I spent an evening a few weeks ago with Californians for Justice (CFJ) at a fundraising dinner for the organization. (shout out to Dr. Roxana Marachi for inviting me!) Who are they?

Californians for Justice is a statewide grassroots organization working for racial justice by building the power of youth, communities of color, immigrants, low-income families, and LGBTQ communities.  Led by students, we organize to advance educational justice and improve our social, economic, and political conditions.

I was blown away by CFJ’s role in involving students in the education policy process.

I met Saa’un Bell at the San Jose fundraising dinner, who handles media for CFJ and is a journalist for Oakland Voices. We had a conversation about integrating more student voices into Cloaking Inequity and peer reviewed research. Saa’un sent me a few fantastic questions via email, and I also had a few in reply, so I suggested we do a podcast to discuss student activism in education education policy. I hope its helpful. The questions we discussed were:

1. What’s your take on how legislators, education advocates, etc. view student education advocates and organizers? 
2. Do they see them as equal players in advocating for a quality education? 
3. If not, what’s your take on how (different things students can do) to get students on equal footing? 
4. Do legislators and edu advocates think students holding their districts accountable when it comes to the LCFF/LCAP helpful?

The final question about LCFF/LCAP refers to the new bottom-up approach to accountability and school finance recently implemented in California. Read Local Accountability is HAPPENING: New, Peer-Reviewed, and LIVE in D.C.! Also see the Community-based accountability category feed.

Here is the conversation unedited.

I hope we have another conversation soon.

Check out Californians for Justice Youtube feed here.

Like Californians for Justice Facebook page here.

Follow Californians for Justice on Twitter here.