This moment was a turning point for me. I scoured Facebook Marketplace, hunted at thrift stores, gathered friends, and we made the lounge shine! Since then, we have managed to create several more staff retreat spaces for those teaching in high-poverty schools.
I have served meals in staff lounges and listened while educators shared policy and practice ideas they thought would actually work, and the thoughtful solutions posed by teachers during their lunch breaks never cease to amaze me.
Similarly, I started a homework club for students of color at a school because students told me they were tired and unmotivated once they got home. So, we serve a full meal once a week to students, and we have learned a lot about the barriers students face within public schools. Our group expanded slowly. Kids told other kids. I raised more money, cooked a little more food and invited people to help us. But in the meantime, we were teaching the students about power, policy and the school board. We even attended a school board meeting together.
But here’s the problem. System change necessitates building a movement. And this takes time. It’s slow, and it requires resources. And with the changing political landscape, these needs will only continue to increase in the immediate future.
We are living in a moment when the strategy of system change cannot be divorced from the strategy of direct service. Now is the time to invest in our communities, wrap our arms around them, and lean into relationships.
This is the crux of community organizing. People show up when their self-interest aligns with our mission.
