IntegrateNYC

Happy Valentine’s Day ❤️ Please consider supporting IntegrateNYC. Your support empowers New York City students to advocate for school integration. Show your love today and make a difference: https://lnkd.in/eQqQmper #EducationEquity #EducationJustice #ValentinesDay

Welcome our new adult co-directors: Zachary and Omari! Previously as our Program Director, Omari brought a brand new vision for coalition-building and campaign organizing. Zachary (or Zach) joined us last year as Operations Director, during a time when his skills in administrative operations helped IntegrateNYC power through a challenging transition. Omari: During all my years of education advocacy, IntegrateNYC has always been my organization crush from afar. I'm proud to co-lead this awesome community and truly honored to commit to its growth. Zach: Over the past ten years, the youth advocates of IntegrateNYC have made a transformative impact on education policy and discourse in New York City and beyond. I'm proud to support their leadership and vision looking toward the next decade of youth-led organizing.

“A lot of the times youth are looked down upon, like we’re not capable enough to make our own decisions on what we get to learn,” said Nazrin Nahar, spokesperson for the youth-led advocacy organization Integrate NYC and a 20-year old student at Baruch College. “We want representation.” Where are the students? Despite a state law, few education councils have youth members. Read the latest from Chalkbeat New York to learn how our youth leaders are challenging top-down power structures in our schools. https://lnkd.in/erKqiiPd #educationjustice

⭐️ 2024 Campaign Update ⭐️ Since the start of mayoral control in 2002, the opinions of public school students regarding inequity in education have been continuously dismissed by the New York City Mayors. The lack of youth participation on advisory panels and boards is typically attributed to a lack of interest, while in reality, it's due to a lack of reasonable accommodations and accessibility for meaningful participation. These spaces also lack protection from bias and harassment, which makes it difficult for courageous youth to share their opinions. What's more, the Chancellor's Student Advisory Group has offered several ideas, but little has been done to implement them. None of the students who sit on the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) have any voting power, despite being affected daily by the decisions of officials appointed by the Mayor. As a result, many students join advocacy groups and protest to demand that Mayors and Chancellors value youth opinions. While the DOE's office of Student Voice was created in response to these protests, it is still staffed by only one adult for over a million students. Students deserve self-determination over their own schools and future. 🎉 Our Goal We aim to increase youth leadership by having 5R and Youth Power supporter students sit on the Community Education Council and the Panel for Education Policy. Students on CEC and PEP will have the power to vote, and we aim to increase student representation on the PEP to four seats. We believe that it's time to give students back their schools, and we want #SchoolsForUsByUs.