63 Magazine - Issue 4

Volunteer
Spotlight: Angelica
Cooks Lucas
Campaign:
Project Renaissance
Nashville Rise
City:
Nashville, TN
What makes This Volunteer Special:
With eight children currently attending
public schools in Nashville, Angelica has
been volunteering with the public school
system for 10 years. As a school system
volunteer, she’s worked in many different
roles to support teachers and parents while
also advocating for new and improved
services.
Ariba Qureshi, a Nashville Rise organizer, saw
Angelica’s commitment and drive to improve
schools for her children and knew she would
be a perfect parent captain. Nashville Rise is
a parent-led coalition aimed at empowering
parents through training and leadership
development, collaborating to influence and
increase high quality schools for children in
all of Davidson County.
As a parent captain, Angelica has been
able to participate in and recruit for
transformative seminars with other parents
and school officials, giving parents an
opportunity to learn about and advocate
for programs and services to make their
children’s schools more effective.
“With half of my children attending Title I
and/or Priority/Focus schools, I have to
ensure my children are receiving the same
level of education, access to resources, and
have qualified educators, as any other child
who lives in a different zip code.
My wish was to align myself with
individuals who have the same passion
and drive that I have in ensuring no
matter the demographics, background,
or circumstances, all children would
receive quality education and wrap-around
services.”