Alliance for Educational Justice 2009 Annual Report

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offered real proposals for solving some of the most

intransigent problems facing our nations’ schools.

Perhaps most importantly, it was clear that they

represented millions of other low-income students of

color – students who bear the burden of our country’s

greatest failings – but who also have the wisdom and

skills to address those challenges and to build the

political will to put real solutions in effect.

In 2009, AEJ took the first steps towards building a

national community of these young leaders. In 2010,

we look forward to supporting them as they take on

even bigger battles. This report is an update from

the different committees helping to develop AEJ's

infrastructure and program work and highlights the

AEJ activities from around the country.

Thank you for helping to make it possible.

Sincerely,

Strategy Team

Alliance for Education Justice

WelcomeDear Friends:

A few short months ago, dozens of high school

students who are leaders in local struggles for

education justice throughout the country met for

the first time in Washington D.C. to talk about how

they could work together to move a national agenda

for education reform. Their primary response to the

meeting was unanimous – why did we wait so long

to do this?

Within days, the students had prepared a panel of

representatives to meet with some of DC’s highest

profile education policymakers, including U.S.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. They came

from vastly different experiences but they spoke with

one voice – highlighting the need for comprehensive

immigration reform and college access for immigrant

students, an end to the school-to-prison pipeline,

and rigorous college and career preparation for all

students.

Unsurprisingly, they were received warmly inside the

beltway. They were well-prepared, insightful, and

January 2009

FORmATiONFormation Committee starts

to meet over the next 4 months

to develop structure, shared

principles, and values.

Movement Strategy Center asked

to help coordinate the alliance in

the development stage.

April 2009

NATiONAL CONvENiNg iN PhiLAdELPhiA, PA19 Groups approve the founding

documents. Strategy Team (10 groups),

is approved as leadership for the alliance,

and committees form for fundraising,

policy, and youth engagement.

Alliance for Educational Justice

is official!

Timeline of Action

Youth Convening“We are unified

by the same struggles. We are all here to

stand up for our beliefs and continue the fight for justice.”

AEJ organized a national convening of member

organizations and youth leaders. We had 80 people (1-2

staff and 2-3 youth from each member organization)

go to Washington, D.C. for an orientation to AEJ,

federal education policies and to begin relationship

building. Before the convening, each member group

held orientations, regional meetings and prep sessions

with their youth and members to get feedback on AEJ

policy work, overall direction and to get a better sense

of the national educational policy landscape. At the

convening, youth facilitated icebreakers, small groups

and planned the panel and all the presentations with

the Department of Education staff.

Dylan from Denver said, “I am extremely grateful

that I have the opportunity to be a part of a national

coalition that will create an educational system which

possesses strong moral values and true equality.

Although all of us in AEJ come from different parts of

the country, we are unified by the same struggles. We

are all here to stand up for our beliefs and continue

the fight for justice."

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January 2010

dEvELOPmENTYouth Strategy Team

and Delegate structure

adopted.

Summer 2009

REgiONALsRegional meetings happen in

Denver, Wichita, Los Angeles,

Oakland and the Northeast

(New York, Philly, Boston,

Baltimore, and Washington,

D.C.).

Groups start to meet each

other, learn about national

power players and give input

in AEJ policy platform.

September 2009

NATiONAL YOUTh CONvENiNg iN WAshiNgTON, d.C.All groups bring 2 youth members and adopt

national policy platform.

AEJ has a meeting with the Department of

Education senior staff and has lobby visits

with 20 legislative offices.

D.C. Lobby VisitsMembers and youth then went to see their

representatives and senators from their districts and

introduced AEJ to the education staff. We had over 20

lobby visits and office drop-ins. We are now assessing

how we will use the contacts and preparing our

campaign strategy.

Committee ReportssTRATEgY TEAmThe ST provides the overall leadership for the

organization. They meet every few weeks and make

the decisions about what projects AEJ should work

on, when to have convenings, who to work in alliance

with and oversee the budget and staff. This year the

team was really busy putting together all the founding

documents for AEJ: structure, political principles,

membership, and general guiding agreements.

They successfully fundraised for staff and 2 national

convenings. Each Strategy Team member is on a

committee (or two), and have helped to move the

work of AEJ at warp speed! In January, the Strategy

Team met in Chicago for their annual retreat to

evaluate the past year, create a communications and

media strategy, and finalize the workplan for the next

year.

sTRUCTUREThe structure committee has been hard at work this

first year to give AEJ a foundation in its formation. The

committee developed the proposals for membership,

Strategy Team, Allies and Anchors/Coordinators.

We looked at other national networks and modeled

our structure based on successful examples. We are

currently working on finalizing MOU’s or formal

agreements between the member organizations and

AEJ and will prepare AEJ for its next stage of growth

to involve our parent allies.

FUNdRAisiNgWe had a strong first year in fundraising. The

committee had a successful trip to New York to

introduce AEJ and are working on several prospective

leads for next year.

