potential.
Our feet are planted in
Oakland, California, which is a
community that's like
overflowing with talent,
but also in an amazing amount of need.
And so the Curry's from day one
were adamant that we're laser
focused in Oakland and that we
work on these three issues that are,
you know, key vital ingredients
for a happy, healthy childhood.
We do a lot of work
with food security because,
you know, 39% of Oakland students
are live in food insecure households.
We do a lot of work providing
safe places and access to play,
that came from Steph.
But obviously, because, you
know, play is such a fundamental
part of character development in kids.
And then for us, it took us
a couple of years, but once we
got ourselves educated and
really listened to the
community's needs,
early literacy, right, became
clear that had to be the
focus of our learn pillar.
And frankly, I think it's
the most important work that
that we are doing today.
I was with the Curry's last
week, and they were talking
about how this is the most
important thing that they have
going on in their life.
In Oakland right now,
not unlike what we saw
tonight in the film, we've got
40% of students in Oakland
Public schools reading two or
more grade levels behind.
And so we've done a lot of work
as we've tried to wrap our
arms around the public schools
to try to transform that
experience for this generation
of kids to understand, like,
where can we have the greatest impact?
And what we heard from
community leaders, experts,
parents, teachers is that
tutoring, high dosage tutoring
is the intervention that time
and time again works,
but it's also very expensive.
And so, you know, the school
district, because it's so
expensive, they didn't
even have a strategy.
And so what we're doing at Eat, Learn,
Play is essentially trying to provide
professional one on one
high dosage tutoring for this
generation of students
who are furthest behind.
Ayesha talked about it at
the beginning of the film, but
for us, that means raising and
investing $25 million over the
next several years so that
10,000 kids have access to
year round professional tutoring.
[Applause]
It feels like a calling
to the Currys and to us.
And our attitude is, if we can
get it right in Oakland, then
we can be powerful advocates
and storytellers for this issue
more broadly. Ayesha talks all
the time about how it takes a
village, right? We're trying to
be that village for this
generation of kids in Oakland.
But when you ask about
nonprofit organizations or
really anybody in this room,
like, I think we can all be part
of this village that everybody,
you know, can bring their
talents and their resources in
some way to make a difference.
Because, you know, we've seen
tonight just how important that is.
>> Tracey Mann: Well, and it's pretty
awesome for them to lend their name
and support to this effort.
And then to have Steph, you
know, be the narrator throughout
the film just adds a whole
level of kind of gravitas to
the seriousness of the issue.
>> Chris Helfrich: Yeah. And
I just want to underscore,
they do so much more than, you
know, put their name or narrate,
like, you know, they underwrite
all of our foundation's work.
But Stephen is the
son of a schoolteacher.
They've got four kids who are
all on their reading journeys
right now. And, I mean, they
live and breathe this work and
are very hands on.
>> Tracey Mann: And talking about
living and breathing this work,
David Bank, you're the
obviously the chancellor of
New York Public Schools.
NYC Public Schools launched
understand the NYC Reads Initiative
last year to ensure
that New York City children,
in their early years and early
grades, receive instruction and
supports rooted in the science
of reading that prepares them to
become strong readers.
What are some of the things that
you learned about early literacy
as a teacher, school leader,
and the leader of the
country's largest public school system?
And what do you think more
education leaders need to know
to be able to address this challenge?
>> David Banks:
Yeah. So thank you so much.
First of all, let me just
say a couple of things.
I appreciate the invitation to be here.
I think this is such
an important forum.
And I think as we move forward
with whoever wins this election,
a focus on education is
critical for our nation's future.
And I don't think there's
anything that's more
important than early literacy
and making sure that our kids
are on grade level by the
third grade, as it was fully
illustrated in this film.
If you don't do that,
everything else we're doing,
we're spending lots of
dollars and resources
playing catch up, and you never
fully catch up anyway.
And generally you're kind of
playing around in the margins.
I'm a product of New York
City public schools as well.
I'm born and born and raised
in Brooklyn and in Queens.
And, you know, my mom
and dad raised three boys.
I'm the oldest of three, and I
raised four children who've all
gone on to graduate from college.
