These Are the Students Who Inspired Us This Decade

WHAT WE GOT RIGHT: With the end of the year fast approaching—and with it the closing of a decade—it is the perfect opportunity to look back and reflect on some of the stories we’ve had the privilege of sharing and amplifying over the years.…

We Need a New Way of Talking About Students Who Face Barriers Erected by Adults and Sustained by Broken Systems

I bring John, David, Ana and Sally into every training, strategy session and decision-making room I occupy.  Well, actually I bring their stories, to remind…

This Thanksgiving I’m Thankful for All the Education Advocates Who Make Doing This Work Just a Little Bit Easier

Outrage: Distractions Y’all, I’m irritated. The internet stays failing us and we believe almost everything we see and hear without doing our own research. Over…

How I’m Using My Story as a Homeless Student to Help Students Turn Trauma Into Strengths

By the time I was 15 years old, I was living on my own, and mostly homeless. My parents were undocumented immigrants. I didn’t know…

I Was a Homeless Student and School Helped Me Find My Way Home

I first experienced homelessness with my family, then on my own. I was born to a single mother and a father who was absent because…

We Got 99 Problems But One Confederate-Named School Ain’t One

Outrage: Too Many Kids on the Street There are 1.3 million students in America without homes. Nate Bowling teaches 12 of them. I think I’m…

I’ve Had 12 Students Tell Me They’re Homeless This Year

Every period, every day, I greet students at the door so I can have a pre-class check-in. I joke with kids, compliment fades, eyebrows and…

This Holiday Season You Should Be Thinking About Homeless LGBTQ+ Students and Here’s Why

The holiday season is a time of year that many spend with family and friends to share in each other’s joys and success and reflect…

After One Night on the Street, I’m Thinking About All the Young People Who Are Homeless Every Night

Two weeks before Thanksgiving, I watched a segment on Chicago’s WGN Morning News where two youth told their stories about homelessness. Something changed inside me,…

Homelessness, Cancer and a Two-Hour Commute Won’t Get in the Way of Her Daughters’ Education

In Morris Heights, Bronx, the alarm sounds at 4:00 a.m. signaling to Shadina Charles that it is time to wake up and get her daughters…