Experts, Journalist to Address Child Homelessness at May 11 Virtual Event
April 28, 2020
Press Release
Experts, Journalist to Address Child Homelessness at May 11 Virtual Event
Boston, MA – Two leading authorities on education and children’s health – Boston Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Brenda Cassellius and noted Boston Children’s Hospital pediatrician Dr. Snehal Shah – will join Emmy Award-winning NBC 10 Boston journalist Alison King and FamilyAid Boston President Larry Seamans in addressing the city’s growing homelessness crisis at FamilyAid’s free May 11th virtual event, Building Better Futures: The Path Forward for Boston’s Homeless Children. The event will present solutions to the crisis through staff spotlights, stories from children and parents facing homelessness, and a panel discussion.
With more than three decades as an educator, Dr. Brenda Cassellius has devoted her career to ensuring all children succeed and thrive. With an unrelenting commitment to ensuring every child receives an equitable, exceptional, and joyful education, her leadership is student-centered, supportive of educators, and grounded in collaboration and effective community partnerships. Since starting as superintendent of the Boston Public Schools in July 2019, Dr. Cassellius has already met and collaborated with hundreds of students, educators, parents, and community members to develop the district’s strategic framework to deliver a high-quality education for every BPS student.
Previously Minnesota’s commissioner of education, Cassellius’ work led to comprehensive education reforms that resulted in historic new state funding for schools, the enactment of all-day kindergarten, state-funded preschool for 25,000 children, and the highest high school graduation rates on record for all student groups.
Snehal N. Shah, MD, MPH is a primary care pediatrician at the Boston Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. She is also a senior faculty advisor in the Office of Health Equity and Inclusion, and the associate medical director for Community Integration in the Department of Accountable Care and Clinical Integration. In these roles, she promotes health equity through action on social determinants of health at the family, community, and policy levels. Her current work is focused on identifying social needs among families in the primary care setting and addressing these needs through a community-oriented, integrated medical-social approach.
Prior to coming to BCH, Dr. Shah was director of the Boston Public Health Commission’s research and evaluation office. In this role, she led efforts to monitor health disparities and social determinants of health. Her research focused on health-related vulnerabilities of children and families living in subsidized housing.
Dr. Cassellius and Dr. Shah’s leadership and support has been critical to the housing of more than 1,000 children and parents in the last year through FamilyAid partnerships with Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Public Schools.
Alison King joined NBC 10 Boston and NECN in 1995. As the stations’ Political Reporter
Alison has covered seven presidential races and a wide range of New England political stories, including documentaries on former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.
Prior to joining NBC 10 Boston and NECN, she was a reporter at WFSB-TV in Hartford, Connecticut. She has also worked as an anchor/reporter at News 12 in Norwalk, Connecticut and WECT-TV in Wilmington, North Carolina. Alison worked on programming for ABC Sports during the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary and at ABC’s Good Morning America.
She has earned numerous awards for her work including three Emmys, two Gracies, and several Associated Press Awards.
Serving more than 2,600 residents daily, FamilyAid Boston is the city’s largest service provider solely focused on supporting children and parents facing homelessness.
FamilyAid’s May 11th virtual event, Building Better Futures: The Path Forward for Boston’s Homeless Children will be online, starting at 6:30 p.m. and accessible through free, private registration. To register, visit www.familyaidboston.org/betterfutures.