So being successful in school,
working hard, doing the things
that we needed to do is
just been part of the way my
family raised me and
what I tried to do.
But I was also a teacher in the
New York City public schools.
And while I was teaching, I saw,
how we were-- At that time,
we were shifting from kind of an
age old focus on phonics and how
you decode words.
And we were shifting at that time
to something which came to
be known as balanced literacy,
a whole language which
in my mind and I think,
the data is in the supports.
It has been a failed approach
across this nation for how we
should be ensuring
that our kids can read.
So just think about this.
One of the lessons that we
learned as relates to your
question is you got to take a
look at the data, right?
So in New York City, the
largest school system in the
nation by far, when I
became chancellor,
51% of all the kids in New York City
public schools were not reading
on grade level. And when you
disaggregate that data, 64% of
black kids are not reading
on grade level, 63% of Latino
students in New York City, we
have a $40 billion annual budget,
and 64% of black kids
can't read fundamentally.
But then as we looked at the
data across the nation,
we recognized that we
were in good company.
Because if you look at the city
of Philadelphia, 66% of the kids
in Philadelphia, the entire
school system of Philly are not
on grade level.
80% in Chicago and over
85% in the city of Detroit.
It just wrap your mind for a
moment around some of those
numbers because you need to.
If 85% of the kids in your
school district can't read,
what is the purpose
of the school district?
If we can't lay out a
fundamental promise to
parents that if we can't
promise you anything else,
we have to be able to promise
that your child will learn to read.
I don't care what level of poverty,
where mom is, where dad is.
We should be able to ensure
as a school system that your
child will be able to read,
and we've not been doing that
all across America. But
I've got news for you.
And what we also found out,
it's not the teacher's fault.
[Applause]
And it is also not their
parents fault.
[Applause]
And it is not our kids fault.
We have given over the last
25 to 30 years across
the school system in America.
We gave our teachers a failed
playbook on how to teach kids to read,
a very fundamental approach.
I could introduce you to
hundreds and thousands of
teachers at the high school
level who have no idea how to
teach a kid to read, and they
assume that kids are supposed to
learn to read in the
elementary level, correct?
Well, I saw firsthand as
a fourth grade teacher,
kids who were showing up in my
class who could not read.
And so the fourth grade teachers
blame the third grade teachers.
The third grade teachers blame
the second grade teachers.
Second grade blame first grade.
First grade blame the
kindergarten teachers
and the kindergarten
teachers blame who?
My fault that the kids
didn't know their numbers
and their colors before they got here.
So it's been a blame game all across
America that needs to stop.
One of the first things
that we have done when we
introduced NYC Reads is to say
that the blame game stops.
We're going to ensure that
every child in New York City by
the third graders on grade
level, and we're doing it
through our approach,
focus on the science of reading.
We no longer consider it
acceptable to allow every
school in the city to say, we're
going to have our own approach,
and because we know our kids best.
That's a bunch of malarkey.
Teachers needed a blueprint,
and they needed to be on the
same page. You can't ensure
a level of responsible
professional development for
teachers across an entire system
if everybody is just
doing their own thing.
And so now we chose one of
three different curriculums,
which are based in
the science of reading.
We have leaned into that.
We have pre-K and pre-K programs
as part of our early childhood
that are all working
from the same curriculum.
So I could take you into a class
in Staten Island, and you could
leave and go to a place in Brooklyn.
And the students are learning
from the same exact lesson.
Every preschool teacher
across the entire city has been
grounded and trained
in the same approach.
So even if you move from
Brooklyn to the Bronx, you can
pick up from wherever you left off.
This helter skelter approach
that we have used does not work.
It's being done all across America.
It doesn't have to be that way.
And finally, I would say the
reason why we know that it works
is because if you look at places
like Mississippi and Tennessee,
they have already
started this work.
Mississippi for decades was the
worst, lowest rated state in the
entire United States, and they
have leapfrogged most of the
country because they committed
to the science of reading.
Other states would say, at
least we're not as bad as
Mississippi. Well, Mississippi--
You can't say that anymore
because they turned it around.
And we've learned that it
doesn't mean your test scores
are going to change overnight.
