For both organizers in the field and funders supporting youth and families in communities, this Schott Newsletter issue interviews leaders of color in Step Up Louisiana and Connecticut Black & Brown Student Union. They talk to us on how they leveraged this summer to build power, from base-building and community events, to voter outreach and youth empowerment.

These grantee partners, while separated by distance, are each doing their part to move the country toward a common horizon: equitable schools, racial justice, and a true multi-racial democracy.

Building Skills and Planning for the Fall

“Summertime tends to be a regrouping period for our parents,” said Maria Harmon, co-director of Step Up Louisiana. Step Up Louisiana is a multiracial and multigenerational membership organization that engages in campaigns that directly affect their members’ lives, with a focus on economic and education justice.

The group still holds regular parent organizing meetings every other Saturday and their twice-weekly Readers as Leaders program for students, but the season affords opportunities to attend conferences and trainings, too. Maria and a number of Step Up members traveled to Chicago to see the community schools model in practice, visiting the famous Dyett High School and two elementary schools, taking back ideas and lessons to apply back home.

A top organizing priority this summer tackled issues facing students before they even reach the classroom: the conditions of their school buses. A growing chorus of youth and parent voices over the past several years has demanded heating and cooling for school buses in a region where weather extremes are becoming ever more common. 

“August is a very hard month to resume the school year, considering the unprecedented heat indexes, because we reached an all-time high last year, and it looks like we’re going to be in the highs again this year,” Harmon said. “So, our infrastructure has to adjust with those changes. We can’t afford to put kids in unsafe conditions and have them possibly get a heat stroke on the way to school.” In addition to safe temperatures, buses need adult monitors on them — more than just the driver — to make sure students stay safe.

Step Up members have done more than mobilize to pressure elected officials: they have drafted specific policy language for the New Orleans City Council to adopt.

Step Up also took time this summer to get ready for the run-up to November. Key to their efforts is a precinct leader program that trains their members to build power in their own neighborhoods. “What I love about it is that it’s a great leadership development opportunity for our members, where they are organizing people who live in their precinct, in their neighborhood, where their familiarity really helps in building trust and encouraging people to turn out to vote,” Harmon said.

Combining the Hard Work and the Heart Work

The Connecticut Black & Brown Student Union (BBSU) serves as a hub of resources, technical assistance, capacity building, training and development of youth organizers and organizations. The BBSU’s seven member organizations do community-rooted work both in cities and statewide. 

“Being youth-focused in the summer is quite interesting, and looks very different depending on what we have accomplished throughout the year,” said Executive Director Shineika Fareus.

For example, the summer of 2023 was full of intense work after the successful passage of Connecticut’s landmark S.B. 1 bill in June. The law addresses dozens of education issues, but of primary importance for BBSU and its Community First Coalition was its requirements for school districts to disclose all school resource officer (SRO) student interaction data, create public memoranda of understanding on their use of policing in schools, and implement restorative practices.

For that summer, work to ensure proper implementation was crucial. “A lot of the work we had to do was to connect with students outside of school, to have the conversations around what implementation means for them for the beginning of the school year,” Fareus said.

This summer, in addition to preparing for this fall’s election and next year’s legislative session, the BBSU is prioritizing base building and relational work — offering young people connective experiences outside the immediate pressures of an organizing campaign.

The BBSU’s Love Diaries events are a perfect example of their approach. Held every quarter, they bring together young artists, performers, musicians, and local food vendors for an evening of storytelling and connection around the many aspects and themes of love. They’re a powerful reminder that it’s not simply shared injustices that unite us: hope, love, and community do too.

Andriana Milner, the BBSU Membership and Outreach Coordinator, recalled how a Love Diaries participant described the event. “An attendee said to me, ‘this feels like a warm hug,’” Milner said. “That is something that I hold dear to me.”

They also held “The People U Meet” in late August, a community meeting for young people, organizers, and community members from across Connecticut to network, strategize, learn more about the BBSU.

The BBSU’s member organizations have been implementing summer programming too, like Citywide Youth Coalition, which held its Abolition Bootcamp, a paid six-week intensive for young adults aged 13-25.

“A core value of the BBSU is that we believe in collective power and collective wellness,” Fareus said. “Especially now, when we have so much happening in our world, these events are chosen strategically to make sure we’re also caring for those around us in our community.”

Many hands make light work. Our grantee partners, while separated by distance, are each doing their part to move the country toward a common horizon: equitable schools, racial justice, and a true multi-racial democracy.