Communitycall feb2015

Winter 2015

COMMUNITY CALL

From Crim Center (I Create My Own Experience Program) [Left to Right] John Thomas, Dr. Brian Williams, Deshawn Fleming, and Tobias Lee, after a conversation about their experience at the monumental 50th anniversary of the March on Selma which the students of ICME attended.

The Crim Center Community Call

By Dr. Brian Williams, Director of Crim Center

Welcome to the Community Call Newsletter. In this edition, we share stories about how we frame the narrative of urban education through service, leadership, and innovation.

Read how Jumpstart, T.E.A.M. AmeriCorps, and other Crim Center staff joined others around the metroAtlanta area in days of service with the community during the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday weekend.

Find out about the exciting new Crim Center program, I.C.M.E., that focuses on how young men define and create their life experiences. Check out a student’s take on the movie Selma, as well as a student review of the book, Teach Freedom. Also, be sure to look for our announcement for the 10th Annual Sources of Urban Educational Excellence Conference, Reconstructing

facebook.com/crimcenter

the Narrative: Stories of Change, Equity, and Promise in Urban Education, which will take place on May 2 at the Georgia State University Student Center. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and pay special attention to our #Sources2015 social media campaign where we will be sharing videos of community member’s empowering stories of public education.

@AlonzoACrimCUEE

@AlonzoACrimCUEE

For full articles and to learn more about the Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence, please go to our website: crim.education.gsu.edu

1

Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call

COMMUNITYCALL Winter 2015

Teach Freedom: Education for Liberation in the African American Tradition

By Kweku Vassall, Crim Center Graduate Research Assistant Teach Freedom: Education for Liberation in the African American Tradition (2008) is a great resource for educators, students and community organizers. This anthology, edited by Charles M. Payne and Carol Sills Strickland, covers much of the history of emancipatory educational efforts in the United States. Beginning from

This book speaks to the tradition of educators succeeding in academically liberating students who are trying their best to learn despite adverse social, political, and economic conditions.

the end of the Civil War, these efforts included initiatives conducted by former enslaved Africans for literacy, voting rights, and economic empowerment. The development of many schools at this time, known as “Freedmen’s Schools” sought to achieve all of these goals. This context is evident in the curriculum materials and activities developed. Early chapters include examples of reading materials which highlight the heroic efforts of figures like Toussaint L’Overture and John Brown. These examples are supported with the voices and thoughts of students at the turn of the century.

Above, the front cover of The Teach Freedom: Education for Liberation in the African-American Tradition

!

The text moves on to cover the installations of Citizenship Schools and Freedom Schools in the South during the late 50s and early 60s. These local-based community gatherings in rural areas like the Sea Islands and Savannah were developed by activist educators seeking to increase voter registration, literacy, and an understanding of the need for civil rights. In these chapters, readers will learn about the invaluable work of female organizers like Septima Clark, Bernice Robinson, and the SNCC coordinator, Ella Baker. These women utilize strategies such as a concern for individual development, peer learning, and non-hierarchical communal decision-making to build successful social and educational movements. Along with the work of other civil rights advocates, they laid the foundation for other important movements such as the Freedom Schools and breakfast program initiatives of the Black Panther Party (in different areas). This subject is covered extensively in an entry from former GSU African American Studies department chair, Dr. Charles Jones, along with the current Dean of Undergraduate Studies in the GSU College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Jonathan Gayles.

!

Following these perspectives, there are more articles outlining various community youth programs and schools – specifically those aligned with larger social movements and activism. Featuring a mix of afterschool, public school-based, church-based and African-centered programs, this book shares best practices we all can learn from. This book speaks to the tradition of educators succeeding in academically liberating students who are trying their best to learn despite adverse social, political, and economic conditions. I recommend Teach Freedom to educators working to implement equitable educational opportunities in urban school and communities.