They won't. It takes time, but
you have to be committed to
being on the right track.
And that's what we've
committed to doing.
>> Tracey Mann:
Real quick. And I'll get to Jeff.
[Applause]
And David, how many years are
you into that shift and are you
starting to see results yet?
>> David Banks: Yeah,
just in our second year,
and in fact, last year
we only rolled out half the
districts for New York.
So just this September, as
we've just launched over the
last couple of weeks the entire
New York City school system
is now in the game,
and every teacher and every
elementary school teacher
has now been trained.
They get ongoing coaching
throughout the year.
We are locking arms with our
union, which when I became
chancellor, people said, that's always
going to be your biggest challenge,
the unions. The unions
have been our biggest allies.
In fact, I don't think you can
do this work in a deep way
unless the unions are
partners with you.
So not only our principals union,
our teachers union,
the UFT, the largest teachers union
in the country, they have been
saying we have been wanting
to do this for years.
They've locked in with us.
We do all the training with them.
So we can't afford to have
anybody on the sidelines.
And it's not just the
teachers, it is the other
organizations like what
you're doing in Oakland.
I see my good friend Darryl McDaniels
from the world famous run DMC
who's here today,
who's committed his life.
He's committed his life to
this work and to literacy and
students who have dyslexia.
We've launched significant
programs and how we're
identifying kids with dyslexia
and not just identifying, but
giving them the proper
interventions that are needed.
Teachers have to be trained in
how to do that, and that's what
I think all across America.
We're just saying it should be better.
We've got to be better.
It's bigger than that.
I met with the head of every
school of education that feeds
all the teachers that we receive
in the New York City schools,
and I let them know
this is the track that we're on.
We want teachers in your
pre-service programs who are
committed to the science of reading.
And if you don't do that,
that's fine.
We can't make you do it.
But just be clear we won't be
accepting any of your candidates
from your school.
We want to dance with the
people who are going to be
prepared to dance with us.
We are serious about this.
We're not playing.
Our kids cannot afford for
another generation of what
you've been seeing.
[Applause]
>> Tracey Mann: Good, good.
Thank you. All right.
Jeff--
>> Jeff Martin: Are you really
going to make me follow this?
[Laughter]
>> Tracey Mann: I am, because
you produced the film.
>> Oh, great. >> Right.
And you would have tons of,
you know, I watched for the first time.
You would have insights.
I was struck by, to a degree,
the intimacy of it.
Right. You were able to take us
into these households,
pretty deep into these people's lives.
And I was struck by at a
high level, there's a lot of
alienation between me and them.
You know, they don't even have
relationships with, you know,
folks that are having those struggles.
But also, you get a sense for
all the love and the community
that they're all in. So it
was a beautiful job, Jeff.
Incredible as-- Yeah.
[Applause]
And I know in the credits
there was a lot of Martin.
So I know a lot of
your family was involved.
I guess my question as
a producer of the film
and a longtime literacy champion,
what are you hoping to
accomplish through the film
and through your organization,
the Children's Literacy Project?
>> Jeff Martin: Well, we're
trying to depress a nation. No.
First of all, I was pointing
at the filmmakers, and
I would like to respond
to your first line.
Connor Martin is my son.
And thank you, Collina, for mentioning
all the Martin's that
are on the credits.
His partner is a man named
Mark Allen Johnson, and
Mark is a photojournalist who
will go anywhere to get any story.
And when we started
considering how to show
America the impact of illiteracy,
we realize we're just filmmakers.
Just dumb filmmakers.
We thought, wait, there
are no illiterate children.
They're children, they haven't
learned to read yet.
We're not labeling three year
olds and four year olds and
five year olds and
six year olds illiterate.
It's when they're adults,
when it matters.
All of a sudden they're incompatible
with society, that they're illiterate.
And so we had to show
the story of adults.
And Mark said, I know a man
in South Central Los Angeles
who can't read and fixes cars,
and he's a good guy, and we should
go hang out with him.
And Mark doesn't take pictures
until he hangs out.
