It's Time to Fulfill Brown's Promise
Hi friends –
Some of you know what we have been working on over the last several months, but today we are excited to officially introduce Brown’s Promise.
We’re launching this new initiative, housed at the Southern Education Foundation, because it’s past time to realize the vision of students from all backgrounds learning together in diverse, well-resourced schools.
You can read more about this new project in a story published yesterday by Ed Week. We’d be grateful if you would also share it with your networks.
It’s been nearly 70 years since the Brown v. Board of Education declared separate educational facilities “inherently unequal.” Decades later, that’s still true. But our schools are still as segregated as they were in the late 1960s, and in many places we’re backsliding.
Diverse classrooms help students of all races and backgrounds do better in school and beyond. For students of color and students from low-income backgrounds, the effects are especially powerful for one simple reason: resources.
The resources that matter—money, experienced teachers, advanced coursework, modern facilities, and so much more—still flow disproportionately to whiter schools and districts. To realize educational equity for students of color; to prepare students of all races for today’s world and economy; to repair the fraying fabric of our democracy we need children from all backgrounds learning together in diverse, well-resourced schools led by a diverse educator workforce.
In partnership with state and community-based advocates, Brown’s Promise will catalyze a new wave of litigation, advocacy, and communications dedicated to supporting racially and socioeconomically diverse, well-resourced schools that are safe, affirming, and prepare each student for success.
This work has never been easy. We have to avoid the mistakes of the past, when communities of color shouldered the brunt of the burden for ending segregation. But together we can build the future that our children deserve and that our country needs.
We’re grateful for your support to get us to this point, and we look forward to walking this road together.
Thank you!
– Saba and Ary
Want to know more? Get in touch.
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