2

Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call

COMMUNITYCALL Winter 2015

Crim Center Shows Commitment to Service During King Holiday

By Anique Hameed, Crim Center Graduate Research Assistant

The Kingian philosophy is steeped in the themes of nonviolent action, service, and transformative love for social change. Like Dr. Alonzo A. Crim’s vision for the Community of Believers, Dr. King’s “Beloved Community” was a vision of an interconnected diverse community working together peacefully to eliminate the suffering of our neighbors and the entire human family. With shared vision and purpose, the Alonzo A. Crim Center staff and students demonstrated their commitment to service during the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend by participating in community planning and volunteer activities across the Atlanta area.

!

As a part of the The Washington Cluster Support Planning Team (WCSPT), the Crim Center worked with other community organizations such as Raising Expectations, the Westside Communities Alliance, representatives from the “Everyone has the power for Atlanta Public School Board, and the Atlanta University Center Consortium to greatness - not for fame, but develop and host the Westside Education Forum on Saturday, January 17, 2015. greatness, because greatness is The forum brought together stakeholders from across metro-Atlanta to discuss determined by service.” issues related to the success of the historic community where Dr. King went to high school and later reared his children. More specifically, the WCSPT Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed the state of the cluster and the results of a recent survey of over 250 community members. During the morning planning meeting, Dr. Tene Davis presented data related to student and teacher success in the Washington High School Cluster and the data from a community survey. Later in the day, Dr. Davis along with Dr. Brian Williams, Crim Center Director, and Ms. Shadonna Davis, GSU Doctoral student and Crim Center Fellow, also supported the forum by facilitating work groups with community stakeholders from across the Washington High School Cluster.

!

On Monday, January 19, 2014, the Crim Center’s AmeriCorps programs, Jumpstart and T.E.A.M. (Technology, Environment, And Mathematics), took to local neighborhoods, schools, and parks to celebrate with service. Jumpstart members participated in community clean-up activities in the Pittsburgh neighborhood including Gideons Elementary School, Pittman Park, and McDaniel Street. T.E.A.M. AmeriCorps members led and participated in projects at Harper-Archer Middle School, Sylvan Middle School, and King Middle School ranging from cleaning school facilities to packing toiletries and goods for community members. For more information on volunteer opportunities with the Alonzo A. Crim Center contact us at cueeinfo@gsu.edu.

Team AmeriCorps member, LaBrandon Ladson [center] participating in MLK Day Community School Beautification Projects, in conjunction with Atlanta After-School All-Stars and Atlanta Public Schools

Jumpstart corps members at Pittman Park participating in MLK Day Community School Beautification Projects

3

Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call

COMMUNITYCALL Winter 2015 4

New Program I.C.M.E. Amplifies the Voice of Urban Youth

By Jason Moore, Crim Center Intern

I Create My Experience or I.C.M.E. (pronounced I See Me) is a 4-month program (January-April) that serves Black and Latino male, ages 16-24. Taught by Garfield Bright, Georgia State University doctoral student and Crim Center Fellow, the course encourages and emphasizes cultural awareness, digital/media literacy, critical literacy, and new civic engagement principles, while I.C.M.E serves the community of young men who concurrently helping young men counter negative images of men display compassion and understanding of of color in the media. The power of the media is what drives the community issues and a desire to develop curriculum. I.C.M.E. participants become aware of the integrated innovative solutions to the challenges facing youth in today’s society. ideology that exists through the media and take charge to balance the narrative of what is “Black and Latino culture, identity and image.” Bright challenges the young men to think about the way they think about reality in society. For example, during a recent class Bright argued, “Everything is a concept based on the acceptance of a persuasive thought that is bought in, accepted, and defended as your own.” This exercise helped the young men begin to understand the power of a dominant narrative, and how to counter it by creating their own narratives.

