MAIN PAGE - 2026 Conference on Racial and Social Justice

The purpose of the conference is to provide a unique space for educators, students, parents and families, organizers, community members, and leaders to unite for the advancement of Racial and Social Justice in Education.

This poster highlights ten practical steps educators can take to advance equity in classrooms and schools. Each step includes a guiding principle, actionable strategy, and reflection prompt to inspire change. Topics include culturally responsive teaching, representation in curriculum, restorative practices, and community engagement. Attendees will leave with a clear, research-informed roadmap to build awareness, develop capacity, and take action toward more equitable learning environments. This resource is designed to be immediately usable and adaptable for diverse school contexts.

The “Strengthening Our Community” poster series celebrates American Indian seniors who exemplify resilience, academic success, and community leadership. Displayed across 21 schools, these posters provide younger students with relatable role models and promote equitable representation of Indigenous youth. Attendees will learn how this initiative challenges harmful stereotypes, fosters cultural pride, and supports increased graduation rates. This session offers a powerful example of community-driven transformation that uplifts Native students and inspires educators to implement similar strategies for inclusion and justice.

Math Matters: Empowering Young Minds Through Tutoring and Mentorship highlights a targeted intervention designed to boost math confidence, academic achievement, and student engagement. This poster session highlights how strategic tutoring, peer mentorship, and culturally responsive practices can help close learning gaps and foster a love for mathematics. Attendees will explore program design, implementation strategies, and measurable outcomes. They’ll leave with actionable ideas to replicate or adapt the model in their own schools or communities.

Learn directly from the voices of young children and families: what is unfair? What needs to change? What are schools really good at and what can we help them be better at? The presenter will share novel research on young children and families’ experiences engaging with family activism movements across a variety of issue areas. The research explores the impact of children’s involvement in activism on movements’ physical and rhetorical accessibility, as well as on their parents’ engagement. Together, we’ll look at artifacts of children’s protest signs and art work and discuss what stories they are sharing and how we, as adult allies, can amplify them and build coalitions that span across movements and from home to school to the streets.

Public School Strong is a national organizing framework and visibility campaign that builds power by mobilizing everyday folks to support equity in our public schools. Through Whole School Organizing, all interest holders – educators, students, staff, parents, and community members – work collaboratively to build local power to pass school board resolutions and policies and connect to state and national campaigns that promote, protect, and strengthen public schools. In this interactive workshop, participants will learn ways to build multiracial Public School Strong teams in their school districts that build community and organize for power to advance justice in public education.

This poster will include a short opening lecture/testimony from my own personal experience in witnessing my trans son face transphobic harassment/discrimination in the workplace. Most of the session will be discussing scenarios in the workplace and how to work within ones allyship in supporting Queer/LGBTQ+ individuals when harassment/discrimination arises. The time will also be used to discuss/explore how to navigate through established company policy that has been created to protect LGBTQ+individuals OR know how to support said individuals when there is no supporting policy in place.

Surviving—and Thriving—as an Educator in the South is an interactive session for educators, students, and community members navigating challenging educational and social environments. We will explore how to advocate for equity, protect yourself and others, and sustain well-being while pursuing justice in public education. Participants will learn to use district policies to create safer spaces, and build supportive networks that foster resilience. Together, we’ll connect advocacy, allyship, and self-care to creating inclusive schools for ALL students and leave empowered to lead with courage and confidence.

You are not alone in your racial and social justice work. In this poster, we examine the power of interpersonal connections and explore why these connections are vital to the individual strength and fortitude we need to be healthy and persist. In addition to developing evidence-based strategies for feeling calm and joy despite the stress we all experience, you will learn the science of mindful connection. We will share how PSEA is using technology to connect members across worksites with intentional opportunities to build community and give you tips for doing the same within your state.

