To Our Community,
The LISC Charter School Financing team is committed to racial justice. We are devastated by recent news of police brutality and racial violence in the communities that we are from and partner with. We say the names of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery, the most recent victims of these travesties. However, we also understand that these murders are not anomalies, but are the direct result of centuries of systemic racism and oppression, police brutality, and inequitable criminal justice policies perpetuated against black and brown communities. We stand in solidarity with our communities in their anger and in their calls for justice and equity.
Our commitment to this work continues. We will continue to pursue our mission of ensuring that all children have access to a successful public school in their community. This work is necessary because for centuries, structural racism and racist policies have barred black and brown families from accessing high-quality public schools. We will continue to educate ourselves and take the internal action necessary to be an anti-racist organization. We are committed to working with public charter schools that are also doing this work.
Lastly, we cannot ignore the traumatic impacts of these events on our schools, their students, our communities, and our team. We encourage you to join us in this urgent work to address racism and condemn injustice in our country by educating yourselves on freedom movements, listening to voices that are often silenced, and amplifying resources and actions that contribute to our collective vision for an equitable future. Below please find education and community organizing resources that serve as a starting point and help equip us to have hard conversations about racism, striving towards freedom, and creating the equitable future we all deserve. We extend our gratitude to the leaders of these organizations, the organizers and the institutions who helped compile and author these resources:
Education Resources
- 1619 - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/podcasts/1619-podcast.html
- Community Resource Hub - https://communityresourcehub.org/resources/
- Equal Justice Initiative - https://eji.org/
- National Museum of African American History and Culture Online Resource Portal- https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race
- Race Forward “What is Systemic Racism” - https://www.raceforward.org/videos/systemic-racism
- Showing Up for Racial Justice - https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/resources.html
- The Anti-Racism Project - https://www.antiracismproject.org/resources
- The Conscious Kid - https://www.instagram.com/theconsciouskid/
- Zinn Education Project - https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/
Community Organizing and Antiracism Training Groups
- Audre Lorde Project - https://alp.org/
- Black Lives Matter - https://blacklivesmatter.com/
- Black Visions Collective - https://www.blackvisionsmn.org/
- Black Women’s Blueprint - https://www.blackwomensblueprint.org/
- Color of Change - https://colorofchange.org/
- Crossroads Antiracism Organizing and Training - http://crossroadsantiracism.org/
- Disruptive Equity Education Project - https://digdeepforequity.org/
- NAACP - https://www.naacp.org/
- Overcoming Racism - https://www.overcomeracism.com/
- Reclaim the Block - https://www.reclaimtheblock.org/home/#about
- The Leadership Conference - http://civilrights.org/
- Village of Wisdom - https://www.villageofwisdom.org/
In solidarity,
LISC Charter School Financing team