When Eric Motley began his keynote address at the recent Brighter Minds conference talking about a Montgomery community founded by slaves after the Civil War, the audience must have wondered what this had to do with the educational theme of the conference. That community was Madison Park, the place where Motley grew up and got his first taste of support from others.

It was in connecting Madison Park with his own story where Motley’s mosaic came into view. Those roots took him to Samford University, a key role in the White House and now executive director of national programs and vice president at the influential Aspen Institute.

Brighter Minds: Dr. Eric Motley from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

While Motley’s extensive accomplishments are due to his own hard work and desire to learn, he is quick to recognize those who went out of their way to believe in him, assist him and were devoted to helping him succeed. He desires the same for all youths in Alabama.

“If a whole community could embrace me, and teachers and high school and university could support me and I could pursue my dreams and aspirations as a citizen as I have – confidently and proudly – then the role that all of us have in encouraging others, and making sure those opportunities are not lost on poor kids in our communities, is of foremost importance and should be at the forefront of our minds and our work every day,” Motley said in an interview.

For Motley, it began when his aunt became upset with a report from school that put Motley in the “turtles” group instead of the “rabbits” group of readers. She went out of her way to create a library in Motley’s Madison Park home to elevate his reading level. It led to a lifetime of loving to read and learn.

The capacity to learn caught the attention of others who saw to it that he got an education at Samford and sent him to the University of St. Andrews in Scotland as a Rotary International Ambassador to further his education. He would go to work for President George W. Bush as the special assistant for presidential personnel and he now helps solve big problems from across the country and around the world at Aspen Institute.

Years later, Motley visited his elderly aunt at Madison Park. Even though she had a diminished capacity to understand what was happening around her, she recognized him and what he had accomplished. In her last days, she would spontaneously yell out, “Where is Eric Motley? Is he a rabbit?”

Motley said it’s just as important to be a helper as it is to be helped. It’s a system that can forge change as everyone plays an active role.

“Everyone has the capacity, given their platform, to help move the conversation forward regarding education in the state of Alabama – pre-school, K through 12, higher education,” Motley said. “We all represent industries and communities that realize the importance of getting it right and we have to continue to work together and not tire.”

Motley said in the interview that people know the questions that must be answered in Alabama to make such changes happen.

“What I hoped to engage people in was a conversation about how can we do that collectively,” he said. “How can we reach the unreachable and teach the unteachable and embrace the rejected and be patient with those who are late bloomers? How do we create an environment where people want to work together to try to find some common ground on the most critical issues that we face in this state, especially education? And how do we connect where we want to be – where we should be –with where we are now by investing in education?”

Although he now views his home state from afar in Colorado, Motley said he is optimistic about Alabama’s future and feels drawn to do more.

“The people I’ve met and I’ve been interacting with at Alabama Power and a number of other people who are leading universities and who are part of academic institutions here in town have given me enormous hope,” he said. “There are disappointments, for sure. There are concerns, for sure. But I know good people who have returned here, good people who’ve never left here, good people who are still engaged in the work, and that gives me enormous confidence. So much so that it’s tempted me to realize my capacity and my responsibility, perhaps, of coming back to Alabama.”