Youth are at the center of the work that we do in CPS, and to ensure that the youth perspective was at the forefront of our launch as the new Office of Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (OEIB), the first event we sponsored was the Youth Equity Leadership Summit to explore: What does equity sound like, look like, and feel like?, specifically from the perspectives of our youth.
Overview of Work
In June, OEIB invited scholars from different affinity and cultural-based groups at CRLS to participate in small group listening sessions to share with us what a summit centering equity around their needs would look like. After the completion of the focus groups, we invited the youth leaders to design and facilitate the summit. Starting in July, we met with over 20 youth on a weekly basis and provided facilitator training to support them in the planning of the summit.
During CPS’s 1st Youth Equity Leadership Summit, over 120 participants gathered via Zoom. The summit featured a welcome from the Superintendent, CRLS alumni guest speakers and panelists, a student musical performance, and 4 workshops designed by and led by youth centered around the theme of “What does equity sound like, look like, and feel like in CPS?”
The event was entirely student-led and facilitated. Students facilitated both the main room, the small workshops, and the panel discussions. Facilitators were professional, poised, thoughtful, and respectful, which provided a space for participants to be engaged, vulnerable, and truthful. Participants talked about both personal and institutional experiences, and the impact that these experiences have had on their academic learning and social-emotional wellbeing. Most importantly, they shared suggestions as to how to improve equity in CPS.
Planning Process
- May- reached out to Principal Smith to learn about CRLS identity and cultural-based student groups
- June-sent an email to advisors to connect with youth leaders
- Late June/early July- hosted 3 small group listening sessions with youth leaders
- July-September, youth leaders met on a weekly basis to plan
Student Panel
- African American Studies Initiative
- Intersectional Feminist Club
- Anti-Asian Sentiment Workshop
- Equity Collaborative
- Peer Mentoring Support Group
Alumna Speakers
Rickteyzia Simmons was born and raised in Cambridge. She went to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from kindergarten through 8th grade, then to CRLS. After studying fashion at Lasell University and the London College of Fashion, she returned to CRLS to give back the community, teaching 9th grade history and a new elective, the History of Fashion. Ms. Simmons has three younger siblings.
Queen-Cheyenne Wade is an organizer and educator based in Greater Boston. Their work focuses on ending cycles of carceral/colonial violence, transformative justice, youth leadership, Black Radical/Marxist frameworks.