Support for Organizing and Engagement in New England
Printer-friendly versionAISR supports the Nellie Mae Education Foundation’s (NMEF) two major initiatives to help school districts and communities in New England achieve excellence and equity in their local schools.
NMEF’s District Level Systems Change (DLSC) initiative is aimed at developing, promoting, and deepening student-centered learning models in secondary schools across New England. NMEF is centrally concerned with issues of equity and has focused its DLSC efforts in New England communities poised to make a difference for all their youth, but especially those who have been historically underserved.
In the News:
"Institute works to improve Randolph, Mass. schools,"
Brown Daily Herald 4/26/12
NMEF’s Opportunity Fund has awarded grants to organizations that build public understanding and demand for student-centered learning.
| In February 2011, five of the Opportunity Fund grantees -- Boston Parent Organizing Network, Granite State Organizing Project (Manchester, NH), Young Voices (Providence), Youth 4 Change Alliance (Providence), and Youth Organizers United for the Now Generation (Boston) -- gathered with the Annenberg Institute for School Reform to talk about their work as activists and organizers for student-centered learning. In the video below, produced by the the Youth In Action Media Team -- Next Generation Media, the grantees work together to develop and tell their stories. |
DLSC Webinar Series:
In support of the community-based work happening at the Nellie Mae District Level Systems Change planning grant sites, AISR has arranged for a webinar series focusing on issues and challenges of community organizing and engagement.
WEBINAR 1: Tackling the Challenges of Rural Community Engagement
WEBINAR 2: Working Together to Create Meaningful Parent Engagement
Technical Assistance:
AISR provides technical assistance and guidance to NMEF program staff around building their own understanding of community engagement and organizing as a strategy for school reform.
As part of NMEF’s DSLC initiative, AISR supports school districts/communities in New England that have received NMEF DLSC implementation grants: Portland, Maine; Sanford, Maine; Burlington and Winooski, Vermont; and Pittsfield, New Hampshire. AISR’s technical assistance aims to cultivate cross-site learning and help individual sites deepen student-centered learning in their high schools, through community engagement and organizing to build public understanding and demand for educational change.
AISR also works with five NMEF Opportunity Fund grantees engaged in youth and parent organizing for school reform. These five organizations are working in four different cities: Youth 4 Change Alliance (Providence), Young Voices (Providence and Central Falls), Youth Organizers United for the Now Generation (Boston), Boston Parent Organizing Network, and Youth Organizers United (Manchester, New Hampshire).