Amount: $15,000
2015
Durham, NC
YOI was formed in 2010 to strengthen the voice of low-income students of color and their families in the debate about Wake County’s school diversity policy. The organization works to build the organizing and political capacity of youth of color through Summer Freedom Schools, seasonal trainings, and IPEPs (Individual Political Education Programs) as well as to remove the structural barriers (e.g., transportation, sibling care, financial cost) to youth engagement in organizing and policy work. The young people with whom it has worked have gone on to play leading roles in campaigns on a range of issues opposing structural racism and systemic oppression, including campaigns for LGBTQ rights and the dismantling of the school to prison pipeline. They organized North Carolina’s first statewide Black Lives Matter Youth Assembly in February 2015. Hazen’s grant will enable YOI to continue to develop the political and organizing capacity of youth as well as help their alumni conduct direct actions at strategic sites and moments. It also will support YOI’s work to build the power of the emergent NC Coalition for Education Justice.