Why?
We don’t believe in systems reform/change/improvement.
We believe in radical solutions that require imaginative excellence.
The new worlds we must birth are already within us.
HOW?
1. Birth the liberated systems.
We have an approved charter. That’s our portal of entry into the “education system”. We access local, state and federal dollars to provide a 4 year high school experience to our community. We will continue to listen to the needs that emerge and co-create solutions with our community. As a result, we will continue to birth the liberated systems required to bridge the gap between 2121 and 2021. Each innovation has its own success metrics (EmpowerX, ECHS, Street Knowledge, etc…).
Example: the kind of curriculum we need doesn’t exist. I can’t go to Pearson and ask for curriculum co-created with our students aligned to our Transformative Resistance framework. Pearson can’t do that nor am I interested. The team we build at Street Knowledge (SK) will learn how to do that and will provide a 4 year standards-aligned co-created curriculum that can serve as a base for future Empower educators and students to remix from. SK will measure the impact of that curriculum to refine and adapt future iterations of the product and the process while building a sales team that can bring the solution (product and process) to other markets.
2. Inspire paradigm shifts through compelling storytelling.
We will test a variety of media to identify our niche/sweet spot for our audiences including: animation, videography, blog posts, art magazines, and/or a tv series. Success will be measured by our engagement rate across the following social media channels: Instagram, Facebook, Twitters, LinkedIn, YouTube and Medium.
3. Partner with others to remix.
Examples:
A few principles to guide the work:
Deep in community.
We are building a Wakanda in Aurora. That will be our flagship “Liberated System”. It will require us to constantly keep an ear to the needs of your community of students, parents, and educators while finding or building the solutions they need to stay free.
Play the long game.
Systems aren’t replaced overnight. To run the marathon, we will prioritize our wellness above all. That means:
we pay our tribe well
we are properly resourced and staffed to reach our goals
we access healing and coaching services
we have ample vacation time and a joyous/humorous/playful culture
Local impact with global influence.
No bs impact. We draw a line in the sand and we tell the truth about how close or how far we are from our targets.
Jay Carter put it well when he crystallized Empower’s vision statement in 4 simple words: “The World is Ours”. Our little tribe will impact the 10 mile radius around 450 S. Chambers Road AND the world.
WHAT?
Power + Love fuels Hope/Inspiration/Magic
We are Abolitionists
escaping poverty
scaling power
The Justice FUND
We are Innovators
birthing systems
scaling love
Education Innovations
We are Futurists
changing culture
scaling hope/inspiration/magic
REMIX STUDIOS
The storytelling arm of our movement.
Since March, the Justice Fund (JF) has distributed emergency financial assistance to families and offered referrals for counseling and direct one-on-one mental health support to students. In addition to meeting emergency needs, JF partners with the Family Independence Initiative (FII) to invest directly in families pursuing pursue economic mobility.
We are partnering with the Family Independence Initiative (FII) to kickoff our 2 year initial pilot in March 2021. Up to 24 families at Empower Community High School will receive a combined investment of $80,000. Using FII’s UpTogether tech platform, families will receive direct cash transfers at a pace (monthly, quarterly, or yearly) of their choice.
FII’s “strength-based approach includes three elements:
Cash — direct investments to families
Choice — freedom for families to use the cash as they see fit
Community — a platform for people to build and strengthen their social networks”
$263,105 raised to date.
53 families (~212 individuals) served since 2020
Our Legacy at Empower Community High School:
4 year academic program grounded in Ethnic Studies
Deep bonds/relationships between adults and youth
Whole family supports
Student-led school culture
Co-Creation (working/making decisions with students and families)
Our Legacy at EmpowerX:
World-class special opportunities rivaling private school enrichment
Studio model of learning (at a secondary level)
Credentialing and the opportunity to build an impressive resume
Our Legacy at Street Knowledge:
Standards-aligned social justice curriculum for ELA, Social Studies, and STEM
Community-responsive curriculum (customized to cities and regions)
Starting with a $15,000 investment from Margulf Foundation, we are developing branding and strategy to launch the storytelling arm of our movement. This entertainment and media initiative will impact the culture of education. We will use powerful compelling stories to shift both what and how we talk about innovation in education.
Pilots:
Lead Like An Artist: The leaders of the 11th hour will need to create magic. To create magic, they need to lead like an artist. This Ed Talk let us pilot content we’ve been building for a book series.
RetroFUTURISM: a documentary series disrupting the paradigm paralysis plaguing education by highlighting breakthrough innovations with a (Afro/Chicana/Queer etc…) futurist lens.
Art Magazine: Independent art magazine featuring the intergenerational voices of our movement.
Lua: an animated series personifying the relationship between the moon, the land, and the ocean set in a postcolonial African island. This is phase 1 of a longer curriculum project with Street Knowledge.