I.C.M.E. is a fresh, groundbreaking program incubated in the Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence, located in the College of Education at GSU. The students participate in sessions work at GSU, and also involve themselves in the community. While in the community, I.C.M.E strives to enrich the student’s knowledge of the significance of Black and Latino culture by exploring some of the various factors that influence it. It also exists to provide the students with a sense of critical media awareness in order for them to be able to develop a more discerning lens through which to view society and their positionality within it. Co-taught by Georgia State alum and Crim Center Intern, Jason Moore, I.C.M.E. equips students with digital media skills that they employ to create visual productions that function as counter narratives. The students learn the importance of cinematography, elements of a frame, and storyline. There are many aesthetics that help produce narratives, and while countering narratives the students feature and foreground their perspectives as Black and Latino males who are empowered to positively impact their communities through civic engagement. For [Above] I.C.M.E. students John Thomas [right] and Rakeem Bland [left] shooting a example, the young men have completed a public video addressing community issues and solutions. [Below] Rakeem Bland in Selma interviewing participants during the commemoration services of the 50th service announcement providing awareness of the anniversary of Bloody Sunday. top five causes of death in the African American community, which are all health related. While they are currently working on a documentary short film about their participation at the 50th anniversary of the March on Selma, the young men continue to create their own experience.

I Create My Experience envisions a reality where critically aware and digitally savvy young Black and Latino males are intrinsically motivated to use media tools to positively impact the narratives of their existence, as well as the quality of life within and on behalf of their communities through selfcreated civic engagement opportunities. To get involved with the efforts of this program feel free to stop by the Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence located in the College of Education on the GSU Campus or visit us at crim.education.gsu.edu.

!

Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call

COMMUNITYCALL Winter 2015

Selma: Movie Reflection

By K.J. Williams, Crim Center Intern

After watching the movie, Selma (2014), I left the theater feeling an overwhelming sense of responsibility, responsibility to take more of an active role within my community and to help improve the quality of life for all. There has to be something that we as human beings believe in and are willing to stand firmly for. Seeing the portrayal of Dr. King as a selfless man, sacrificing his own wants and needs, encouraged me to push myself beyond my own fears and uncertainties in order to be a better human being and more effective leadership.

!

The portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma revealed a side of the civil rights icon that felt more relatable and more human than the legend of the man that is so often taught to children in schools across the country. The movie did not depict the superhero or larger than life persona of Dr. King, but rather the man who believed in the equality of all people; a viewpoint that was unpopular among many of the nation’s citizens at the time.

!

Selma shed light on Dr. King uneasiness with his role in the Civil Rights Movement. Viewers caught glimpses of his occasional doubt of his ability to realize his vision for justice and equality.

He too shed tears when confronted with the agony and pain of strangers who lost their lives due to an act of racially motivated violence. He too wanted to experience happiness and watch his children grow to have fulfilling lives of their own. Despite these tensions, he understood and accepted his call to leadership and refuse to allow himself to be stifled by doubt or fear. He transcended potential barriers and burdens in order to be a leader truly worth following.

!

Did You Know? The Alonzo A. Crim Center’s Early College Program, African American Male Initiative Program, as well as I.C.M.E. has taken students from urban schools on cultural field trips to Selma, Alabama. On past trips students have participated in the Jubilee Festival which commemorates the 1965 bridge crossing with a re-enactment.

STAY INFORMED

facebook.com/ crimcenter

@AlonzoACrimCUEE

ABOUT THE CRIM CENTER Founded in 1996, the Alonzo A. Crim Center is an interdisciplinary hub that works to ensure that no person is alienated from or by education within urban communities.

We are a place in which the Community of Believers are able to come in order to support one another's educational needs and endeavors. Each year, the Center delivers programming and support services to over +10,000 adults and children at a cost of about $100.00 per person/child per year.

Through partnerships, donations and support we are proud to offer programs that benefit our school communities. Volunteerism allows us to offer over 38,000 volunteer hours to the community each year.

Of course, we would love for you to volunteer in any of our research and service efforts. Join us today and become a part of the "Community of Believers."

@AlonzoACrimCUEE

Interested in supporting our work? Contact Community Outreach Specialist, Dana E. Salter at dsalter@gsu.edu or 404. 413. 8072.

UPCOMING EVENTS April 2- May 2 #Sources2015 Campa ign Share videos your po sitive experiences with publi c education using the ha shtag #Sources2015 via socia l media.

!

May 2 The 10th Annual Sour ces of Urban Educational Excellence Conferen ce 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Georgia State Universi ty Student Center 44 Courtland St. To register please vis it sources2015.eventbr ite.com

http://bit.ly/Give2Crim

5

Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call

6

Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence Community Call