Youth Together and the Campaign for Quality Education have launched the Kids Count! campaign because every child in the state deserves an opportunity at a future no matter the color of their skin, their socio-economic background, the neighborhood they live in, or the crime rate in their community.
Education funding in California is in a state of crisis. For students, parents, teachers and local school officials, this means having to figure out what else to cut in schools where: there are no ethnic studies classes, students don’t have access to A-G courses, libraries have been shut for almost a decade, there are no support services for students, teachers have to buy their own class material, there are no college counselors, and the list continues. Funding issues are not new for communities of color and as education funding worsens in California, communities of color suffer the most. For students of color, more cuts gut our already substandard education. Further cuts won’t fix our education system.
Kids Count! is working to transform our education system by bringing equity transparency and community accountability to the way we fund our schools. Not only do we need additional funding, but we need a funding formula that is equitable and easy to understand. Also, everyone; students, parents, teachers and community members have a voice in funding decisions. Schools play a vital role in the health of our communities. As we improve our schools we will transform our communities. We believe that a quality education creates space to dismantle systems of oppression and to inspire social justice in our communities. By changing schools into spaces where our students are thinking critically, they learn to challenge injustice, challenge economic oppression and create institutions in the image of justice and equity. Education is fundamental and the quality of education that our students receive will determine whether or not we will decrease violence, the prison rate and the poverty that our communities face.
We want to make sure that as the years pass, we can improve education
for the future generations, close the opportunity gap and ensure every
child in California’s right to a quality education.
On November 30th, over 50 Youth Together students gatheredat city hall in Oakland, Ca. and then marched to a local Chevron
gas station to demand more money for education.
Because of laws like proposition 13 Chevron, the largest cooperation in California, enjoys millions from its under-assessed properties and Youth Together and our Kids Count! campaign [...]
Youth Together’s staff, students and board members, along with the Oakland community, speak out against the New Interim Oakland Unified School District Police Chief.
View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.
Saying Good Bye to a longtime Organizer
For the past decade Sagnicthe Salazar has been a part of the Youth Together family. She has grown up with us and become a great leader and teacher to not only the students but to her peers. It is with great appreciation and a bit of sadness that at [...]
Youth Empowerment School is Closing it’s Doors
With the massive budget cuts coming from Sacramento, schools likes Youth Empowerment School (YES) are becoming the front line of the ongoing war on public education. Due in large part to the de-funding of public education in CA and around the country, at the end of the [...]
Skyline OLOP Updates
In the past month, the youth center after school program has seen an increase of students and parents seeking more academic support. As of March 14, 2011 the after-school program currently supports thirty students one on one and over seventy-five collaboratively across campus. OLOP has five college tutors [...]
Our 10th Annual Ethnic Studies Conferences is taking place March 16th, 2011. The vision of the conference is to promote and introduce high school students to Ethnic Studies and higher education, while also introducing them to student organizing and grounding them in their own leadership. We would love to work with you on coordinating a [...]
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