The Chicago Freedom School is coming !!!!!

Background During the summer of 1964, thirty Freedom Schools were established in towns throughout Mississippi to address racial inequalities in the educational system.  Mississippi’s black schools were poorly funded, and teachers had to use hand-me-down textbooks that offered a racist slant on American history.    The Freedom Schools offered a rebuttal to this reality.  Their curriculum included black history, the philosophy of the Civil Rights Movement, and leadership development in addition to remedial instruction in reading and arithmetic.  The Freedom Schools had hoped to draw at least 1000 students that first summer, and ended up with 3000. 

In 2006, Chicago is brimming with the energy of young people who are taking action on issues of zero tolerance, criminalization, racism, sexism, and homophobia.  Typically these young people are affiliated with local community-based organizations and schools.  Some are unaffiliated and taking independent action.  The time is right in Chicago for a citywide effort to provide a space for these young people to gain new skills, build alliances across neighborhoods, identities, and ideology. 

The Chicago Freedom School Project (CFS) emerged from conversations among youth, organizers and community members who were interested in creating just such a space.  Led by a committed group of independent youth and adults, this grassroots initiative is taking form – The Chicago Freedom School will open July 2007 with anchor funding from the Girl’s Best Friend Foundation.  For the past two years, CFS leaders have conducted a feasibility study and held hundreds of interviews and planning meetings with a variety of constituents around the city.  The consensus is clear: Chicago needs and wants CFS.

The vision of the Chicago Freedom School is to develop and support new generations of critical and independent thinking young people who through revelations of identity and power are compelled to use their unique experiences, energy and talents to counteract the staggering effects of repressive social policies and create a just world.

The mission of the Chicago Freedom School is to develop the personal and social capabilities of youth and adults so that they can work together to eradicate oppression.  The experience and rewards derived from participating in this experience will result in greater passion, commitment, confidence, focus, self-direction and tools for a life of social activism. 

The First Summer – 2007 CFS’ inaugural program will run for six weeks starting on July 9th 2007.  Forty-five young people ages 14-16 will have an opportunity to learn to ask questions about their lives, to see the connection between the means and the ends of creating change, and to develop as agents of social change.  Following the example of the original 1964 freedom schools, the CFS will instill in students the belief that they can ACT TOGETHER for social justice.  CFS participants will choose two out of seven possible substantive areas of inquiry including: visual arts, music, science/environment, performing arts, media arts (writing/journalism, technology), sports and healthcare/nutrition/holistic care. Each of these substantive areas of inquiry is called an “Institute” and will have a social justice focus.   On Fridays, youth will participate in a Civil Rights Institute coordinated and facilitated by a group of college students with support from the CFS program committee.  Studying Civil Rights history helps us understand how social movements happen i.e., how individual action and historical forces combine to create change.  It also allows us to pay homage to the movement that inspired the name for this project.  Finally, one week of the summer (July 30-August 3, 2007) will be dedicated to a retreat experience outside of Chicago where CFS participants will be able to apply what they have learned. Five key themes will be stressed during the summer program: leadership development, socio-political consciousness and analysis, relationship and identity issues, movement strategy, and research/documentation: 

  Values of the Chicago Freedom School

1.      We believe in personal, social, and political consciousness to boldly fight all forms of oppression and inequality.

2.      We are committed to addressing adultism as a systemic problem by improving the fabric of our society to be more inclusive and respectful towards youth.

3.      We are dedicated to fostering the empowerment of youth who are criminalized, racially profiled and marginalized by discriminatory public policies.

4.      We are committed to providing youth with opportunities to become part of a permanent social justice movement.

5.      We aspire to create transformative changes in all members of the Chicago Freedom School community.

6.      We believe in liberation from all forms of violence.

7.      We respect the dignity and interconnectedness of all beings and recognize this as the foundation for non-violent solutions to human problems.

8.      We believe that it is important for youth from various communities to see themselves as part of a larger world within and beyond Chicago.

9.      We believe that young people have power to create and lead social change.

10.  We are committed to have youth at least equally involved in the development, the governing and the administration of the school.

11.  We believe in youth and adults working cooperatively at all levels of planning and we appreciate caring and supportive parents/guardians who join with us as partners in social change.  

12.  We see aspects of today’s youth culture as valuable organizing tools.

13.  We believe that reflection, evaluation, and action are equal and necessary components of social change.

14.  We are committed to maintaining an environment of everlasting and mutual learning and growth.

15.  We believe that having fun is an important part of interacting and learning.

16.  We value spaces where honest, authentic language is always used.

17.  We value spaces where all participants hold each other and themselves accountable.

18.  We are committed to building an open organization where decision-making is consensus based.

19.  We respect and embrace diversity in all its forms.

20.  We envision the Freedom School as a physically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually safe space. 

Organization and Status While CFS will begin with a summer program, year-round programming for children, youth, and adults will be offered at the Chicago Freedom School. The CFS will provide an opportunity to foster intergenerational social change work and a safe space for adult organizers to share their experience and knowledge with youth, and vice versa. Within a few years, CFS will provide a home for activism in Chicago, with a central site and active year-round programming, a growing summer program where youth come back and build on their skills, and the groundwork to build a new movement in Chicago.  Chicago agencies will value CFS and rely on its programming to supplement their own. The CFS is organized into four primary working committees each made up of youth and adults, and is governed by a Steering Committee.  The committees are as follows:  Program

• Curriculum development
• Staffing

  Finance and Fundraising

• Local and national fundraising
• Grassroots fundraising
• Financial oversight, working with fiscal agent

  Logistics

• Site selection
• Articles of incorporation
• 501 c (3) application

  Marketing, Outreach, and Recruitment

• Youth forums and representation at community meetings
• Website and materials
• Events and trainings

For more information on the CFS - please feel free to e-mail - csfs_youth@yahoo.com