Community Action Projects

Authentic Education Through Community Action

At the beginning of each trimester at every YouthBuild Charter School of California site, teachers work with students to form one “essential question” for all of their courses to guide how learners will engage in a course study. Throughout the trimester, students explore answers to their essential questions– questions about leadership, the balance of power, and social justice.  As the trimester draws to a close, students work together with teachers and staff on a “Community Action Project,” a single event that involves the whole school working to serve the community, and is typically related to the site’s “essential question.”

Community Action Projects are long term commitments to the neighborhoods where our school sites are based. These projects take place in the local community and seek to address an inequity that exists in the neighborhood. For example, in East Los Angeles, our students wanted to address the fact that their neighborhood lacked access to fresh, healthy produce. That trimester, teachers created a curriculum that gave students the opportunity to study and learn more about food deserts. At the end of the trimester, students worked with a local corner liquor store to add refrigeration units and stock them with fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables.

YouthBuild Charter School of California teacher Kekai Bryant created the infographic on the right to help her students better understand the community action project process. To view in full size, click here.

Below are several examples of the social justice advocacy work and community action projects that students at YouthBuild Charter School of California have initiated in their communities over the years. 

 

 

Lennox students and staff hosted a Community Health Fair in 2012. Clockwise from upper left, 1.) a Lennox student helps administer a free eye exam to a community member; 2.) students and staff prepare healthy foods for community members to eat; 3.) students help community members sign up for free HIV and STI testing at community partner Bienestar's mobile testing truck; 4.) students painting signs to advertise the event.

 

 

 

In October of 2015, a gang-related shooting took place just three minutes from our school site in Canoga Park, leaving an innocent bystander dead. The tragedy really affected our students, many of whom were victims of violence themselves. In response students at ACE's RUTH YouthBuild organized a Peace March in their community. Clockwise from upper left: 1.) Students, staff and community members marching for peace over violence; 2.) A student speaks to the crowd about how violence in the community had personally affected him; 3.) Another student speaks with a member of the press about the event; 4.) Students and staff take a moment of silence to honor the victim, Eduardo Rebolledo-Ramirez. 

 

 

 

 

 

From 2012 - 2014, students and staff at CÁLO YouthBuild in Boyle Heights partnered with the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence in L.A. Jails to call attention to sheriff violence and advocate for civilian oversight in L.A. County jails. The students organized protests, phone banking campaigns, and teach-ins. In their classes, they created videos, banners, and radio broadcasts. They also wrote articles and presented to the LA County Board of Supervisors. In March of 2014, students worked with The Coalition to End Sheriff Violence in LA Jails, The League of Women's Voters and the ACLU to organize a Candidates Forum to inform the community about the candidates for L.A. County sheriff. The event provided an opportunity for our students and members of their community to learn about the candidates for LA Sheriff so that they could choose a candidate to help end corruption in the department. Clockwise from top: Boyle Heights students outside of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in 2013 protesting the use of sheriff violence in L.A. County jails. 2.) Students celebrate after a meeting at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' Office during which the Board voted to approve the creation of a Civilian Review Board that would watch over the L.A. Sheriffs Department. The picture represents the culmination of over 2 years of organizing. 3.) Students marching through their community with a banner they created calling for civilian oversight. Click here to view a news clip from Noticias 62 (in Spanish) from one of their protests.

 

 

 

Lennox students participated in United Way’s Homewalk in 2013 to raise awareness about homelessness in their community and the importance of permanent supportive housing.

 

 

Fresno students marched in downtown Fresno in 2013 to mark the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service and raise concerns about such things as poverty, education inequality, support for veterans, outsourcing jobs and bad drinking water in some parts of the Valley. Working with the nonprofit HandsOn Central California, they helped distribute over 40,000 pounds of food and cleaning supplies to 820 local families.