In a time when fascism in the US has been targeting and demonizing LGBTQ+ students, taking action and organizing has been difficult yet desperately needed. This poster focuses on harnessing research and data to empower community from any vantage point (as a student/educator/caregiver/advocate) to act in support of LGBTQ+ students. GLISTEN will present its latest National School Climate Survey findings and provide tangible calls to action among diverse constituent groups to aid in creating and maintaining safer schools.

This session explores how Black literacy has historically and contemporarily served as a tool for both survival and defiance in the face of systemic oppression. It will critically examine the role of literacy in fostering political, social, and cultural empowerment within Black communities. From enslaved Africans who risked their lives to read and write, to contemporary Black youth challenging inequities through digital literacies and activism, this session will highlight how literacy acts as a means of reclaiming power and identity. The session aims to build knowledge around critical education justice issues while offering practical strategies to foster literacy as a tool of resistance in their own schools and communities.

In a time when educators face increasing political and social pressures, this session invites participants to reimagine education through the lens of abolitionist teaching. Grounded in love, justice, and freedom, we will explore strategies to dismantle inequitable systems and cultivate classrooms where students thrive. Building upon previous sessions, this interactive workshop includes case studies, role-play, and action planning to help educators apply abolitionist practices in real-world contexts. Join us to learn how to sustain joy, resist oppression, and build liberatory spaces in politically uncertain times.

"Healing From Racism-Related Stress & Centering Joy in Life" is a wellness workshop for professionals of color in PK-12 and higher education who want to heal from racism-related stress and racialized trauma and practice prioritizing joy in their personal and professional lives. This session creates a healing space designed for you to: learn about the relationship between racism-related stress, racial battle fatigue, and how your health is impacted; and have the opportunity to meditate, journal, and engage in interactive activities that help you cultivate joy and lead more vibrant, fulfilling lives.

As antisemitism and its misuse for anti-democratic political gain continue to rise, our schools, unions, and communities urgently need effective strategies to fight them. This workshop will focus on how antisemitism functions as part of the machinery of oppression threatening Jews, all marginalized people, movements for justice, and democracy. We’ll examine Jewish identity, historic and contemporary antisemitism, their intersections with other oppressions and use against movements – especially labor. Participants will learn grounding and bridging frameworks to interrupt antisemitism at the interpersonal and institutional levels as part of their commitments to equity, belonging, safety, wellbeing, and thriving for all.

Do you have LGBTQ+ students and colleagues? Do you have the courage to create environments where everyone feels safe to explore and express their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression? This transformative session delves into privilege, identity, laws, and terminology related to SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity). Participants will gain insights and practical strategies to foster inclusive relationships and provide meaningful support for LGBTQ+ students and colleagues.

The ACPA - College Student Educators Int’l’s Coalition for Fat Identities (CFI) is 5 years into its mission of dismantling systems of oppression for Fat bodies at colleges and universities. During that time, CFI saw significant growth in awareness, as the public appetite for Fat Liberation has destabilized. This session provides opportunities for attendees to build awareness about Fat Liberation as a critical feature of Racial and Social Justice, while recognizing the challenges we face. Together, we will explore tangible actions to champion Fat Futures, informed by your unique lens and positionality. Attendees will also be provided with a “Starter Pack” of resources to share with colleagues, students, and communities of practice.

In this interactive workshop, participants will explore how asset-based thinking can transform racial and social justice work by centering the brilliance and lived experiences of educators, students, and communities. Through storytelling, reflection, and creative collaboration, attendees will identify and disrupt deficit narratives that shape and reframe schools and policies. Participants will engage in guided “narrative reclamation” activities to rewrite stories about who they are and what they bring to equity spaces. This session helps participants move from awareness to action—building community, collective power, and language that uplifts rather than limits. Come ready to "RECLAIM the mic and leave with a renewed, justice-centered narrative.

At almost all economic levels, debt fuels the economy. Families rely on credit cards to cover groceries and medicine. College students assume crushing loans that delay major life milestones. Cities and school districts use bonds to fund essential services and infrastructure. This session will examine how the PreK-12 debt crisis harms schools, especially in communities confronting systemic racism and economic disinvestment, affecting class sizes, building maintenance, educator pay, and more. We will explore how bond rating agencies and other financial actors worsen this crisis, and how a People’s Credit Rating that redefines worthiness on community terms can build alliances around solutions like progressive taxation and infrastructure funds.

