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Dr. Steve Perry  

K-12 & Higher Education Strategist; CNN Education Contributor; Head of School & Founder of Capital Prepatory School

Dr. Steve Perry is an educator, bestselling author, and Founder and Head of Schools, at Capital Preparatory Schools.

Using his powerful voice, fighting for disadvantaged children and families for thirty years, Dr. Perry is widely respected by grassroots community members and internationally renowned leaders as an educator, social worker and public speaker, his charismatic and compelling voice is an inspiration.

He is the educator Oprah Winfrey, Bishop TD Jakes and Steve Harvey call on to offer insight to parents and children. A diverse array of politicians and groups, from the Urban League to ALEC, have reached out to Dr. Perry to better understand what matters to parents. His skills are hard-fought and have been bestowed from his rough childhood all the way up through his graduation from an Ivy League school. During his difficult childhood, born into his family’s third generation of poverty on his mother’s 16th birthday, Dr. Perry believes that the success of a life is determined by where you end, not where you start. It is this philosophy that inspired him to transform the lives of poor and minority children by providing them with access to a college education. There's a richness in his concepts that foster an intriguing point of view on the modern American family.

Dr. Perry's unique and powerful voice is respected and has been featured on MSNBC, Fox, CNN, Al Jazeera, TV One, BET, and NBC as well as on the Oprah Winfrey network in multiple shows. His courage and piercing insights provide a fascinating perspective that is not often found in public discourse. Too often race, class, gender, and political affiliations mute others' voices. Dr. Steve Perry fearlessly speaks from the heart, which births unpredictability. On January 7, 2019, his daytime talk show "Breakthrough With Dr. Steve Perry" premiered on Fox.

In 2019, Dr. Perry opened his fourth school in Harlem; in 2020, his fifth school campus opened in the Bronx, NY. His impact is profound and varied and shows no signs of slowing down.

Speech Topics

Personal Responsibility

Dr. Steve Perry is a strong advocate of personal responsibility in all aspects of life. As a motivational speaker he emphasizes the social issues in the community with messages that aim at building up both the individual and the community so that our children can be better contributing members of society. His calls to action, personal responsibility and solutions. Man up Nobody is Coming to Save Us. Dr. Perry reaches heart of his audience to motivate change in themselves and their community. Among social issues Dr. Perry focuses on is the role of family and how it contributes to society, including the strengthening of each member. His experience as a social worker, principal and parent equips him to deal with the individual dynamics. And he proposes that positive solutions in strengthening the family will ultimately make for building a better, stronger community.

Education in America

Dr. Steve Perry founder and principal of Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut, where 100% of his graduating seniors and go on to 4-year colleges and universities; U.S. News and World Report has cited his school as one of the top high schools in the country. Featured in CNN's Black in America series, Dr. Perry is one of the most talked about and innovative young educators on the scene today. He has also authored four books. His latest book "Raggedy Schools" The Untold Truth focus on the state of urban education in America, he offers the why's, what’s and finally the how solutions for closing the achievement gap. His theories are exemplified in his own school. Parents must have school choice and vouchers. A good teacher at the front of every classroom should be the number-one priority in public education. But the outdated employment practice called “teacher tenure” lets union leaders keep incompetent, troubled, and burnt-out teachers in the system, while keeping out people who are actually committed to educating children.

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