Education was long considered the cornerstone of societal progress in America. It was a beacon of hope and a key to a brighter future.
In recent decades, that hope has faded, and a brighter future is out of reach for many students. For some, the response has been to wage culture wars in the libraries of our schools. Meanwhile, we fail to discuss the broader issues of educational justice that have eroded public education.
To address the persistent issue of educational justice effectively, we must recognize that coalition building is vital for driving change.
Educational justice cannot happen in a vacuum; it requires the collaborative efforts of individuals, organizations, and communities committed to dismantling systemic inequalities and ensuring every child has access to a high-quality education.
With that in mind, let’s examine the critical role of coalition building in advancing educational justice, creating grassroots organizations, and starting coalitions. Let’s also examine some inspiring examples of coalitions making a difference today.
The Power of Coalition Building
Educational justice is a multifaceted challenge that counts equitable funding, access to quality teachers, curriculum diversity, and the elimination of discriminatory policies among the urgent problems that need to be solved. And while we largely know what needs to be done, how we have to do it remains a barrier for many individuals and communities. Achieving meaningful change in these areas demands a unified approach. This is where coalition building comes into play.
A coalition is a group of diverse individuals, organizations, and stakeholders working together toward a common goal. As it concerns educational justice, we build coalitions to create a more equitable and inclusive education system. These groups leverage their collective power to advocate for change, influence policy, and amplify the voices of marginalized communities.
Educational justice and coalition building are inextricably linked. If educational justice is the clarion call, coalitions are the engines that catalyze systemic reform.
Grassroots Organizing Strategies
Grassroots organizing is the foundation upon which coalitions and lasting change are built. Here are some strategies for effective grassroots organizing for coalition building:
Prioritize community engagement: If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times—you must engage with local communities and stakeholders if you are going to build a coalition that serves them. Attend meetings, host forums, and listen to the concerns and aspirations of parents, students, teachers, and leaders from the community. Their input is invaluable in shaping the coalition’s goals and strategies.
Launch awareness campaigns: Education reform is a noisy space full of bad actors and egregious misinformation pushed by radical ideologues. This makes it challenging for well-meaning potential activists to understand the real problems, identify what they should care about, and how they should go about it. To build a coalition that serves your community, you must drive awareness about educational injustices through public events, social media campaigns, and workshops.
Practice storytelling: Anyone who has tried to change a stranger’s mind with a pure policy argument knows that it’s a lacking way to reach people. Storytelling is a much more powerful way to rally support for your cause. Don’t be afraid to share personal stories and experiences from your community that highlight the impact of educational disparities or how lives have been improved by the change you’re advocating. Stories humanize the issues and help build empathy and understanding among your audience.
Pursue partnerships: Another strategy that can’t be reiterated enough. Your coalition likely has meaningful overlap with other organizations or social enterprise projects already underway in your community. You want to align with them where and when you can to strengthen your efforts. Building strategic partnerships within a community expands your reach and resources.
Empower with advocacy training: Members of the community will need advocacy skills. As a coalition builder, you are uniquely positioned to teach them how to engage with policymakers, students, educators, administrators, and community leaders. Show them how to communicate their community concerns in ways that align with your messaging and mission. The more voices that are singing the same song, the harder it will be for people to ignore.
Starting a Coalition
Now that you understand the approach for gaining traction, how do you actually start a coalition? It’s not as daunting a task as it seems! With determination and the right foundation to grow on, it is entirely achievable. Let’s get started:
Be specific about your cause: Define the educational justice problem you want to solve. Be careful not to take on too much here. A coalition with an ill-defined cause will end up working on everything and solving nothing. This is why community engagement is critical for understanding the scope of the problem and the areas that need the most attention.
Articulate your mission and vision: Once clear on your cause, state how your work will be guided toward that end. The most common and powerful ways of formalizing that guidance are crafting a strong, succinct mission statement that conveys your coalition’s purpose and offering an inspiring vision that helps people connect to the future you are working towards.
Build your all-star team: A core team will form the foundation of your coalition. This doesn’t necessarily mean a group of your most trusted friends. Your coalition’s success will depend on your ability to rally a dedicated group of passionate people with diverse perspectives and skill sets from your community.
Set measurable and manageable goals: More than just being aligned with your mission, your goals will serve as a roadmap for the progression of your work. That means that your goals need to be tied directly to the work you’re doing, quantifiable in measuring success, and manageable enough to achieve so you can reset more ambitious benchmarks. In the early days of coalition building, small wins can build big momentum.
Develop advocacy and action plans: Like any organization, you need a strategic plan. Yours should outline the purpose of your advocacy, what you will do to advance that advocacy, including specific campaigns, events, and outreach activities, what the success of your advocacy looks like, and how you will sustain that success.
You’ll need some money: Once your coalition begins to take shape, you will want to Identify potential funding sources, grants, or partnerships that can provide the necessary financial and logistical support for your coalition’s work. The fundraising resources available to you will depend upon your local context and the kind of support network you and your people can access. This is a highly specialized, full-time job, so it’s recommended that someone with extensive fundraising experience and deep local connections be a member of your core team.
Time to add to your numbers: Now that you’ve built a sturdy foundation, you can begin recruiting members and partners who share your commitment to your cause. Reach out to schools, community organizations, and individuals who will be well-motivated to share their time and talents with your coalition.
Coalitions in Action
Now, let’s turn our attention to some inspiring examples of coalitions making a difference in the educational justice space today:
The Dignity in Schools Campaign: This coalition, composed of over 100 organizations, advocates ending the school-to-prison pipeline and promotes positive alternatives to punitive discipline practices. Through grassroots organizing, they have successfully pushed for policy changes at local and national levels to reduce the disproportionate impact of harsh disciplinary action on students of color.
The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools: Comprising community groups, labor unions, and education activists, this coalition advocates for full funding of community-based schools, more teaching and less testing, positive discipline policies, affordable, quality education access from early years through college, and education justice. They have organized rallies, held school walk-ins, and lobbied for their demands.
The Youth Dreamers: A grassroots student-led organization in Baltimore, Maryland, The Youth Dreamers were founded in 2001 and officially dissolved in February 2020, absorbed by Keys Empowers, a broader community coalition. While operational, The Youth Dreamers was Baltimore’s only youth-run youth center. According to their mission statement, the coalition “provided a unique safe haven with opportunities for youth to accomplish personal goals, develop leadership potential, and participate in improving their communities.”
Educational justice is a journey that we all must embark on together. Achieving it will require concerted efforts aimed at educational equity and excellence. There’s no more powerful strategy for advancing the changes we need than coalition building.
With the right grassroots organizing strategies, anyone can establish their coalition upon a sturdy foundation of a concrete purpose, a clear mission, and an inspiring vision. Modern coalition builders need to be open to unexpected partnerships, work in highly collaborative groups, and be willing to consider a diverse array of perspectives, backgrounds, and skills so that they can most effectively amplify the voices of those most affected by educational disparities in their community.
As we look to the future, let us be inspired by the examples of coalitions in action today and join them in tirelessly working to create a more just and equitable education system for all. Together, we can build a brighter future for our students and communities, where educational justice is not just a dream but a reality we can all embrace.