Thanks to the following foundations for their

support:

surdna seasons Fund

ms Foundation hazen

CPER Ford

Atlantic Philanthropies

YOUTh ENgAgEmENTWe started the year off at the Youth convening

committee and helped to prepare for the regional AEJ

meetings and national youth convening that happened

in Washington, D.C. There are youth representatives

from AEJ member organizations that help to discuss

and prepare for AEJ activities. We realized there was

a need for a committee to think more about youth

involvement and development so we expanded the

committee to be about Youth Engagement.

The committee will help to prepare the Youth Justice

Corp project, regional meetings and is a place to discuss

youth involvement in all things AEJ. An important

proposal that was developed from the committee was

the creation of the Youth Strategy Team. AEJ is led by a

Strategy Team of 9 members organizations’ Executive

Directors and Lead Organizers, who meet monthly and

who set the direction for the organization. We have

now established that each Strategy Team member

organization will also bring one youth leader into the

process and we will have a Youth Strategy Team that

will work alongside our (adult) Strategy Team.

The YST will have their first meeting at the upcoming

Strategy Team retreat in Chicago January 2010. Look

out for more on the YST and YJC!

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POLiCYIn 2009, the AEJ Policy Committee has been busy

developing policy proposals to help promote

educational justice at the federal level, researching

power players in the new federal administration,

and setting the stage to launch a national campaign

in 2010. This past June, at the first national AEJ

convening in Philadelphia, members of the Policy

Committee facilitated a process to develop a broad

policy vision that aligned with the visions and values

of all AEJ member organizations. The overarching

tagline for the AEJ policy platform is “Transforming

the 21st Century: Preparation for College, Careers,

and Community Participation.”

The Policy Committee developed an input session

to get feedback from student leaders and staff of

AEJ organizations across the nation. Based on this

feedback, AEJ member organizations approved a

broad federal policy platform at the national youth

convening in D.C. this past September that includes:

(1) access to higher education, financial aid, and

documentation for all students regardless of status;

(2) meaningful college and career preparation for all

students; (3) an end to tracking; and (4) an end to the

school-to-prison pipeline by supporting restorative

justice and alternatives to punitive discipline.

The Policy Committee is currently working with

member organizations to launch a national campaign

in early 2010 to influence the reauthorization of

the federal Elementary and Secondary Education

Act, currently known as No Child Left Behind, and

ensure that key elements of AEJ’s educational justice

framework are included in the new legislation.

Policy Points2010 Priority Federal Policy areas for AEJ

dREAm ACT / COmPREhENsivE 1. immigRATiON REFORmFull access to higher education, financial

aid, and a pathway to documentation for

undocumented students

COLLEgE ANd CAREER PREP FOR 2. ALLMore federal funding to prepare students for

college and careers

ENd TRACkiNg3. Academically rigorous and challenging courses

and real-world apprenticeships to prepare

students for meaningful, living-wage careers

and college

ENd ThE sChOOL-TO-PRisON 4. PiPELiNEAlternatives to zero tolerance, suspension, and

expulsion and the expansion restorative justice

programs that address the emotional, social,

and disciplinary needs of students

Youth Panelists included: Eric Yates, Philadelphia

Student Union; Fabia, Desis Rising Up and Moving, New

York; Maria Paula Degillo, Albany Park Neighborhood

Council, Chicago; Geneva L. Tucker, Sunflower

Community Action, Wichita; Dylan Torres, Jovenes

Unidos, Denver; Karla Elis Mota-Rojas, Youth United

for Change, Philadelphia; Jaritza Geigel, Make the Road,

New York; and Joseph Toledo, Youth United for Change,

Philadelphia.

We had four senior Department of Education staff

attend: Russlyn Ali, Peter Cunningham, Peter Groff

and Carmel Martin. They agreed to work with AEJ and

keep communications open with us.

Department of Education PanelAt the end of the 3 day convening, the AEJ youth

facilitated and presented on a panel with Department

of Education senior staff to talk about the most

pressing issues facing youth today and to present

their concerns to the Dept. of Education.

Maria explained to the panel that “I am a former

Chicago Public High School student here to speak

about the need for social and emotional learning

and social and emotional support in our high schools

nation wide. I dropped out of high school because an

uncaring system pushed me out. Instead of trying to

encourage me to stay in school, the school staff told

me to drop out.”

"I am a former Chicago Public High School student here to speak about the need for social and emotional learning,

and social and emotional support in our high schools nation wide."

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Preparing for National Policy WorkAEJ co-hosted a series of regional meetings

(with the Advancement Project and the Forum

for Education and Democracy) to prepare and

strategize for the re-authorization of ESEA / No

Child Left Behind. We are helping to organize 10-15

regional meetings across the country to see what

people are doing around re-authorization and

see if there is some common goals we can work

around. The meetings have had youth, community

organizers, legal advocates, policy analysts and

researchers who are all concerned with education

issues come together to share their thoughts.

It has been a great learning experience and has

been a way for organizations to meet AEJ. By

end of February 2010, we will have had meetings

in Denver, Philadelphia, Oakland, Los Angeles,

Chicago, New York, Boston, Washington, D.C.,

Jackson, and North Carolina. We will work with

AP to produce a report to share our findings.

HistoryAEJ groups first came together as an alliance in late 2008.

