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Author: Visceral Dev Admin

Grantee Partner Spotlight: Grassroots Arkansas

From demanding local control of Little Rock School District to hosting an equity bus tour to Little Rock Middle Schools to shine a light on the educational and economic disparities that exist in the district, Grassroots Arkansas (GA) has been a champion of public education. Like so many Schott grantee partners, the Grassroots Arkansas community has seen long existing inequities in education, food security, and housing reinforced and magnified through school closures and the Covid19 pandemic. 

COVID-19 Exposes America’s Broken Social Safety Net

Dr. John H. Jackson

John H. Jackson

As the saying goes, when the average American coughs, a person of color catches the flu. While COVID-19 is far more serious than the flu, its intensity — as measured by loss of life, lost wages, and learning gaps — has been devastating to people of color. Across the nation, we are now forced to reckon with just how inequitable and inadequate our social safety net actually is. Now, more than ever, we are seeing the critical role our public institutions play in anchoring our society in a storm. And we cannot help but see the deep inequities that people of color face in weathering that storm.

All of the issues that have been swept under the rug for decades are now laid bare for us to see: No paid sick leave. Broken healthcare systems. Lack of affordable housing. Families who were living paycheck to paycheck that are now unemployed. Inequitable funding for our public schools, worsened by closures and students without access to food or the internet.

Here’s how grassroots groups are making a difference, and how you can help them.

The Schott Foundation’s partners are providing critically-needed aid in their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, just as they’ve done during previous crises. At the same time they are fighting to ensure those most impacted by school closures, job and housing insecurity, and hunger are included in shaping policies and allocating resources, especially in historically marginalized Black and brown communities.

#PublicSchoolGrad Scholarship-Enter Today!

As a member of the Class of 2020 you are facing extraordinary challenges of school closings, trying to complete courses via distance learning, without in-person support from teachers and the connection to friends—and possibly without the graduation ceremony you and your family have been looking forward to for years.

You’re tackling these challenges—as you have overcome other hurdles throughout your school years—and we celebrate your determination, your resilience.  Needed now more than ever.

The Proud #PublicSchoolGrad scholarship is way to celebrate you – and help you take the next step of continuing your education.

Joint Statement of Education and Civil Rights Organizations Concerning Equitable Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic School Closures

The undersigned organizations representing school administrators, teachers, parents and education and civil rights advocates are committed to equitable educational opportunities for our nation’s students.  Understandably, as the COVID-19 pandemic extended to the United States, federal, state, tribal, and local governments have closed school buildings to prevent the spread of the novel virus. School closures have impacted 55 million K-12 students nationwide.  Although school buildings are closed, education and support services have continued, as “it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education.”  Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 493 (1954). 

Leah Austin Joins the Schott Foundation as Director of National Opportunity to Learn Network

For release: April 20, 2020
Contact: Ann Beaudry ab@schottfoundation.org

These community groups are making a difference during the pandemic.

The Schott Foundation’s partners are providing critically-needed aid in their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, just as they’ve done during previous crises. At the same time they are fighting to ensure those most impacted by school closures, job and housing insecurity, and hunger are included in shaping policies and allocating resources, especially in historically marginalized Black and brown communities. 

The Census is an Education Justice Issue

The 2020 Census is underway, with the first wave of forms being mailed across the country on April 1, and data collection continuing through the Fall. The COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted all of our lives could make the Census more difficult—so it’s critical that communities mobilize to make sure all their neighbors are counted.

Trainings: Digital Organizing in the COVID-19 Crisis

The Funders Collaborative on Youth Organizing (FCYO) is holding two digital organizing trainings coming up this week and next to give advocates the tools they need to continue serving the people and fighting for change:

Introducing the Loving Communities Response Fund

Like us, you are likely asking how you can most effectively support life-saving work in our nation’s most vulnerable communities — if so, please read on.

Organizations and communities supported by the Schott Foundation come from generations of people grounded in community, organized and resilient in the face of structural violence and institutionalized racism. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the inequities and challenges they must confront now are even greater. We must stand in solidarity to sustain and strengthen this vital network of advocates and the families and students whom they support, to both survive in the months ahead and sow the seeds of a better world in the future.