LOUISIANA La. - Many people are aware of the Acadiana Educational Endowment’s support of teachers through its mini-grant program. The AEE is involved in other impressive projects that may not be as well known. Bob Hamm talked with Joseph N. Abraham, M.D., president, about the extensive work of the organization on behalf of quality public education.

Question: When and why was the AEE founded?

Answer: In 1989, when Alfred Lamson and Ray Authement were building the UL Foundation. A group of us asked, “What good does it do to build a great university, when our public schools are struggling to give children a basic education?”

Q: What is the motivation for your work?

A: Our board members love Acadiana, and we love our young people. So many communities try to look successful, and overlook the foundations of success. Community success is a slow, multigenerational effort, and progress is always about education.

Q: All progress is about education?

A: Always. It doesn’t matter what we need, a better citizen, a hardier workforce, a stronger economy, a more powerful military, reduced crime, decreased poverty, a healthier spiritual life. There is only one solution: education.


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