Dear John,

We’re throwing a party for justice and we hope you’ll be able to join us! Next Thursday, October 9 will be AQE’s Champions of Education Gala, as we mark 25 years of fighting for a quality public education and universal child care across New York. It’s going to be an evening of reflection and recommitment to the movement that started more than a quarter century ago with parents and community leaders demanding more equity and fairness in our communities.

AQE was born in 2000 out of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, when parents came together to challenge a school funding system that consistently shortchanged lower-income Black and brown communities. One of those parents was now-Senator Robert Jackson, who twice walked 150 miles to Albany with Team AQE to demand fair funding from the state. That fight was carried in the courts by attorney Michael Rebell, and in the streets by countless families who refused to be ignored. Education organizer Christine Marinoni was there from AQE’s earliest days, and Cynthia Nixon joined as a new parent committed to educational justice, helping to raise the visibility of our cause along the way. These leaders, alongside so many others, continue to play an important role in building this statewide movement that has won billions in new education funding, expanded child care, and lifted community voices into the halls of power.

At this year’s gala we will honor the leaders who carried that vision forward and built AQE into what it is today. Regina Eaton who set the course as our first executive director, Billy Easton who grew our organizing power for more than a decade, and Jasmine Gripper who led AQE through historic moments of investment in public education and child care. Their leadership is part of the foundation that allows us to keep fighting and winning for New York’s children and families.