Some seeds grow in the toughest soil. In this hands-on session, educators will explore how to identify deeply rooted challenges and cultivate campaigns that uplift student voice and community power. Through stories of successful member-led initiatives, participants will learn how to use union tools—organizing committees, contract language, and mobilization—to weed out systemic barriers and nurture justice-driven change. Each attendee will leave with a personalized campaign blueprint and the tools to apply for a $2,500 NEA Campaign Lab grant—even in places where inclusive values struggle to take root.

This interactive session invites educators to explore the importance of recognizing and honoring the Indigenous land on which they teach. Participants will research the tribal nation(s) whose land their school occupies, learn about local cultures and histories, and create authentic Land Acknowledgments to introduce at the start of the school year, during Native American Heritage Month, or as a classroom team-building activity. Through reflection, discussion, and guided exercises, educators will gain practical strategies to engage students in meaningful learning about Indigenous communities while fostering respect, awareness, and lasting connection.

Every day, we make leadership choices that either disrupt or sustain inequities. This highly interactive session bridges the gap between who we are as leaders and the moves we make in real time. Participants will ground themselves in their leadership identities, practice making equity-centered decisions through real-world scenarios, and develop a focused action blueprint to take back to their schools and communities. Through reflection, movement, and strategy work, this session activates each participant’s unique leadership power to advance justice from wherever they stand.

Hair is more than style- it's identity, culture and power. In this session, educators will examine how policies and biases around Black hair perpetuate racial inequities in schools. Through storytelling, discussions and hands -on policy analysis, participants will learn to identify racialized language, rewrite exclusionary dress codes and create affirming spaces for students. This session equips educators with actionable tools to challenge bias, honor cultural identity and strengthen the democratic premise of public education.

This interactive workshop equips educators with curriculum, legal expertise, and teaching strategies to explore the 14th Amendment through Asian American legal histories. Participants will analyze landmark cases like United States v. Wong Kim Ark, connect historical struggles for citizenship to current threats against birthright citizenship, and engage with a civil rights attorney litigating these issues today. Through hands-on work with primary sources and lesson plan templates, educators will gain standards-aligned, classroom-ready materials that foster critical thinking about belonging, constitutional rights, and racial justice. Attendees leave with actionable strategies for teaching constitutional history through marginalized communities' perspectives and networks for continued collaboration.

What does liberation and racial justice look like for educators putting in the work right now? In this session, we will grapple with longstanding histories of educational justice, discuss how our work aligns and diverges with that labor in context, and use multiple methods (including art, writing, and storytelling) to imagine a transformative future. We use research, experience, and expertise to elevate critical stories and dispositions to both inform our work and build towards a world we are fighting for.

When educators, parents, students and mental health providers come together, we can support resilience in our students as our communities face the Trump regime’s widespread ICE abductions, harassment, and intimidation of our communities. Students and their families are responding to these attacks in a variety of ways including by organizing to create additional measures of safety and support, but many schools in immigrant communities are seeing reduced attendance with immigrant families fearful of being separated from their children. While certain decisionmakers try to divide us, educators, parents and mental health providers are coming together to ensure all our students -whether Native or newcomer -have the resources they need to learn and thrive. Join us for a panel discussion to hear how together we can support student and educator mental health and ensure our students are respected, protected and supported.

This interactive session explores how Commitment, Collaboration, and Consistency can build authentic community partnerships that center equity and inclusion. Participants will engage in storytelling, reflection, and strategy-building to strengthen outreach, especially for marginalized families and communities. Drawing from school-based advocacy and statewide leadership experience, the facilitator will share tools for sustaining momentum and driving systemic change. Attendees will leave with actionable ideas to build local power, deepen engagement, and lead with purpose. This session aligns with NEA’s racial justice framework by building awareness, capacity, and collective action.

