Today we’d like to introduce you to Peter Watts.
Peter, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My 201+ years of experience in education in the inner city of Los Angeles (Watts, and South Central) has allowed me as a teacher, founding charter school principal and district administrator and former Regional Vice President for the West Region of Los Angeles Christian School enabled me to experience the broad landscape of education across the country. These experiences were great but it was always one element missing and that being moral and character development of students in an intentional way. There were many ways in which we used “value based” education to talk about integrity, service, accountability, etc… But there was never a time where we could be overtly faith-based in our approach.
It was kind of an oxymoron in that the majority of the families who we worked with had a faith-based background but yet we could never talk about how our faith informs our perspective on life and how we approach education and life in general as citizens in this country. I myself grew up going to public school, but it wasn’t until high school where I received a private school Christian based education at Verbum Dei High School where I flourished in an all-male environment in the city of Watts, California. I also am motivated as a leader of color with a heart for community transformation through various means and approaches with the backing and foundation of the church. As a former church planter and current pastor, I have seen the successful inner workings of vibrant, healthy, and impactful communities when we hold these two things together: the church and education. In 2017 my wife and I Dr. Didi Watts launched our hearts passion The Watts of Power Foundation.
Watts Of Power Foundation aims to open a world of opportunities for youth in foster care as well as those living in low-income households in high poverty zip codes.
Founders and visionaries for the foundation, Peter Watts, Jr and Dr. Didi Watts, have over 40 years of experience in the education sector. Tired and frustrated of seeing minority children and young adults not being able to reach their full potential due to economic and personal struggles, we decided to take matters into our own hands and find the solution for the talented students we saw passing through our classrooms.
Founded in 2017, The Watts Of Power Foundation’s primary focus is to serve African American and Latino families, to strengthen community bonds and to empower people through education, housing, economic development, job training, and advocacy.
The main aim of The Watts Of Power Foundation is to give young people the means to excel, progress and reach their full potential, no matter what challenges stand in their way. Through comprehensive learning experiences that are specially designed to serve the needs of our target students alongside effective site-based instruction, a rich hands-on learning experience, and foundation skills presented in ways that are relevant and inspiring for our students, we strive to motivate our students to remain in our programs and explore their potential for the long term.
We work to support both students and families through tutoring, after-school programs, and school-to-university links, offering opportunities and insights to our students that they wouldn’t have access to without a foundation like ours to grow from and develop on an educational and academic level.
We are changing the narrative for youth in foster care and education, challenging the stigma surrounding the potential that these youth can reach and opening up the doors of opportunity for long term change, restructuring the way youth in foster care and low-income households are viewed through educational resources and continued support.
Watts of Power Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit based in Los Angeles with a vision to change the world.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The obstacles have always surrounded how we were going to fund our project. We wrestled back and forth between doing something public versus private. If we took the public route the access to capital would be much easier because we would do it as charter school operators and we were experienced in that area. If we did private route we would need to raise enough capital to ensure a quality equitable education for the students we wanted to serve. The second challenge was trying to figure out how we could serve African American children and families in particular. This was a challenge because in the public school space having language that is in particular to a specific group makes it nearly impossible because public education is non-discriminatory in that ALL students should get access to quality education. We were caught between a rock in a hard place. We wanted to do something private as to not have a lot of governmental regulations and be faith-based in addition to wanting to serve African American students and families in particular.
Please tell us about The Watts of Power Foundation.
The Watts of Power Foundation sole purpose is to create educational resources for children in the foster care system, first-generation, low income students in high poverty zip codes (and a private boarding experience for high school students). Our goal is to strengthen communities and in particular African American and Latino families in the foster care system. We carry out this mission through a variety of programs and services that are all designed to empower people through education, housing, economic development, job training and advocacy.
The Watts of Power Foundation has identified the following core values, which are reinforced through the Life Skills curriculum, student learning outcomes (SLOs), and all educational activities: P.O.W.E.R.
