American Rescue Plan: Organizing for Equity | Schott Foundation for Public Education

American Rescue Plan: Organizing for Equity | Schott Foundation for Public Education

American Rescue Plan: Organizing for Equity 

The scale of the broad federal funding in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) presents an opportunity for transformative change – but only if funds are invested to address systemic racism and advance equity. This requires sustained organizing to ensure accountability and community participation to direct investments – and ongoing, transparent structures to incorporate community input.

This page offers resources to support that organizing, some Schott has developed, and many more gathered from partners. It’s information to understand components of ARP, and to provide insights into how communities across the country are mobilizing.

We encourage you to add to this collaborative hub—email materials and links to communications@schottfoundation.org .

How much money will go to my state and district?

Over the past year, Congress has allocated billions to states and districts in three major acts: June 2020’s CARES Act, December 2020’s CRRSA, and March 2021’s American Rescue Plan (ARP). While those bills funded many things, the education portion of those bills are considered “ESSER” funds. So CARES education money is “ESSER I”, CRRSA’s is “ESSER II”, and ARP’s is “ESSER III”. CONTINUE READING: American Rescue Plan: Organizing for Equity | Schott Foundation for Public Education

More than Schools: J4J Launches New Quality of Life Agenda with Virtual Rally | Schott Foundation for Public Education

More than Schools: J4J Launches New Quality of Life Agenda with Virtual Rally | Schott Foundation for Public Education

More than Schools: J4J Launches New Quality of Life Agenda with Virtual Rally

The Journey for Justice Alliance (J4J) just launched a new Quality of Life Agenda initiative, as part of its Equity or Else campaign. Here's what makes it so important.

J4J, a coalition of organizations across more than 30 cities, has its roots in education justice, but in recent years has begun to articulate a vision that encompasses not just the classroom and schoolhouse, but the entire social community our children and parents live within. This is a framework echoed in Schott's Loving Cities Index, which examines community-wide factors that impact student opportunity and achievement. This initiative could be a pivotal for the education justice movement in a moment when federal resources are available to kickstart such an ambitious agenda.

J4J, along with the Center for Popular Democracy, National Alliance Against Racist and Police Repression, Network for Public Education, Alliance for Education Justice, Black Lives Matter at School Week and community-based organizations, labor unions, parents and students across the country held this virtual rally to help organize and mobilize their cities.

As J4J National Organizer Ronsha Dickerson put it, "Today we are building our quality of life platform that will give space and representation to BIPOC communities across the country. Today we show our resilience as people that call for justice to CONTINUE READING: More than Schools: J4J Launches New Quality of Life Agenda with Virtual Rally | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Billions are at stake. Community voice is critical. | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Billions are at stake. Community voice is critical. | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Billions are at stake. Community voice is critical

The next few months are pivotal in determining whether the billions of dollars in the federal recovery funds move us toward education justice, or increase race, gender, and class inequities.

The future of millions of children is at stake. If parents, students, and educators don’t organize to determine where these billions go, someone else will. It’s up to communities to raise their voices; it’s up to philanthropy to speak out, to use their influence as well as their grant dollars—their cash and connections—to support grassroots organizing in this historic moment.

States must submit plans by June 7th to the federal government on how they’ll spend the $123 billion earmarked for education in American Rescue Plan (ARP), and each school district must submit their own plans to their state. States and districts are required to show robust stakeholder engagement from students, educators and community groups in those plans.

Boston model: ensure meaningful community voice at the table

Boston Public Schools announced a new commission to determine how to invest the nearly $400 million the district is expected to receive over the next three years. The commission features stakeholders from every sector of the city. Schott President Dr. John H. Jackson, who is a commission member, said, “We applaud the superintendent for creating a commission made up of diverse partners from the community including Boston Student Advisory Committee, Boston Education Justice Alliance and the Lawyers Committee — as well as educators, school leaders and philanthropic partners. We strongly encourage other cities to do the same and urge our philanthropic partners to engage in the process.”

Not all districts are yet taking Boston’s approach. As any observer of education policy will tell you, it’s one thing for a law to mandate community input, and it’s another thing for that input to be meaningful, substantive, and powerful enough to make a serious impact. Given the Rescue Plan’s short timeline, it will be tempting for some policymakers to ignore voices for equity and justice. With the transformative potential of these funds on the line, that’s something we must not allow.

Support organizers in elevating input for allocation decisions

Last week Schott convened our Opportunity to Learn Network, including policy experts and veteran education justice CONTINUE READING: Billions are at stake. Community voice is critical. | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Schott Foundation Announces Diana Tate Vermeire as SVP of Strategy | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Schott Foundation Announces Diana Tate Vermeire as SVP of Strategy | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Schott Foundation Announces Diana Tate Vermeire as SVP of Strategy

The Schott Foundation for Public Education is pleased to announce that Diana Tate Vermeire is joining Schott as Senior Vice President of Strategy. In this position, Diana will help lead Schott’s organization-wide strategies to generate resources, strategically invest and develop partnerships to support national and local movement builders advancing racial equity and justice campaigns.

“We are very pleased to welcome Diana, who brings a rich background and experience in social justice, civil rights litigation as well as policy advocacy to the Schott team,” said John H. Jackson, Schott President and CEO. “Her passion to address systemic racism and her deep experience leading diversity, equity and inclusion efforts will be a tremendous asset to Schott, our partners, and the philanthropy sector.” 