And then my son Connor would
start to go out to South Central
without cameras to meet
the family and hang out and
build trust. You know, we
talk about the generosity of
our donors and of the business
community and the tax base.
But those people in that film
gave us their lives and...
[Applause]
I have some news for you.
Yes, Fuji died, but a few weeks ago,
Anna died and Rubin reached out
to us and the filmmakers.
There's an integrity
issue associated with
paying for stories and documentaries.
So we don't do it.
But the documentary is done,
and there are non-profits
surrounding this project,
and we're going to try to help
Rubin, who has asked for help.
He's in New York, and
we're going to find
somebody to help him catch
up with his life, and he is
going to help us, and
we're going to figure it out.
The generosity of sharing
those stories is as
significant a thing as you can imagine.
And what we realized is that we
weren't making just a film about
illiteracy. We were making a
film about the intersection of
generational poverty, and we
have some experts in our lives
in the space of generational poverty.
And we've been told, thank you
for your comments, because
we've been told they've never
seen a deep dive into that,
into making that real on the screen
like Mark and Connor did.
We see poverty.
We see it on the streets.
That's typically situational poverty.
That's people who have fallen
from a perch of some kind.
And the families that you
met in this film and that
America is going to meet in
this film, God willing that
this is what generational poverty is.
This is why it's so hard, the
work that the Chancellor is
doing, the work that
Ellen play is doing.
And we are here to
answer your question, finally,
we are here to stir the pot.
We are here to help every
literacy partner that we
can help with our film, allow
them to use it to advocate,
to recruit volunteers, to raise money.
We're not literacy people.
We're people of faith who think
America needed a wake up call.
Do you know that we are 125th
developed world in literacy? 125th?
It's ridiculous. This is like,
look where we are.
Look, look, look who's in this room.
And that's outrageous.
And and we thank you.
Like we demand so much better
that the adults take over and
stop making excuses.
Because you're seeing
what we're allowing to
have to happen.
And we're so thankful, by the way,
I don't believe we'd be here
if it wasn't for, [Inaudible]
who introduced us earlier.
And getting us connected
to the Currys.
[Applause]
And if I had imagined
as a filmmaker that,
hey, I've got a great idea.
Let's make a documentary
film about illiteracy.
That, of course, turned into another
film about generational poverty.
And we'll get an
unbelievable superstar to
narrate it, and then we'll premiere
it at the Library of Congress.
[Laughter]
They would have called me a liar.
And so we've watched miracle
after miracle occur, connected
to telling this story.
And every time, every day,
a new thing happens that
encourages us that we were
meant to make this film.
We were given these stories,
and we were going to
use them to help everybody on this
stage and everybody in this room,
if it helps and if it doesn't,
we'll go to the place
where it does. So our job is to make
America care about literacy again.
So we're trying to do.
[Applause]
>> Tracey Mann: To to close
this out, I think that--
>> Jeff Martin: I've got something--
I'm supposed to--
David just yelled at me and he's
your friend. So I get a pass.
You see, I get all passionate
and I forget my job.
We're announcing a-- We've been
granted a $1 million award
for us to help disseminate
to people who are
innovating in the cause of literacy.
It's a challenge grant.
Hoping we'll find
another 2 million in the
coming years or months.
And we're going to surface great
innovation and great individuals
who are doing extraordinary things.
And we're going to help them.
We're going to resource
them with some funds.
And then through the work
that we do, because we're trying to
connect the literacy universe,
the people in the literacy universe
into one national database,
and we're going to
connect those people to greater
success for their innovations.
And so we are very excited
about this award and
how it's going to create a
greater national conversation
to go along with our film.
>> Tracey Mann: So $1 million award for
folks that's going to be given
to folks that are innovative.
>> Jeff Martin: $1 million that
we will use to award many people
across who are innovating and
agitating for the cause of literacy.
>> Jeff Martin:
And hold up the goodness.
>> Tracey Mann: That's fantastic.
[Applause]
>> Jeff Martin: So if anybody has
$2 million, it would be handy now.
>> Tracey Mann: Yeah, yeah. Thank you.
Well, I'm going to have
you everybody stay put.
And to close us out though.
Ralph, if you would come to the stage.
