SchoolHouse: Equity in Education

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This week:  CJSF’s Allison R. Brown speaks with Karyn Parsons who played wealthy Hilary on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Karyn and Allison talk about Karyn's latest project, Sweet Blackberry, and her passion to share with the world the wealth that is Black history.

About the SchoolHouse: Equity in Education podcast:

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.

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 Sweet Blackberry and Karyn Parsons:

Our mission at Sweet Blackberry is to bring little known stories of African American achievement to children everywhere.

These triumphant stories of individuals surmounting the odds and making invaluable contributions to our society are inspirational and empowering, but our schools often lack the time and resources to teach our children more than a handful of stories of African Americans in history. These stories illustrate for our children the concept that tremendous obstacles are actually opportunities for greatness! Children of all races and ethnicities feel a sense of shared history when they learn about the real people whose lives and work impact their everyday lives.

Sweet Blackberry was founded by actor/writer, Karyn Parsons (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air). As a new mom, Parsons was motivated by a strong desire to instill a sense of culture and heritage to her daughter. Inspired by her own mother and upbringing, Parsons created Sweet Blackberry—delivering to all children, stories that need to be told and heard. For more info: http://www.sweetblackberry.org/