youth organizing

Will you join students & parents from across Pennsylvania to demand that Governor Corbett make equitable school funding a top priority in the next budget?

Go to www.showloveforeducation.eventbrite.com to reserve your seat on the bus.

On February 7th, Gov. Corbett will announce his plan for the next state budget.  A week later, on February 14 (Valentine's Day) students & parents from numerous Pennsylvania school districts are holding a rally for public education in the State Capitol. 

The purpose of the rally is to speak out about the devastating effects of last year's cuts to education, and to demand that equitable school funding be a priority in the next state budget.

On this month's show:

• Students, parents & teachers unite to form One Voice
• Students reflect on their defeat of school vouchers
• A third grader speaks about the school to prison pipeline
• The importance of art & music in school

Plus music & other news.

Hear more at our podcast: www.onblast.podomatic.com

In 2006 I attended my 9th grade year at West Philadelphia High School. During that time there was chaos occurring everyday such as fires, fights and arrests. I felt unsafe at school. At the beginning of my 11th grade year I left Philadelphia for my country Mauritania (located in west Africa). I hoped that the school would get better. During my time in Mauritania I heard from my fellow students that the school was improving under then principal Ms. Cruz.

The School District of Philadelphia has “an estimated 70,000 empty seats in more than 280 structures.”*  Combined with a budget gap of more than $490 million, it looks like the district is gearing up to close several schools next year.

School closings affect students in more ways than one, sometimes very critically. When schools get closed for reasons that aren’t clear or well explained to the public, people start to get angry. Usually students who have to travel further to attend a new school feel discouraged and displaced. This could lead to large numbers of students dropping out and being truant. Education is a right and we don’t want to see more kids at risk of becoming a statistic. That in its own sick way leads to a generation of young people who struggle to make a living and survive.

Renaissance 2010 was Chicago’s school turn around model, just as Imagine 2014 is ours here in Philadelphia. These processes are what our districts think are going to help us. But, will they really help? Will our voices be heard?  Will our thoughts be implemented into the system?

The process in Chicago began in 2005, 4 years before Imagine 2014 was implemented by Dr. Ackerman in Philly. I interviewed Osha Dancy, a high school student and member of Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), to learn about how the Renaissance 2010 process has played out in Chicago, and how students have been impacted by this reform. Based on what has happened in Chicago, we’ll see what may be in store for us here in Philadelphia.

From Baltimore to Philadelphia, those in power are trying to cut funding from our schools and expand prisons. But youth from across the country are coming together to fight back and demand our human right to education.

Being a female is hard nowadays. We see and hear stories more about how women look than about how successful they have become.

As a member of Philadelphia Student Union’s women’s group, Soul Sisters, I want to spread awareness about how women are negatively depicted in the music industry. Too often women are depicted as being sex objects and we’re not taken seriously. We need to stop the media from depicting women this way. We need to encourage teenage girls and women alike to think critically about how women are shown, and to take action to change it.

1. Identify a problem.
When you see problems in your school (or community) you may not be the only person who thinks there is an issue. You can talk to a lot of people or make a survey to find out what other people think.

“We wanted to see the most pressing problems in our school. So we wrote down as many problems as we could think of, then we discussed them and met with the principal. Then we got the ok and surveyed our school.” -Ericka, Furness HS

The crowd began forming at Juniper and Filbert streets around 3:30 pm as set-up was still underway.  As school let out, high school students from over 25 schools across the city began making their way downtown.  Each new group made the size of the gathering swell until the crowd spilled into Filbert street and it had to be closed to traffic.  Dozens of students from Sayre, Bok, Furness, South Philadelphia, Kensington, Paul Robeson, CAPA, West, Bodine, Edison, Sankofa Freedom Academy, and other schools began to converge from all directions.