Ethnic studies acknowledges the racist conditions under which BIPOC youth and educators live, labor and learn. It recognizes our multidimensional experiences--our joys, our suffering, our contributions, our struggles. Ethnic studies frames structural racism, not BIPOC people, as the problem to be solved.

Our vision is a city where all BIPOC young people can see and hear themselves and their communities’ stories of love, joy, resistance and freedom at the center, not the margins, of our classrooms, schools and community spaces.

Ethnic studies and other justice-centered educational methods are the target of nationwide backlash against the racial reckoning of 2020. At least 165 local and national groups are aggressively rolling back educational rights. Anti-Critical Race Theory legislation has been introduced in 49 states, including Illinois. These anti-democratic forces are having a chilling effect on teaching and teachers and are a threat to U.S. schools serving a multicultural, multilingual, critically-engaged society.

• Build communities of practice, healing and care for educators: Ethnic studies educators need spaces to sustain our hope, our wellness, and our courageous commitments to teaching truth.

• Build institutional capacity for ethnic studies: Through consultation and coaching, school/organization leaders will develop and enact strategic plans for transforming school culture, curriculum and practice.

• Build coalitions of youth, families and community members, to protect and sustain ethnic studies in schools and other youth-serving spaces: We are co-designing an organizing strategy to advocate for protections for practitioners and for ethnic studies and other inclusive methods, and to defeat passage of repressive policies at the local, state and national level.