You all met Ralph Smith
earlier this evening.
Ralph is the Managing Director for
the campaign for Grade Level Reading,
a network of more than
5000 nonprofit organizations
working in 350 communities
across the country to help
children be ready to
read by the third grade.
He's a distinguished career in
teaching, education, nonprofit and law.
Ralph, would you come and
close out our evening together?
>> Ralph Smith: Ralph told me
to come so I'm coming.
[Laughter]
>> Canon Leonard Hamlin: You know,
I said we would blow up the script.
And the run of show, but the
first thing I've got to do is say
thank you to this wonderful panel.
[Applause]
I know of Chancellor Banks.
I've met Chancellor Banks.
The very first breakfast we had,
I left that I said,
we're going to see history being made.
And, Chancellor, I am so glad
you're in the great city of New York.
And with the job you're doing.
Congressman, he actually
said good things about
you which may surprise you.
You know, something about the
campaign for grade level reading
is we like to say that we are
clear eyed and we follow the data,
but that we are also optimistic
and we look for the
good news. And where
is Keri Rodrigues?
Where's Keri?
[Applause]
Somebody give Keri
a microphone, please.
Because, you know, the
Chancellor Banks said that
that there was a visceral punch
and we all felt it.
This is a moment for some good news.
Keri, give us some good news.
>> Keri Rodrigues: Well, hi.
My name is Keri Rodrigues,
and I'm Matthew Miles and
David's mom. David is right here.
I'm also blessed to be the president
of the National Parents Union.
We're an organization that
represents 1800 affiliated
parent advocacy groups in
all 50 states, Washington, D.C.
and Puerto Rico, and reach
about 20 million families across
the country. Just yesterday, after
a two year effort where we have
brought together thousands
and thousands of parents
down here in Washington, D.C..
We were able to do something
that I think is pretty
unprecedented during a uniquely
painful political moment, which
is bipartisan agreement in the
United States Senate in the
filing of a joint resolution
literally just introduced yesterday,
16 United States senators,
after thousands of parents
came down here to
Washington, D.C., with all of
their literacy data, saying,
we want change. The fact that
83% of American families believe
that we should have a national
effort to make sure that
every child in America is proficient
in reading by the third grade.
This needs to be acknowledged
as a national crisis and
addressed as such.
Finally, yesterday introduced
in the United States Senate as a
resolution, 16 members, bipartisan,
Republicans, Democrats, when confronted
with this data, came together and said,
yes, we are going to do this.
We're going to acknowledge
this crisis and make sure that
federal resources are now
allocated in order to make sure
that all of our literacy funding
is going to programs
that are based in the
science of reading,
and that we challenge
ourselves to address this.
So I just want to say on
behalf of my constituents,
which are about 20 million families
across the country, we are with you.
We want to make sure we are
holding our elected officials
accountable for this.
And, Congressman, you will see us
very soon with a lot of families.
[Applause]
>> Ralph Smith: You know, this is
a moment for us to say thank you.
And when I say thank you,
the people who work with me
run for the door because they know
my thank you has very little to do
with what has happened, and a
whole lot to do with what we expect.
So David is here to say thank you.
I'm here to say, Jeff, you have
issued a call to action
and the call to advocacy. On behalf
of the stakeholder coalitions
in 350 communities across the country,
the campaign for grade level
reading accepts that call.
[Applause]
>> David Austin: We, of course, want
to emphasize again our gratitude to the
Library of Congress for the hard
work of Nichelle and Jamal
and Roswell, for your colleagues
at the campaign for Sara,
and especially Doctor
Joy Moore, who is here.
Where's Joy?
Who made sure that her son,
the Governor of Maryland,
delivered some really great
remarks at the close of that.
Joy, we are so grateful
for your leadership.
[Applause]
And, Collina, please convey
our deep gratitude to both
Stephen and Ayesha Curry for their
great work and their significant
contribution, and just their
continued leadership and advocacy,
and share with them the spirit of
this panel and the spirit of this room.
So we thank you for that.
>> Ralph Smith: Thank you.
>> David Austin: Thank you.
[Applause]
>> Ralph Smith: Good night. Thank you.