Please join Bluebird Sky Yoga and With Love DC for the second installment of Yoga for Change, a series focused on showing up as a warrior for love and justice.
This month we’re joined by guest speaker Allison R. Brown to raise money for the Communities for Just Schools Fund (CJSF). Please join us for an interactive workshop on education justice in the United Stated and beyond. We’ll talk about what this moment of virus and racial upheaval means for the education justice movement, and what is required for education in the long-term.
Register at: http://www.bluebirdskyyoga.com/workshops-events
About Allison: Allison R. Brown is the Co-Director of the Communities for Just Schools Fund (CJSF). CJSF brings strategic vision and fruitful collaboration to a field that is focused on school discipline reform and creation of healthy school climates. A nationally-focused donor collaborative, CJSF leverages resources in support of community-led organizations that are forcing the elimination of barriers to educational opportunity for historically under-served students and ensuring positive and supportive school climates that affirm and foster the success of all students.
Previously, Allison worked as a program officer at the Open Society Foundations and as a trial attorney for the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Educational Opportunities Section of the Civil Rights Division. At DOJ, she initiated, developed, and led the Civil Rights Division’s efforts to combat the school-to-prison pipeline, which closes off opportunities for academic and lifelong success for far too many students of color. For her work at DOJ, Allison received the Attorney General’s Meritorious Award, Special Achievement Award, and Special Commendation Award. She also was recognized by the National Bar Association and IMPACT as a member of the 2012 Nation’s Best Advocates: Top 40 Lawyers Under 40.
Allison is the founder of Allison Brown Consulting (ABC), a service organization that worked with schools, students, and families to bring about improved academic outcomes through equitable school climates where all students thrive. She has worked as a litigation associate at the law firm of Crowell & Moring LLP in Washington, D.C. After law school, she clerked for Justice Theodore R. Boehm of the Indiana Supreme Court and for Judge David F. Hamilton of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana (now of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit). She is a summa cum laude graduate of Howard University and Harvard Law School, where she was an articles editor for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.
Allison is a member of the Board for The Beautiful Project, the Interactivity Foundation, and the National Advisory for EmbraceRace. She is admitted to the United States Supreme Court Bar, the Maryland State Bar, and the Bar of the District of Columbia. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her two children.
Resources: Please see the resources below to learn more about CJSF and the education justice movement:
1. More about the Communities for Just Schools Fund (www.cjsfund.org; https://givingcompass.org/raikesfoundation/ensuring-our-nations-schools-are-safe/)
2. The Education Anew Fund to support groups impacted by covid-19 (www.cjsfund.org/educationanew; https://givingcompass.org/article/education-anew-fund-a-call-to-action-for-philanthropy/)
3. 'Flood of Money to BLM is a Racist Deception on CJSF's Medium channel (https://medium.com/@justschools/flood-of-money-to-blm-is-a-racist-deception-11c42e07695c)
4. When SEL is Used as Another Form of Policing on CJSF's Medium channel (https://medium.com/@justschools/when-sel-is-used-as-another-form-of-policing-fa53cf85dce4)
5. Successes of education justice grassroots organizers over the past year (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HcJPcELb9gsl8aDO4aVLzhgEUe1DXClNC5rhsKtVARk/edit#heading=h.kk1966kbedef).
Logistics: This event will be held on Zoom. Registrants will receive a link to join about 30 minutes before class.
Donations: This is a free event is sponsored by WithLoveDC, a movement to spread love, joy, and acceptance throughout the District and Bluebird Sky Yoga, a community-based yoga studio that brings yoga, local art, and joy to the Brookland (DC) neighborhood. 100% of optional donations will be donated to Communities for Just Schools Fund (CJSF).
Register at: http://www.bluebirdskyyoga.com/workshops-events