Anti-bullying and Safer Schools: What Can I Do?

Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)

Join facilitators from the Dallas Chapter of GLSEN to explore the safe schools movement. Learn about faculty and student trainings and gay-straight alliances. GLSEN strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. This multi-media presentation includes practical strategies for starting a gay-straight alliance and addressing bullying and harassment in school.  

An Eye on Third Ward

*Site Visit*

Take a tour through one of the most beloved African American communities in the Houston area. From its well preserved beautiful brick homes to Jack Yates High School, the city’s second oldest African American high school, we love Third Ward and this tour will show you why. Third Ward is home to many historic sites that include Emancipation Park, the Ensemble Theater, and the Buffalo Soldiers Museum—just a few of the sites that will be featured on the tour. You can’t leave Houston without visiting Third Ward, Texas.

Art and Activism Tour

*Site Visit*

ACTIVITY FULL

Located in the heart of Houston's historic Third Ward, Project Row Houses and SHAPE Center are two examples of community development and activism in action. On this site visit, see the original Project Row Houses, a series of "shotgun" style houses that typify Houston architecture in the city's earliest times. These houses have been transformed into artist-in-residence galleries. SHAPE Center has a 40-year history in Houston's Third Ward as a central organizing force around the particular issues of police brutality, death sentence injustice, intergenerational wisdom preservation and the development of community consciousness in Houston's youth.

Division Without and Division Within:  How the Model Minority Doesn't Add Up    

Sticky Rice Project

How does the model minority myth affect the way we think about ourselves and others?  In this interactive workshop, we examine the roots of the myth, study how statistical manipulation often creates division amongst communities of color, discuss the rarely heard issues Asian American students face today, and explore how this toxic myth causes division within the Asian American community.  

Education and Gentrification

Philadelphia Student Union  

Cities across the country are changing. But into what? And at who's expense? Learn from members of the Philadelphia Student Union about the merging issues of gentrification and education reform.

Environmental Justice Toxic Tour

*Site Visit*

ACTIVITY FULL

Take a tour of the East End of Houston and see first hand how schools and chemical plants sit side-by-side, especially in black and Latino communities. We will highlight the impact of inadequate zoning laws and their impact on residential communities. Learn more about the environmental justice work of Juan Parras and TEJas (Texas Environmental Justice), especially as it relates to the construction of schools in Texas.

Free Minds Spoken Word Explosion    

Marcel Murphy, Ron Horne, Sheila Siobhan

This workshop will consist of a spoken word demonstration, two writing exercises and a youth open mic.  The Exquisite Corpse is a warm up exercise, followed by another exercise based loosely on the conference themes. An open mic will follow allowing participants to share their words and get pointers and encouragement on their writing and performance.   

(Il)legitimate Knowledge: Research for Liberation in, and in Spite of, Elite Institutions

Like many institutions of higher education, the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is steeped in traditions that privilege mainstream, white, patriarchal, heteronormative, ruling class notions of "legitimate" knowledge, work and research. The presenters--all HGSE doctoral students committed to education for liberation--will explore the constant struggles and moments of hope related to their experiences navigating this challenging institutional context.   

Know Your Rights Because Your School Administrator Probably Doesn’t    

Rights, Equality and Democracy for Students (R.E.D.S.)

Military recruitment is always present in our schools. Many students are constantly pressured by recruitment ploys at home and school. This workshop will present many of the strategies and techniques that the high school student-led organization REDS used at their school, including military opt-out forms, knowing your rights, and how to deal with resistant school administrations.

More than MySpace, Blogging and Mapping: Youth (Re)Working Activism and Community Building   

Mestizo Arts & Activism

How can participatory action research and media be used to provoke action and represent community? The Mestizo Arts & Activism youth research team will facilitate an interactive, hands-on workshop that demonstrates how three PAR projects utilized MySpace, blogging, texting, and GIS technology to outreach and map their communities' concerns: Immigration and Education; Stereotypes and Immigrant Communities; Places that Matter.

Polling for Justice! Youth Participatory Action Research on Health, Education and Criminal Justice in New York City   

City University of New York Graduate Center

We are the Polling for Justice project, a research group of young people and adults doing research on our daily lives in order to ignite action, inspire policy reform and change the face of New York City. Come join us in a discussion about the results of our recent city-wide survey on youth experience of health, education and criminal justice.  

Science Education for Liberation   

Rudy Lozano Leadership Academy

We created science – it’s time for us to take it back. Your science class should teach you how to improve your health and protect your community, not just to pass a test. In this workshop, we will examine research looking at stereotypes and science, explore examples of teaching styles and experiments, and seek ways to make science literacy relevant and accessible in our schools and communities.

Una Reflexión de Nosotros (A Reflection of Us): The East End 

*Site Visit*

How would you like to visit two of Houston’s oldest Hispanic neighborhoods? Houston’s East End community has had a profound impact on Houston’s Latino community. Latinos make up more than half its residents, and the area includes two of Houston’s oldest Hispanic neighborhoods, Magnolia Park and Second Ward. The East End tour will consist of  The Ripley House, Harrisburg, Iglesia de Virgen de Guadalupe (the first Catholic Church in Texas), the Talento Bilingual of Houston and other sites that make the culture of the East End. We invite you to take a peek into the richness of our city.

Uniting Communities Through Art

Hunter High School, Mestizo Institute of Culture and Arts and University of Utah  

This workshop is based on the work of two Salt Lake City programs that use art as a way to inform and portray the experiences of underrepresented communities. We will explore examples of our work, which include community mural-making and performance art as a tool for social change, while also engaging audience members in hands-on activities that will produce and document activism in action.