Students are the knowledge keepers and have the solutions for creating the best possible education environments that will allow them to realize their full potential. For education to truly be a pathway upward and outward for disenfranchised youth, we have to confront and repair the issues that have delivered us to this place of widespread injustice. We must not settle for bridging the achievement gap. The opportunity gap has to be narrowed. Justice is the only way.
“Our students are struggling! As a first generation student
myself, there are very little resources there for us to
navigate these systems of higher learning. It's hard enough
not to be able to turn to our families for assistance, but
when we really are left to figure out everything on our own,
and on top of navigating institutional barriers that are
rooted in systemic racism and oppression, the experience
of being a student is no longer enjoyable.”
“For far too long, our education system has been designed with policies
and practices that clearly work to favor only one type of privileged
student. Elevating our Student Agenda can begin to correct for the
centuries of past injustices toward marginalized communities and help
to redesign an education system that works for every student,
regardless of their identity or background. Secretary Cardona, we need
you to join us in our fight for student-led educational equity!”
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Learn From History
Our Turn recently joined the Learn From History coalition as an inaugural partner. Learn From History is a broad-based bipartisan gathering of organizations, school system leaders, educators, parents, and youth that share a critical belief: for students to create a better society, schools need to provide a thorough, accurate, and fact-based history education and teach students to reject racism and respect the equal value of every person. -
Post-Graduate Pathways
In Denver, Atlanta, and Tennessee, we are leading projects to surface youth experiences and demands to support their post-secondary success. We will elevate those insights through messaging campaigns, building public support for youth-designed solutions, and growing coalitions of grassroots+grasstops leaders. -
Remote Organizing
In 2022, Our Turn will create on-demand training content and organizing opportunities that provide youth a playbook for joining the education justice movement and mobilizing their communities. This model will help Our Turn broaden its impact by supporting community development and training while advancing national messaging through youth advocacy and action.
“We are only doing an injustice
to our country if we continue
pushing out Eurocentric and
white curriculum-based
learning. In order to heal our
great divide, we need our
local school board, state
board, and Department of
Education’s leadership in
reconciling with the true
history of the U.S.”
“Student leaders all across the country need your support in helping
radicalize our educational system to a system that works for all of us.
From BIPOC, to LGBTQ+, to non-native English speakers, to the
economically disadvantaged, every student deserves and needs the
right to a quality and equitable education.”