{"id":189,"date":"2018-05-01T22:59:26","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T02:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-lharring\/?page_id=189"},"modified":"2018-05-18T16:18:14","modified_gmt":"2018-05-18T20:18:14","slug":"grassroots-organizations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-lharring\/grassroots-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"Grassroots Organizing Efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who’s involved?<\/h2>\n
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Image 1. Chicago public school students boycott first day of classes September 2, 2008 to protest school funding inequities.<\/p><\/div>\n

Many local leaders, community members, students, and families make up the diverse groups of people working with grassroots organizations in Chicago, Illinois to combat the racial achievement gap and advocate for education equality for all students, regardless of race.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grassroots organizations exist in many other areas around the United States, fighting the same fight and working against the racial achievement gap, and all of the different intersecting issues that manifest in each and every community. This website explores the efforts of such organizations in Chicago, New York City, Denver, Philadelphia, and Jackson, Mississippi. <\/span><\/p>\n

What are they doing?<\/h2>\n

The racial achievement gap is not an issue that can be fought head on, as it manifests in multiple areas of student achievement. Because of this, many grassroots organizations in the city of Chicago have organized around specific issues in which the racial achievement gap is prevalent in African American achievement in comparison to their white peers, including, but not limited to, graduation rates, the school-to-prison pipeline, and college opportunities. Such organizations include:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  • Communities United: <\/span>Organizes for improving the quality of public education, particularly for low-income students, with an emphasis on increasing high school graduation rates, college readiness, and college enrollment rates.<\/span><\/b><\/li>\n
  • Logan Square Neighborhood Association:<\/strong> Organizes with the intent to lower high school dropout rates, foster youth leadership, and encourage parent engagement in school communities. <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Teachers for Social Justice:<\/strong> Composed of educators advocating for social justice in the classroom, the group is committed to creating curriculum and school-based projects and engaging in activist work to give teachers a voice. <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Blocks Together:<\/strong> Organizes around social justice issues relating to education, housing, economic justice, and the criminalization of youth.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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    Image 2. Members of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association.<\/p><\/div>\n

    The efforts of the grassroots organizations across the United States that I will explore below organize around issues reminiscent of those which Chicago grassroots organizations focus on. Similar threads can be found in the way in which many of the organizations listed below advocate for better school funding and the ending of the school-to-prison pipeline. Such organizations include: <\/span><\/p>\n