SchoolHouse: Equity in Education

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SchoolHouse is a podcast created by the Communities for Just Schools Fund and hosted by Allison R. Brown. SchoolHouse shares stories about how young people, their families and communities, and other advocates and activists are working in and around schools to make them healthy, safe, and equitable places for children to be. In SchoolHouse, we will learn together about the global implications of local movements for change in our schools.

This Week: CJSF’s Allison R. Brown interviews Adam Levner, Founder and Executive Director of Critical Exposure, and Breianna, a student member, about Critical Exposure’s use of the arts to organize, advocate, and create long-lasting change.

About CJSF:
The Communities for Just Schools Fund (CJSF) is a nationally-focused donor collaborative. CJSF provides resources in support of community-led organizations that are working to ensure positive and supportive school climates that affirm and foster the success of all students. CJSF’s community partners organize young people, parents and caregivers, educators, and other community members to advocate on behalf of students who are disproportionately impacted by the over-use of exclusionary school discipline practices, including suspensions, expulsions, and arrests in schools. They organize community members to stand up for positive, healthy, and supportive school climates that produce better academic and social outcomes for the students who enroll than school climates with a heavy police presence, zero tolerance school discipline policies, and over-reliance on exclusionary discipline methods. CJSF’s community partners educate students, parents and caregivers, school officials and teachers, police departments, and community leaders on highly beneficial alternatives to suspension, expulsion, and school-based arrests. For more information, email us at info@cjsfund.org and sign up for our newsletter at www.cjsfund.org.

About Critical Exposure:
Students gain skills in documentary photography, leadership and advocacy. They learn to think critically about their schools and communities and document issues that affect their lives. They then use these images to launch a campaign to address one of those issues collectively. Photos are shared with the public through traveling exhibits in galleries, libraries and other public spaces, and shown directly to public officials and decision-makers. Since our founding in 2004, students have helped secure over $500 million in additional education funds and made crucial improvements in their schools. Changes include: building a new school library, adding new, relevant classes to their high schools, improving the security processes as students enter school, and winning funding for a community garden. For more information contact: http://www.criticalexposure.org/.