I’m always happy to share what I’m working on. This is not an exhaustive list, but one that I believe to be most relevant to K-12 equity stakeholders, and those who support positive youth development. Stay tuned for more content focusing on school board elections, lowering the voting age, and the need for more teachers of color.

 
 

Reducing the Education Debt Starts with Reforming School Board Elections - nEXT 100

Reducing the education debt and achieving equitable outcomes for students of color starts with the election of more diverse, representative, and qualified school board members. Explore the elitist roots and current realities that keep such candidates from being elected, and consider the concrete policy solutions.

PREVENTING SEXUAL VIOLENCE & PREGNANCIES: WHAT THE OVERTURN OF ROE MEANS FOR TEENS - FFYI

Young girls are facing historic levels of sexual assault, and teen pregnancies are anticipated to rise. In many states, pregnant teens are no longer able to obtain abortions. If they can’t get an abortion, they face carrying the pregnancy to term and taking on the well-known generational effects of unwanted teen pregnancy. What steps can policymakers take to protect youth from sexual violence and reduce unwanted teen pregnancies

2020 State Policy Survey: Child & Youth Policy Coordinating Bodies in the United States - ffyi

The 2020 State Policy Survey analyzes the partnerships, goals, data, accomplishments and challenges that the coordinating bodies of the State Children’s Cabinet Network navigate. This biennial survey is the nation’s only survey of state child and youth policy coordinating bodies – offering detailed insights to those who work to serve young people.

BROADBAND & YOUNG PEOPLE: A PRIMER FOR EQUITY ADVOCATES - FFYI

Broadband. What is it really, and why do broadband access and equity matter for families, young people, and communities? The COVID-19 pandemic showed us all in stark terms that digital inequity is harming young people—and that urban and rural communities face distinct challenges to accessing fast and reliable broadband.

Youth participatory Action Research: what it is and what it can do - ffyi

If policies are not being co-created with the very people whose lives they change, then they’re not as efficient, effective, and ultimately, as generationally liberating as they can be. It’s as simple as that. So how do young people, decision makers and policy advocates engage in co-creating policy? This is where Youth Participatory Action Research comes in to play.

Systems & Structures: How THE RIGHT FOUNDATION ENABLES CABINETS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE - FFYI

States and communities alike have had to work across the sectors and silos that support families’ lives, from the basic needs of food and housing to work and childcare to education and broader learning. What is important is that many states and localities are always working to be prepared and ready to adapt and respond to whatever needs arise for young people because they have established efficient, effective and durable systems that enable them to do so.

Remove School Resource Officers From CMS - Queen city nerve

Our schools are not prisons, their hallways are not the sidewalks on Tryon; they are sacrosanct. They are spaces where students from struggling homes dealing with all sorts of socio-emotional issues projected onto them by society come to learn English and algebra just as much as they come to understand how to process the reality that is their lives. Teachers help them do that, not police officers.

CMS Must Reimagine Its Board of Education - Queen city nerve

Decentralized school boards are notorious for lacking the ability to make effective decisions because their members lack expertise. Now, evidence tells us that this is more fact than conjecture — and given the chaos of the last few weeks, and the last three decades, it should be clear that the CMS Board of Education is no exception.

PAYING YOUNG people: considerations for equity & efficacy - ffyi

Compensating young people for their time and expertise is a best practice for communities looking to authentically engage young people in local decision-making processes – including through Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), youth councils, or other youth advisory bodies. After all, who has more expertise about young people’s needs than young people themselves?

CHILDCARE DURING A CRISIS: How States and Children’s Cabinets are Funding Near-Term Capacity and Planning for Long-Term Need - FFYI

Broadband. What is it really, and why do broadband access and equity matter for families, young people, and communities? The COVID-19 pandemic showed us all in stark terms that digital inequity is harming young people—and that urban and rural communities face distinct challenges to accessing fast and reliable broadband.

Pushing Back on Crime Begins with Education, Access and Resources - Queen city nerve

Years of oppression and objectification and bad decisions and bad luck and profiling and posturing and grief and drowned greatness have created scenes like this in the Queen City. They’ll talk about fixing it but they’ve never been in that room and they’ve never recognized a mug shot on the news as the kid that sits in the second chair from the left in the first row who prefers to write with a pen over a pencil. They don’t get it because they’ve never seen the desperation — never internalized it.