Just Communities Central Coast

Programs: Youth programs: just communities offers two core youth programs: the community leadership institute (cli) and talking in class (tic). Cli is a summer program that works with 40 high-school aged youth per year to strengthen leadership, communication and advocacy skills while tackling important issues of racial, gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic inequality. This workshop allows students to explore their multifaceted identities, learn how to recognize and counter inequality, gain advocacy skills, and create plans to create changes in their schools, organizations, and communities. Tic takes place during the school year and engages students in meaningful dialogue and strategic action to eliminate disparities in academic opportunities and achievement by developing concrete school improvement strategies that work. This is a customized program that is built to fit the needs of each individual school. Talking in class ensures students have a voice in their own educational process and success.

institute for equity in education (iee): iee is a comprehensive five-day residential training combined with on-going support and coaching that gives educators the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to make positive changes in student achievement through their own individual practices (as a teacher, counselor or administrator) and through school and system-wide changes that build student connectedness, promote cultural relevancy in curriculum and pedagogy, and increase the level of rigor for all students.

parent involvement through dialogue & action (pida): pida is a bilingual series of eight sessions that brings together diverse parents in local schools. Over the course of the program, parents advance from building trust and relationships to exploring the root causes of educational inequality in their school, to developing goals and action plans for school change, to implementing those action plans. After parents graduate from pida, just communities provides ongoing support so they can effectively create school change.

the language access initiative (lai): the lai aims to create a more inclusive community by improving access to multilingual spaces in which people can connect across differences of language, culture, race, ethnicity, and immigration experience. Language access ensures that everyone's voices are heard and included in the process of school improvement and community change. Lai seeks to ensure our local schools have enough highly trained personnel who can serve as high quality interpreters in order to ensure all people are able to fully participate regardless of language background. Lai also provides ongoing training and support for experienced and aspiring interpreters of all levels who share a commitment to social justice principles. Through the lai, we will help north county schools develop a cadre of interpreters who can work with schools to develop stronger relationships between schools and parents and facilitate more meaningful parent engagement which, in turn, promotes greater academic achievement. Just communities also provides customized training and consultation to organizations focused on areas of equity, inclusion, diversity, and organizational effectiveness and change.