A Formula for Multi-School Partnerships to Promote Social Justice

Brooklyn Friends School hosted a pre-conference workshop at Brooklyn Friends School on March 7 as part of the Private Schools with Public Purpose Conference. BFS Director of Service Learning & Civic Engagement Natania Kremer and Packer Collegiate Institute’s Director of Global Programs and Community Engagement Tené Howard welcomed colleagues from across the country for Brooklyn in Solidarity: Exploring Multi-School Community Partnerships. The session opened at Packer Collegiate Institute at 8:30 AM and closed at Brooklyn Friends School at 11:30 AM,

BACKGROUND: Over the last three years, Brooklyn Friends School, Berkeley Carroll School, The Packer Collegiate Institute and Saint Ann’s School have partnered with local community organizations to highlight and take action on timely social justice issues identified by a cross-school group of students.

What began as a collaborative desire to explore and respond to the ban of asylum seekers and refugees in 2017, has grown into a project that engages students in examining an important local and national social justice issue.

Brooklyn in Solidarity hosts an annual student organized workshop event that connects their peers to action through partnerships with local community organizations addressing those issues.

During this workshop participants learned about the multi-school collaborative model used to develop the Brooklyn in Solidarity Program. There was also an opportunity to visit with key community partners during the visit and learn about the ways in which student leaders and local community organizers have galvanized around collective awareness-raising and action. In addition, Brooklyn Friends School 10th graders Jack D, Ellis C, Daelynn G, Jazz H, and Kayla N spoke to participants about their experience in the 10th grade “Brooklyn in Solidarity” elective course they are currently taking with Natania Kremer.

A group of educators at a pre-conference workshop of the Private Schools with a Public Purpose Conference on March 7, 2019