Diana comes to Schott from serving as a University Diversity Officer and the Vice President for Inclusive Excellence at California State University-Sacramento. Throughout her career, Diana has worked to safeguard civil rights with a focus on racial justice, particularly as it relates to access to education, criminal justice reform, and removal of barriers to civic engagement.

Prior to joining Sacramento State, Diana engaged in civil rights policy and legislative advocacy as well as litigation supporting community advocates and organizers. She served as Director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the ACLU of Northern California, managing campaigns related to voting rights, K-12 education, the school-to-prison pipeline, and policing on campuses. While a staff attorney for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Diana supervised their Education Equity Project. 

Diana has a B.A in Sociology from the University of Southern California and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. She will begin working at Schott on June 3rd, 2021. 

Schott Foundation Announces Diana Tate Vermeire as SVP of Strategy | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Schott’s strong grassroots partnerships and philanthropic allies| Schott Foundation for Public Education

Our Philanthropy | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Schott’s strong grassroots partnerships and philanthropic allies

National Urban Indian Family Coalition

by psj / 20h

The is a leading national advocate for American Indian families living in urban areas and the organizations that serve them. Our network includes more than 40 trusted community-based nonprofit organizations across 23 states with deep roots in their respective urban Indian communities. The NUIFC works in partnership with member organizations to organize and create lasting change at the local and

YouthBuild USA

by psj / 20h

YouthBuild partners with opportunity youth to build the skillsets and mindsets that lead to lifelong learning, livelihood, and leadership. At nearly 300 YouthBuild programs across the United States and around the world, students reclaim their education, gain job skills, and become leaders in their communities. https://youthbuild.org/ https://www.facebook.com/YouthBuildUSA https://twitter.com/yout

Women Encouraging Empowerment

by psj / 20h

's mission is to educate, advocate, protect and advance the rights of immigrants, refugees and low income women and their families through organizing leadership development and service delivery. https://www.weerevere.org/ https://www.facebook.com/WEErevere/ https://twitter.com/WeeRevere Region: Northeast

West Dayton Youth Task Force

by psj / 20h

The mission of the West Dayton Youth Task Force is to initiate programs for young people of all ages that will instill in them the core values of the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles) to foster character development that will produce a future generation capable of building a community and society of their own. This is to be accomplished by means of study, social and cultural activities, academic

Twin Cities Innovation Alliance

by psj / 20h

(TCIA) is a coalition of stakeholders representing a cross sector of public, private and community organizations, corporations and institutions led by visionaries, academics, thought leaders and individuals who are invested in the Twin Cities’ continued evolution as a forward‐thinking, innovative, ‘Smart’ global city. https://www.tciamn.org/ https://twitter.com/TCIAMN Region: Midwest

Tenants and Workers United

by psj / 20h

organizes communities, builds power, wins changes, and advances social justice in northern Virginia. https://www.tenantsandworkers.org/ https://www.facebook.com/TenantsandWorkers/ https://twitter.com/tenantsworkers Region: South

Sociedad Latina

by psj / 20h

Since 1968, has been working in partnership with Latino youth and families to end the cycle of poverty, inequality to access of health services, and lack of educational and professional opportunities in our community. We introducing innovative solutions to the most critical problems facing young Latinos today. Our approach celebrates our diverse Latino heritages and enables young people to forge

S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective

by psj / 20h

's mission is to mobilize systems-involved girls, femmes, and TGNC youth of color – Black, Brown, and Indigenous – to interrupt cycles of state violence, poverty, and oppression. Our four pillars are leadership, healing, social justice, and the arts. https://soulsistersleadership.org/ https://www.facebook.com/soulsistersleadershipcollective/ https://twitter.com/LeadSoulSisters Region: South

Puente Human Rights Movement

by psj / 20h

was founded in 2007 in response to abuse of power by local law enforcement officials and anti-migratory attacks through state laws and policies. For over 10 years, Puente has led the fight against local and federal anti-migratory policies while building a political home for Arizona’s most marginalized community members. In the last decade we have been able to stop the deportations of over 478 mi

Project South

by psj / 20h

is rooted in the legacy of the Southern Freedom Movement, and our mission of cultivating strong social movements in the South powerful enough to contend with some of the most pressing and complicated social, economic, and political problems we face today. https://projectsouth.org/ https://www.facebook.com/ProjectSouth404?fref=ts https://twitter.com/projectsouth Region: South

MAY 06

AgitArte

by psj / 1d

is an organization of working class artists and cultural organizers who work at the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality and ideology. Through a praxis of cultural solidarity, creative process and popular education, we initiate and facilitate arts and cultural projects with grassroots communities that contest U.S. cultural hegemony and propose alternatives to existing systems of oppre

Rural Community Alliance

by psj / 1d

members have a vision for just and thriving rural communities that offer access and believe change happens through informed and organized residents defining the change they want, building collective power, and taking action to improve their lives. https://www.thenewrural.org/ https://www.facebook.com/RuralCommunityAlliance/ https://twitter.com/thenewruralar Region: South

Our Philanthropy | Schott Foundation for Public Education