JACK Presents Reparations & Education

As part of its ongoing Reparations365 series, JACK offers a conversation around the theme of repair and education, inviting attendees to explore the challenges in our educational system, both local and beyond, and to learn about current efforts to infuse equity into that system.

Featured guests include:

Kesi Foster (Make the Road NY, and co-author of the Reparations platform for the Movement for Black Lives)
Megan Hester (Director of Education Justice Research, NYU's Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools)
Maurice Blackmon (public school teacher and team member of Integrate NYC)

Moderator: Artist/educator nicHi Douglas.

FREE. There will be food.

LOCATION: JACK | 505 ½ Waverly Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238 | C or G train to Clinton-Washington

Kesi Foster (panelist) is an organizer with Make The Road New York, a member of the Urban Youth Collaborative and Dignity in Schools and Alliance for Educational Justice Coalitions. Make The Road New York builds the power of immigrant and working class communities of color to achieve dignity and justice. Foster is a co-author of the Reparations Platform for The Movement for Black Lives.

Megan Hester (panelist) is the Director of Education Justice Research and Organizing Collaborative at NYU's Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. Hester has worked in the education justice movement for two decades as an organizer, trainer and researcher. She directs the Education Justice Research and Organizing Collaborative (EJ-ROC), which provides research, policy, data and strategic support to parent and youth organizing groups across the country. Prior to coming to the NYU Metro Center, Megan was with the Annenberg Institute for School Reform for 10 years, where she supported the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice, the Urban Youth Collaborative, and other education organizing groups in New York City. Before that, she worked as a parent and youth organizer with Central Brooklyn Churches and ACORN, and an anti-oppression trainer with the National Conference for Community and Justice. She received a bachelor's degree in Latino Studies and Economics from Columbia University and a masters degree in American Studies from the CUNY Graduate Center.

Maurice Blackmon (panelist) is an English teacher in NYC public schools, and is a team member of IntegrateNYC, a youth-led organization that stands for integration and equity in New York City schools.

nicHi Douglas (Moderator) is a Brooklyn-based actor, dancer, choreographer, director, playwright and activist. She has performed all over New York and the country as an actor/dancer in the freelance capacity, in addition to performing nationally with The Dance Cartel and literacy-focused children's theatre company The Story Pirates. She currently teaches Movement & Choreography and Performance Symposium in the NYU: Tisch Drama Department - Playwright's Horizon Theatre School studio. She is currently in residence in Fresh Ground Pepper's inaugural In-House Artists program and is an Ars Nova's Maker's Lab artist-in-residence for 2018. Recent stage credits: Primer for a Failed Superpower (Roulette, Choreographer), PharmaBro: An American Douchical (The Players Theatre, Choreographer), Runaways (NY City Center, Associate Choreographer), The Dance Cartel: ONTHEFLOOR (A.R.T./Oberon, Principal Dancer), NOW EVERYONE GO AROUND THE TABLE AND SAY WHAT THEY'RE THANKFUL FOR (NYU/Experimental Theater Wing, Director), decolonizing my vagina (Exponential Festival at JACK, Choreographer) and Black Girl Magic Show! (Ars Nova ANT Fest and JACK, Director/ Choreographer/ Playwright). Upcoming stage credits: A Time Like This (Carnegie Hall, Stage Director) and Runaways (Public Theater Gala, Associate Director and Choreographer). B.F.A. NYU/ETW; M.F.A. The New School.

Reparations365 is JACK's series of performances, workshops and discussions around the topic of distributive justice for Black Americans. Launched in February 2017, the series consists of public offerings featuring a convergence of scholars, artists and activists. The series includes several community conversations, panel discussions and interactive workshops curated with the participation of our neighbors and members of the artistic and activist community in New York. Through the series, participants discover multiple ways to engage with the topic, all with an intention of offering tangible take-ways for participants and a concrete movement forward. The People's Think Tank emerged out of the series in order to offer a way for participants to brainstorm together next steps for real change.

This series is made possible by a Humanities New York Action Grant, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and from many individual donor

To post a comment, you must register and login.