Celebrating 5 Years of The Incredible Journey of The Student Voice Campaign
A legacy in the making turns 5 today— the Student Voice Campaign. Five years ago, the Student Voice Campaign transformed the perception and role of students as “essential” stakeholders in local decision-making processes in California’s public schools giving a voice to 4.5 million students. Today Californians for Justice celebrates an incredible historic victory in the…
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Teen Immigrants Bullied Because of Culture, Language, and More
Teen Vogue recently talked to CFJ leaders and other youth activists in California to hear what it’s like to be bullied over your immigration status. Read below to learn more about the struggles of institutionalized bullying, school-to-deportation pipeline and the beauty of reclaiming your voice and identity. BY ANNETTE LIN OCTOBER 30, 2019 For as…
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Reparations, The Crown Act, & Youth Voice: A Summer in The Movement
This Summer our communities of youth activists, experts, and community leaders continued to build towards a more equitable and racially just education system. Students rose to podiums, experts used their platforms to speak about racial justice, and race in education made national headlines. Here are just a few of the highlights from this Summer behind…
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Next Step in Diversity Training: Teachers Learn to Face Their Unconscious Biases
(As published in EdWeek, by Sarah Schwartz on May 14, 2019) Diversity training asks teachers to understand students’ different backgrounds. Implicit-bias training goes further, and asks teachers to look at themselves Teachers—and their implicit biases—can directly impact the opportunities afforded to students of color. Teachers make the first decisions about behavioral consequences that lead to referrals…
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Students and Parents Speak: OUSD strike should be red flag for all school districts in CA
The following piece was originally published as an Open Forum in the San Francisco Chronicle online on March 6, 2019. By Belize Gonden-Cruz and Zaineb Alomari There is a crisis in Oakland Unified School District — educators are leaving our classrooms at an alarming rate. Each year, we lose more than 300 teachers from Oakland schools. At…
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Working to Build Relationships Not Walls in Fresno Unified
Over the last few years student leaders from Californians for Justice have had the privilege of working closely with Fresno Unified Superintendent Bob Nelson and the school board to develop Relationship Centered Schools within the district. This work is a reflection of our school leaders and elected officials recognizing the value of student voice, relationship…
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LeBron James: The Real MVP for Public Schools
Most of us celebrated the Golden State Warriors victories over LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2017 and 2018 NBA championships. We especially reveled in the 2017 win after James’ Cavaliers broke our hearts in 2016. This summer things changed. We are now celebrating LeBron James. Not only because we beat him, again, but because…
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Press Release: Students and Parents Say School Climate is the Heart of Education
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. (November 8, 2017) – Today, dozens of students, parents, grassroots organizations and education leaders from across the state join at the State Board of Education hearing one more time to make clear that school climate is the heart of education. The State Board of Education has yet to make school climate a top…
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