Stepping Into Power: How Student Walkouts are Safeguarding Communities and Public Education

CJSF’s organizing partners, Leidy Robledo and Keno Walker of Alliance for Educational Justice, along with Nico Bernardo, CJSF’s Communications & Development Manager, created a piece for the SPARK blog — the Foundation for Child Development’s storytelling platform.

“Stepping Into Power: How Student Walkouts are Safeguarding Communities and Public Education” traces a through-line from Barbara Johns protesting subpar school conditions in 1951, to the East LA Blowouts where 20,000 Chicano students walked out demanding better schools, staffing, and curricula that reflected their communities, to the March for Our Lives demanding comprehensive gun control legislation, to now tens of thousands of students walking out in response to immigration enforcement in their schools and communities.

Leidy, Keno, and Nico offer a clear answer for funders, educators, and policymakers who are asking how to best support young people in this moment: fund community organizing for the long haul, protect students’ rights, uplift their voices, and follow their lead.