For many years before, there had been discussions about

creating a national educational justice network focused

on youth and parent organizing groups but nothing was

created. In the beginning of 2009, a small working group laid

the groundwork for strategic joint action and articulated a

long-term vision and infrastructure for our work together.

The groups participating in this alliance share an exciting

alternative to the private market agenda for education.

They represent a proven approach in the local communities

in which they work, but one that has been marginalized

in the mainstream education reform debates. This group

of organizations is united by the common frameworks

of human and civil rights, racial justice and equality and

equity. Their work is broader than education reform; it is

also about movement building.

Who Are We?AEJ is a multiracial and multigenerational network led by and directly accountable to our affected stakeholders –

young people in public schools and their parents, families, and communities. The emerging alliance is comprised

of general members and a strategy team that is leading the planning and organizational development process.

These groups combined have decades of collective experience engaging young people, parents, as well as local and

statewide educational change efforts.

Albany Park Neighborhood Council (Chicago, IL)

Baltimore Algebra Project (Baltimore, MD)

Boston Youth Organizing Project (Boston, MA)

Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (Chicago, IL)

Californians for Justice (California)

Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth (San Francisco, CA)

Community Coalition (Los Angeles, CA)

Desis Rising Up and Moving (New York City, New York)

Future of Tomorrow (Brooklyn, New York)

InnerCity Struggle (Los Angeles, CA)

Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (Chicago, IL)

Make the Road, New York (New York City, NY)

Mothers on the Move (Bronx, New York)

Padres y Jovenes Unidos (Denver, CO)

Philadelphia Student Union (Philadelphia, PA)

Sistas & Brothas United (New York)

Sunflower Community Action (Wichita, KS)

Youth Together (Oakland, CA)

Youth United for Change (Philadelphia, PA)

Youth Education Alliance (Washington, D.C.)

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Strategy Team Membersspecial thanks to the founding strategy Team. They

have put countless hours into developing the alliance

and their leadership has had a significant impact on

the building this movement for educational justice.

Albany Park Neighborhood Council - Jenny Arwade

Californians for Justice - Jeremy Lahoud

Community Coalition - Alberto Retana (now with

Dept. of Education)

Kenwood Oakland Community Organization -

Jhaytan Travis

Make the Road, New York - Oona Chatterjee

Padres y Jovenes Unidos - Pam Martinez

Philadelphia Student Union - Nijmie Dzurinko

Sistas and Brothas United / NWBCCC - Mustafa

Sullivan and Laura Vasquez

Youth Education Alliance - Jonathan Stith

Youth United for Change - Andi Perez

And welcome to our new Youth Strategy Team that

started January 2010!

Albany Park Neighborhood Council - Sandra Rector

Californians for Justice - Askari Gonzalez

Kenwood Oakland Community Organization

- Brandi Wilson

Make the Road, New York - Jaritza Geigel

Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition

- Miguel Rodriguez

Padres Unidos - Leidy Robledo

Philadelphia Student Union - Eric Yates

Youth Education Alliance - Ayanna Sutton

Youth United for Change - Ashley Jones

AlliAnCE For EduCATionAl JuSTiCEa project of Movement Strategy Center

1611 Telegraph Avenue #510 | Oakland | CA | 94612AllianceForEducationalJustice.org

ConnectAEJ is planning to kick off its first campaign around

re-authorization of the Elementary and secondary

school Act (EsEA) this year.

You can join us by signing off on our platform as a

supporter and joining regional actions in your area.

Check our website for more details:

ALL I A NCEFOREDUC AT ION AL JUS T ICE .org

AEJ is about building a movement.We believe in building inter-generational and multi-issue coalitions that bring us together as a nation to develop

strategic campaigns that improve our education system through the lens of race, poverty, gender and immigration

status. AEJ is the only national network that is developing youth to lead the effort in a national fight for educational

justice and are beginning to focus on bringing the critical voices of parents into the leadership of our work.

WhAT is EdUCATiONAL JUsTiCE?Alliance for Educational Justice is united by the principles of racial and economic justice, human and civil rights,

and equity and fair resources for ALL youth. Educational justice means fair and equitable resources for schools, a

quality public education for all as an essential element in our democracy, and addressing income, race and gender

inequities in our society that play out in our public school system.

AEJ is working on issues that include college access for all, fighting for the rights of undocumented students,

demanding youth voices in school governance, presenting alternatives to punitive school discipline and preventing

the criminalization of young people. Groups in the alliance share the goals of changing how high schools operate,

creating more meaningful relationships between students and teachers, and developing opportunities for youth and

parents to effectively assert their voices in education policy debates and decisions.

WhAT dO WE WANT?The Alliance for Educational Justice envisions a 21st Century Education System that prepares all young people for

college, fulfilling careers, and community leadership. Students will be prepared to be critical thinkers and citizens

(documented and undocumented) positioned to participate in and transform their lives, their work, and our

democracy. Instead of a system that prepares some for college and careers and others for prison and low-wage

labor, the 21st Century Education System we imagine creates a path for all toward an equitable and bright 21st

Century America.

Alliance for Educational Justice 2009 Annual Report

Documents

Transcript of Alliance for Educational Justice 2009 Annual Report