National Summit on Urban Education

According to the historic Brown vs. Board of Education decision by Chief Justice Earl Warren:” education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms”.

It is against the historical frame of Brown versus the Board of Education 60 years later that RainbowPUSH and PUSH For Excellence join with the Journey for Justice Coalition to convene a National Summit on Public Education to develop a comprehensive plan to address the crisis in public education in America today. Stakeholders from across the nation including: Camden, New Jersey, Patterson, New Jersey, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Newark, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New York, New York, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Chicago, Illinois, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Eupora, Mississippi, and Kilmichael, Mississippi will engage in “action circles” develop solutions to four major challenges in public education: 1 )School Privatization and Sustainable Community Schools,2)School to Prison Pipeline and the American Approach to Discipline in Urban Communities- 3) Funding Equity and 4) The Elimination of Black Teachers in urban schools. These summit participants are from different cities and states and different regions of the United States with slightly different facts and different local conditions, but a common legal question justifies their presence in this summit. Every public school district in America is challenged by school actions and interventions that are based on race and class.

• Discussions at the summit will include a focus on community-driven school improvement strategies. [For Background and Topics See the Press Release Below]
• The event will be open for participation from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Please join us at the Rainbow Push headquarters, 930 E. 50th Street (50th and Drexel in Kenwood) Chicago, Illinois
• To R.S.V.P. for the summit E-mail info@journeyforjustice.com or call 773-548-7500 .