Partnership
We believe the key to successful educational institutions is its ability to partner with students, parents, communities, and organizations for the purpose of building healthy sustainable economies wherever the school exists. School communities are integrated partnerships with the school site staff, families, students and all other stakeholders. This sense of connection creates a safe place for all learners and stakeholders to affirm individual strengths, celebrate character, provide academic support through mentorship and internship, promote unity and better decision making through the implementation of restorative justice practices. Additionally, community cultivates identity and gives each member a sense of belonging and pride. These partnerships not only bring buy into all the stakeholders involved but it allows for interdependence on the best and brightest a community has to offer. When building sustainable communities we believe as an organization in using research based strategies such as the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) model. This methodology is based on communities strengths and potentials. It involves assessing the resources, skills, and experience available in a community; organizing the community around issues that move its members into action; and then determining and taking appropriate action. This method uses the community’s own assets and resources as the basis for development; it empowers the people of the community by encouraging them to utilize what they already possess.
Ownership
The future leaders of America’s poor communities are likely to be the people living in those communities right now. If Watts of Power vision for community development combines both its faith and its experience. The result is a vision for leadership that works hard to empower the people with the most at stake. Ownership is about empowerment. Empowerment is understanding that you have the ability to make decisions that affect the world around you. These core values bleed throughout the life the organization from parents, students, staff, and educators alike. Students are taught to take ownership of their learning as they progress through the educational process. Teachers take ownership of their teaching and professional development as a way of always becoming the expert in their chosen fields of study. Parents take ownership of their responsibility to be advocates for their children and the community that they live in. This core value of ownership puts the responsibility on everyone involved which prevents shifting blame when something doesn’t go right.
Wisdom
Wisdom guides our thinking, attitude and overall mindset.
Excellence
“Excellence NOT Mediocrity”, the phrase that has been instilled as a core value of not only the Watts of Power but of the very way in which Peter and Didi Watts have lead their lives and the lives of their three college graduate children. Academic Excellence is the desire to pursue knowledge and excellence and to contribute original and provocative ideas in a learning environment, in diverse settings, and as a catalyst to future academic knowledge. We foster academic excellence through project-based learning using a constructivist approach, student portfolios, assessments of and for learning and academic discourse and argumentative writing. Scholars learn where and how to access the needed information to advance their academic pursuits and societal contributions.
Relocation
“The people in the best position to propose and implement meaningful solutions to problems in a community are those who are struggling the most regardless of what those coming from the outside might think.” Relocation suggests moving from one place to another. It is typically understood to mean moving from a safe, comfortable, convenient suburban environment to a struggling, impoverished urban area. Our value of Relocation is challenging those talented gifted resourced men and women who have “made it” in the society to return back to their communities. People who have grown up in a community and then left for a time to get an education, develop skills or perhaps start a career must relocate back to be the change they desire to see. Relocation as a value of the Watts of Power lies with the returners to apply their education and skills for the betterment of their native community.
We offer a comprehensive learning experience designed to serve the needs of our students through effective site-based instruction, rich hands-on learning, and foundation skills presented in ways that are relevant and inspiring for our students. Classroom instruction at The Watts of Power’s programmatic approach is to support students and families through tutoring, after-school programs, and school -to-university links. Another aspect of our educational program is our parent education G.E.D program. Not only will students in our 6-12 learning centers be able to have the opportunity to graduate qualifying for college admissions but their parents will have an opportunity to gain their G.E.D. and begin their post-education as well.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Relationships, Relationships and Relationships. It has been my relationship with God, my relationship in my with my wife for the last 26 years and my relationships in the community that has all played a part in getting me to where we are today. My faith is what ground me in the work that I do. My life verse comes from a scripture text of Luke 4:18 where Jesus talks about empowering the poor through prions reform, economic justice, system oppression and relationship equity. Secondly, my relationship with my wife who has been a strong partner and advocates for young people in her 22+ years in education as a teacher, school psychologist, principal and current V.P. of education for special needs students in Los Angeles.
Our motto of excellence and not mediocrity has been the hallmark of our family. Hence the reason our three children who are all college graduates from USC, Cal State Fullerton and Spelman College are doing and well and pursuing their life’s call as well. Lastly, its been relationship equity in my community that has been built over the years. When you live in the community in which you serve, it means something different to the people who you have come alongside to advocate with. Also, relationships in the political, educational, social and business sector has been part of the way luck has played in our favor as well.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1613 W. 20th St. Los Angeles, CA 90007
- Website: http://www.wattsofpowerfoundation.org
- Phone: 213-361-9211
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: watts_ofpower
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wattsofpowerfoundation
- Twitter: pwatts1906
Image Credit:
25th wedding anniversary photos (2) – Tracy Blackwell
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