By Morgan Craven, J.D. • Knowledge is Power • December 15, 2021 •

Morgan Craven photoIDRA hosted a policy series this year to engage with students, families and advocates in Texas and Georgia around education policy and advocacy issues. The series featured legislative updates, policy explainer sessions, and a multi-session focus on the use of federal COVID-19 emergency relief funding for schools.

Flier Building Supportive Schools from the Ground Up,During the series, IDRA held four listening and learning sessions to gather community-based recommendations for how federal funds should be used to promote an equitable response to the pandemic and address long-standing education equity issues. The community sessions brought together young people, families, advocates and other education experts.

IDRA’s report, Building Supportive Schools from the Ground Up, highlights the main strategies identified during the sessions. These strategies are grounded in the lived and learned expertise of session participants and focus on how school districts can use federal funds to invest in strategies that ensure culturally-sustaining schools for all students.


[©2021, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the December 15, 2021, edition of Knowledge is Power by the Intercultural Development Research Association. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]

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