As a single mother of two sons attending Washington, D.C.’s public schools in the 1990s, Virginia Walden Ford should have been at a complete loss at how to improve education for her kids. Instead of remaining helpless, Walden launched the school reform movement in the District — whose school system was once considered the Superfund Site of education — by taking to the streets, lobbying Congress and fighting for charter schools and voucher programs. The results of her work can still be seen today, as D.C. has become one of the foremost centers for charter schools, and in the efforts by Michelle Rhee to overhaul D.C. Public Schools. Ford showed how even one parent can build a movement to improve education, both for their child and for all children.

Watch this excerpt from a Bluegrass Institute presentation, listen to this week’s Dropout Nation Podcast (and an earlier podcast on building parent power), and consider what you would do for your own child. Then take action for all children.