The members and leaders at DRUM are directly affected by detention, deportation, racial profiling, surveillance, and immigration enforcement. The affected members of these disparaging situations include students in public schools and their families. Therefore, DRUM knows that many individuals are targeted by policies that racially and religiously profile them as immigrants, Muslims, low-wage workers, and youth. The same struggles drive these immigrant communities, and as such, they have successfully banded together, forming grassroots like DRUM. The strategy used by DRUM to organize is listed out in their about us section as:
- Base building- Daily outreach in schools, workplaces, communities
- Leadership Development-Monthly workshops, training, and Leadership Institutes to build our members’ skills in policy change campaigns and social justice issues.
- Policy Campaigns- Running short and long-term campaigns to reform policies at the city, state, federal, and international levels on issues ranging from immigration, civil rights, education, and labor rights.
- Alliance Building- Forging collaborations with diverse communities and sectors to build strong social justice movements for change.
- Institution Building- Building democratic and mass participatory spaces for people otherwise marginalized from shaping public policy.
With regards to the educational inequities facing ELL students in their own home, NYC, DRUM has advocated for them through collaboration. They have partnered with other partner grassroots and nonprofit organizations to propose Ten Actions for ELLS coordinated by the New York Immigration Coalition. Through this collaboration, DRUM advocates for NYC ELL students whose population has grown considerably and has yet to meet their needs fully. Within their Education Collaborative, 10 actions to help create ELL students and families’ opportunities are outlined and directed towards Mayor de Blasio’s administration. To briefly mention a few of their recommended actions, we start with a call for more resources required to help ELLs meet more rigorous Common Core Learning Standards and boost ELL graduation rates, such as improving teachers’ capacity to teach ELL students better and accommodate them.
The aforementioned proposal has not been fully implemented or acted upon by Mayor de Blasio, and we have seen no significant improvements to graduation or proficiency rates during his term. Additionally, our current pandemic situation has only amplified and highlighted the educational inequities present nationwide. ELL students are only overlooked further with lockdowns occurring in the NYC public schools. This disproportionately affects immigrant communities, especially with most of them lacking the necessary tools or proper guidance to transition to remote learning. Yet DRUM has still advocated for their ELL students, pushing awareness for these students throughout the years and responding to the pandemic for them. They are seeking opportunities and resources to help their immigrant community better, as they have done before.
After all, there’s a wealth of resources provided to all organizers and members of DRUM. Through the years, this grassroots organization has accumulated a plentiful list of benefits for their community, including pro-bono legal representation, referrals for public services, and vouchers for free English classes, to name a few.