Dear movement family,
What a year. In 2015 we trained over 200 young people in popular education, young people’s movement history, political analysis, and concrete organizing skills; mobilized over 500 young people to: demonstrations against HB318, Wake County School Board Meetings, HKonJ and the 1st ever Black Lives Matter Youth Assembly, the Environmental Justice Summit and Climate Justice Summit, the 4th Annual March to End the School-to-Prison-Pipeline, and the 1st Annual National Youth Power Convening in partnership with the Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing. We decreased out of school suspensions in Wake County by 30% and we took youth delegations to Selma, New Orleans, and Jackson, MS in solidarity with local struggles.
We still have so much work to do.
In 2016, we are launching a campaign to Get Cops Out of Schools. We will initiate community review boards made up of parents, students, and community members that can review SRO misconduct and remove officers from school. And as always, we will continue to build student and youth power that spans across the state, connecting through trainings, convenings, and our annual Freedom School.
We couldn’t have done any of this work alone.
Our staff is a small group of 5 who do this work part time. The rest of the magic is made possible by volunteers, high school youth organizers, and community mentors and advisors. We want to say a huge thank you to all of the youth and adult allies we’ve worked with this year and we look forward to another year of partnership and organizing.
We want to work with you.
Just respond to this email or send us a message on our website or Facebook. There’s always a lot of work; whether it’s providing transportation support the school boad meetings or providing support on the direction of our campaign, there’s a role you can play.
Thank you again for fighting with us, shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm for youth liberation from systems of oppression that are present in our schools, neighborhoods, and communities. Together we are stronger and we have more faith than ever that our collective liberation is possible.
Check out some photo highlights from 2015 below.
In struggle,
Loan
On behalf of the Youth Organizing Institute
