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Empowering Youth through Creativity by Angela Zusman   Alexa’s got a spring in her step. For the last several months, Alexa and a small team of high school students in San Lorenzo have been conducting interviews for Alliance for Arts Leadership’s Listening Campaign. They’ve listened to students, educators, parents, and principals all across Alameda County. Today, they were invited to

The Reclaiming Our Origins Through Story (ROOTS) Project is the narrative component of the Sunflower County Systems Change Project (SCSCP). The SCSCP is a community-based systems change approach that addresses school discipline, juvenile justice and media narrative of young men and boys of color (YMBOC). It is a partnership effort between the ACLU of Mississippi, Mississippi Center for Justice, Sunflower

My Name is Daniel Henson (Listening Campaign: ACOE participant). As a young person in Alameda County, the thing I want people to know about is how diverse our communities are. So many different cultures have come together, and it is very visible within our school systems. Kids are mingling together in ways that seemed unorthodox 75 years ago, and it

“What they don’t see is how my Grandma picked cotton to provide for our family, what they do see is just another young black male.” In a circle of his peers and The Peace Poets, Myron, a participant in the “R.O.O.T.S. of Sunflower County” project and teenager in the Mississippi Delta, explained what other people see when they look

  To our beloved community, Today we are witnessing the power of story in action. I believe this election was dominated and ultimately decided by two expertly wielded stories: She is crooked, and He will make America great again. Facts were irrelevant. Such is the power of story. To what end? Today, many people are feeling the pain of oppression.

 Kathryn Eastburn is a journalist with The Greenwood Commonwealth. This article was originally published on August 28, 2016. See article link here.  Some 300 middle and high school students from across the Delta gathered at Mississippi Valley State University on Saturday for “School House Rights Rock,” an all-day seminar designed to inform them of their civil rights and how to claim those rights

As I approached the school’s cafeteria, I could hear the angelic giggles of carefree adolescent souls, golden as the Northern Californian spring sunshine that caused the school’s playground to glow. As I entered the cafeteria, where the after school program students were gathering their afternoon snacks, the sound of giggles was drowned out by the extremely loud smell of sticky

I walk to Rasa Caffe on a cloudy day, look around the small and cozy store as I wait to meet with Rasa Mott, the owner. I spot The Griots of Oakland on the table looking well read. Brightly colored Emory Douglas Black Panther & revolutionary prints line the simple white walls, and a handful of customers sit scattered around,