Recent Campaigns

We run campaigns on issues that are important to our constituents- young people of color, many of whom are also working class, and/or immigrant, and/or LGBT, and/or undocumented. Thus far, our campaigns have focused on educational justice issues, especially issues of school pushout and the school to prison pipeline.

 
 
 

People’s Budget

#DIVESTTOINVEST

#PEOPLE’SBUDGETNL

The People’s Budget NL is a community-led Coalition committed to making sure the needs of New London's residents are at the center of the Mayor's annual budget.


FedUpNL

 #INVESTINCOMMUNITY #COPSOUTSCHOOLS

FedUpNL was born during the 2020 uprisings. Community demands to divest from policing and into community wellness launched our two campaigns: The People’s Budget and Cops out Schools. We believe strongly that the time is now to redesign our institutions in ways that center principles of anti-racism and anti-poverty so that they are infused with the value of freedom for Black people, Indigenous people, Latinx people, Asian people, and poor people of all races.

Cops Out of Schools

#COPSOUTSCHOOLS

An intergenerational group of youth organizers and advocates who aim to resolve Connecticut’s reliance on police offers in schools.





Past Campaign Victories

Black & Latino Studies Legislation

In 2019, we joined forces with Students for Educational Justice, CT Students for a Dream, Citywide Youth Coalition, and the CT Black and Brown Student Union to pass legislation that mandates that every high school in the state offer a full-year course on Black and Latino Studies. Together, over 25 young people from across the state testified. This is the first legislation of its kind in the country.

In the words of Shawn Brooks Fletcher, youth leader on this campaign— “When I heard it passed, I was filled with joy. This is our bill. We did this, we made history. Black history is U.S. history, and U.S. history is Black history. This Bill will empower ALL students to understand the grassroots fighters and builders of this nation.”

You can read more about it here, here, and here!

Ethnic Studies Course @ New London High School

In 2018, young people in our summer program voted to focus on the issue of  eurocentric curriculum.  After studying the issue and hours of debates about how to proceed (because the entire k-12 curriculum needs to be re-done and re-made anti-racist), they voted to start with a Black history course at the high school level. With support from Board of Education members, and after hours of meetings with district leaders over many months, district leaders and the Board finally approved the creation of a full-year Ethnic Studies course at the high school. Ethnic Studies is not the same as a Black history course

#NationalSchoolWalkout

Accessible grievance process for students & families

We Want to Graduate Campaign

We won the first half of the We Want to Graduate Campaign, which focused on credit loss due to absences and tardies. After 2 years of hard work that included doing our own research to learn more about the issue and how many students are affected, that included hours of meetings with decision-makers, that included talking to hundreds of students on the issue, the New London Board of Education finally voted to revise the district Attendance Policy. The new policy has supports and interventions for students who are absent, rather than punishments. It also has a warning system in place so that students know they are at risk of losing credit because of absences. The revised high school handbook has a detailed section on how to appeal credit lost due to absences. The information is also now on the high school website so that it's easier for students and families to access and learn about.