Podcast episode 250 cover IDRA Educdation Policy Fellows #2

Where Power Lives and Who It Leaves Out – Classnotes Podcast 250 | Classnotes Podcast 250

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Classnotes Podcast (August 22, 2025). In this episode, IDRA Education Policy Fellows share their personal experiences as advocates of color in southern legislatures. They reflect on how their cultural identities shaped their work and how they found strength and clarity in the face of systemic exclusion, microaggressions, and performative policymaking.

With courage and community, these fellows turned marginalization into motivation and transformed policy spaces with authenticity and purpose.

Mikayla Arciaga, M.A.Ed., Georgia Advocacy Director & Education Policy Fellows Coordinator, led the conversation with fellows: Vivek Datla, MPA, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Regional, DeAndrea Byrd, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Georgia, Isabelle Philip, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Policy Communications, and Kaci Wright, M.Ed., IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Texas.

The IDRA groundbreaking Education Policy Fellows Program is changing the landscape of state education advocacy by training advocates with a commitment to and experience with communities of color to influence state laws and lead a powerful network of impacted communities. The 2024-25 cycle of this program is being generously supported by the Trellis Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation.

Show length: 24:32 min.

Send comments to podcast@idra.org

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Resources

IDRA 2024-25 Fellows – Bios and writings. Plus profiles brochure

IDRA Education Policy Fellows Program

Policy Whiplash in Georgia – The 2025 Session Delivered Education Gains, Losses and Looming Threats, with Terrence Wilson, J.D., Mikayla Arciaga, M.A.Ed., Isabelle Philip & Makiah Lyons, J.D., IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2025

Legislature Dances the Texas Three-Step: Defund, Demonize, Privatize Public Education, with Vivek Datla, MPA, IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2025

Student Voices on Public Policy, video feature by Trellis Foundation, May 2025

IDRA Education Policy Fellow Feature, video feature by Trellis Foundation, August 2025

Post-fellowship evaluation report of the program’s first cycle

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Show Notes

  • DeAndrea reflects on advocating as a Black woman at the Capitol, naming constant microaggressions, the dismissal of Black women legislators’ research-backed bills, and why she treats her identity as a “superpower” that keeps her grounded and translating policy for community action.

  • Vivek shares the emotional toll of working in spaces where policies harm communities of color, describing how diversity, equity and inclusion is miscast and how even an ethnic studies credit bill was dismissed for being labeled, despite his lived-experience advocacy.

  • Kaci talks about entering the Capitol as a young woman of color and an educator, finding solidarity with other women of color, using data and classroom experience to confront policies harming Black students, and overcoming initial impostor syndrome.

  • Isabelle highlights barriers that keep communities out – nepotism, lack of lived experience among decision-makers, and how emotion is held against impacted advocates – while underscoring the need for fellowships and pipelines that bring new voices in.

  • The fellows outline how to shift power: increasing representation at every level, involving communities of color before bills are drafted, moving beyond performative “input” to real co-creation, and making legislative processes accessible and welcoming.

  • On sustainability, the fellows share what keeps them going: focusing on priorities, leaning on supportive teams, mentoring and mobilizing students, remembering the long game, and building practical community tools and trainings to carry the work forward.