By Miranda Bonifield
Virginia Walden Ford is a mom whose extraordinary sacrifice and determination changed not just her own child’s life, but the lives of thousands of American students. Her story is now the subject of the new movie Miss Virginia, starring Orange Is the New Black’s Uzo Aduba.
Virginia’s experience as a black student integrating Little Rock high schools in the 1960s gave her a strong personal understanding of how important education is to a child’s success. When, years later, her own son William began slipping through the cracks of a Washington, D.C. public school where his teacher didn’t even know his name, she fought for a better option. Virginia’s answer came in the form of a scholarship and a second job working nights. William went from skipping school to being a joyful, enthusiastic student known by friends and teachers. Virginia believed every child should have that chance.
Virginia Walden Ford’s persistent work on behalf of low-income students in Washington, D.C. led to the creation of the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which gives thousands of low-income kids the chance to attend a private school. Virginia says, “We knew that if we raised our voices, we could win for our children. We did. And now our kids are winning as a result.”
You can watch Miss Virginia on Amazon Video, Google Play, and in select theaters around the country.
Miranda Bonifield is a Research Associate at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market public policy research organization. She is also the Program Assistant for the Children’s Scholarship Fund-Oregon program, which helps lower-income Oregon children attend private and parochial elementary schools through partial-tuition scholarships.
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