Getting involved is first step to improving education

GROWING TREND: Linn Foster Freedman says she expects to see a growth in women business leaders and executives in the next five to 10 years. / COURTESY NIXON PEABODY
GROWING TREND: Linn Foster Freedman says she expects to see a growth in women business leaders and executives in the next five to 10 years. / COURTESY NIXON PEABODY

There’s busy, and then there’s Linn Foster Freedman’s schedule.
Freedman, a Nixon Peabody lawyer, divides her time between the firm’s Boston and Providence offices. She is president of the Foundation for Rhode Island Day Schools and serves on the boards of Roger Williams University Law School and the Rhode Island Business Group on Health, as well as serving on the advisory board of the Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology.
This is, of course, in addition to her day job and the several professional associations to which she belongs. She recently added to that roster a position on the advisory board for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship [NFTE] New England, the regional arm of a national, New York City-based organization that works to provide programs that keep students from communities with low-income levels in school through entrepreneurship opportunities that teach how to turn “street smarts” into “business smarts.”

PBN: Your career is in law but much of your outreach work is dedicated to education. Can you explain your commitment to the latter?
FREEDMAN: I feel very strongly that education and access to education increase opportunities both from a financial and a security point of view. I care very much about making sure that there’s appropriate access for everybody to the highest level of education that they are able to achieve.

PBN: What drew you to become involved with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship [NFTE]?
FREEDMAN: Why I’ve committed is because regular school doesn’t appeal to many students. Many students don’t see the relevance of history and literature in what they want to do and what they’re [passionate] about. I don’t think we have the best avenues for kids who don’t find the traditional school day to be relevant to what their passion is. NFTE, I think, fills that gap in so many ways because they’re providing opportunities and real-life experiences and requirements. I am committed because it is a relevant education for kids who are going to drop out of school because they find it boring.

PBN: NFTE has a program with the Met school. Are you interested in helping the organization expand in Rhode Island?
FREEDMAN: One of the things specifically that I hope to bring to the organization is the ability to enhance the program here in Rhode Island. … Obviously you need to focus on different things but one of the things I will do … is to definitely try to expand and develop these programs more in Rhode Island and with more schools.

PBN: What is the largest hurdle in really reaching a struggling student, to engage him in learning?
FREEDMAN: A lot of kids hate school. They’re not wired for it. I think part of it is when you’re in a middle- or higher-income community, you have parents and others making you go to school and you don’t have a choice. I don’t know that that [always] cuts across racial or income lines. There are a lot of upper- and middle-income kids who are dropping out, too. I think that with low-income students, they don’t see the relevance of education as being their ticket out and in many ways it’s not. The thing that’s cool about NFTE and why I am so committed is that it’s finding opportunities that will further kids’ education and ensure that they don’t drop out of school, giving them the support so that they don’t and giving them hope.

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PBN: How important do you feel it is to build partnerships between businesses and students? FREEDMAN: I think it’s incredibly important because it goes back to the whole issue of making opportunities into reality for these kids but also making it relevant to kids so they understand the path to success and that the path doesn’t necessarily mean getting your GED. It might mean that, but there needs to be other opportunities and openings so kids understand. The more you expose kids to what the opportunities are, the more excited they get, the more hopeful they get, and the more they understand it can become a reality and they’ll stay in school. So businesses need to help and show the successes and what the different options are.

PBN: A good portion of your professional work is dedicated to health care. Why is working with businesses to become advocates for themselves in this area important?
FREEDMAN: When I was at the AG’s office, we were talking about businesses and the business voice in health care and many years ago there was no voice. All these businesses kept getting increases in their premiums and they didn’t know how to deal with or handle it or enter the conversation. That was the commencement of the [Rhode Island Business Group on Health].

PBN: Are women business leaders doing enough to help promote each other and build a strong succession?
FREEDMAN: I think we’re still working at it. I think we’ve been behind the eight ball, particularly in science and technology. I think it’s changing. We’re getting more leaders and executives in that space and I think you’ll see a trajectory there in the next five to 10 years. We’re getting younger and younger girls interested. •INTERVIEW
Linn Foster Freedman
Position: Lawyer, leader of the privacy and data protection group and chair of the HIPAA compliance group and the health-information technology team at Nixon Peabody, LLP at the law firm’s Boston and Providence offices
Background: Freedman joined Nixon Peabody in 2003 and serves as general counsel of the Rhode Island Quality Institute. Previously, Freedman was deputy chief of the civil division for the Department of the Attorney General in Rhode Island.
Education: Bachelor of arts in American studies, Newcomb College of Tulane University, 1983; J.D., Loyola University College of Law, 1986
First Job: Babysitting for a family with four children and teaching them how to water ski and sail
Residence: Portsmouth
Age: 52

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