To lead in our unions and schools, we must ensure every student is seen, heard, and valued in their full identity. At a time when right-wing politicians and billionaire-backed allies try to divide us for power and profit, we must lead with courage. This session offers tools for relational organizing and hard conversations about race, class, and gender—so we can build coalitions, center shared values, and champion students through collective leadership. In this workshop, participants will practice how to champion students, their families, and communities by communicating values for educational justice; explicitly discussing race and class; and effectively calling for collective action.

This interactive session places participants inside a fictional district crisis involving censorship and anti-equity policies. In teams, they will decode harmful policy language, develop strategic responses, and simulate real-time organizing using NEA-aligned leadership competencies. Participants will learn to build coalitions, sharpen messaging, and take action under pressure. This immersive experience strengthens skills in power-building, equity-centered communication, and rapid response strategy. Attendees will leave with practical tools they can use to resist injustice and lead with purpose in their own schools, locals, and communities.

Given the current sociopolitical climate, with intensified attacks on DEI initiatives, bilingual education, ethnic studies, and culturally responsive practices, creating asset-based knowledge systems and collective wisdom in educational spaces is more critical than ever. Grounded in and guided by Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) by Tara Yosso and Funds of Knowledge (FoK) by Luis Moll, this discussion-based participatory session will equip educators with the theoretical and practical knowledge to implement more socially just and culturally responsive practices within their respective work and/or involvement spaces. This session will offer participants space to connect, reflect on their educational experiences, and brainstorm ways to create equitable and welcoming educational spaces. We affirm that education is not merely a labor pipeline; it is a transformative, liberatory, and humanizing force that must be protected.

In a time when fascism in the US has been targeting and demonizing LGBTQ+ students, taking action and organizing has been difficult yet desperately needed. This discussion-based workshop focuses on harnessing research and data to empower participants from any vantage point (as a student/educator/caregiver/advocate) to act in support of LGBTQ+ students. GLISTEN will present its latest National School Climate Survey findings and facilitate discussions to develop calls to action in schools, classrooms, and K-12 programmatic efforts. Participants are encouraged to share and learn from one another in addition to learning about tools and resources from GLISTEN in order to take actionable steps in their schools and communities.

As antisemitism and its misuse for anti-democratic political gain continue to rise, our schools, unions, and communities urgently need effective strategies to fight them. This workshop will focus on how antisemitism functions as part of the machinery of oppression threatening Jews, all marginalized people, movements for justice, and democracy. We’ll examine Jewish identity, historic and contemporary antisemitism, their intersections with other oppressions and use against movements – especially labor. Participants will learn grounding and bridging frameworks to interrupt antisemitism at the interpersonal and institutional levels as part of their commitments to equity, belonging, safety, wellbeing, and thriving for all.

This session invites educators to deepen their understanding of MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) identity and its intersection with bias, belonging, and classroom practice. Through personal narrative and reflective dialogue, participants will explore how anti-Arabism, Islamophobia, and current events affect MENA-identifying students. The session provides practical strategies for creating inclusive environments where all students feel seen, valued, and supported. Attendees will leave with tools and resources to promote equity, empathy, and cultural understanding in their schools.

Discover how intentional planning and collaboration can reignite student and family engagement through an equity-centered lens. In this interactive session, participants will explore how a strategic plan grounded in racial and social justice transformed communication, strengthened partnerships, and improved outcomes. Presenters will share practical tools, data-informed strategies, and lessons learned to help schools organize systems that energize their communities. Attendees will leave inspired and equipped to create inclusive, sustainable engagement in their own settings.

Navigating the educational world with a disability is difficult. The responsibilities placed upon you are much more difficult to reach than your able-bodied peers, and the expectation is to just “push through it”. These expectations come from many people; our colleagues, our bosses, our friends, our families, and even ourselves. But “pushing through” is not possible for most people, what we can do is adapt. This session will focus on what adaptation and accessibility actually look like in practice, as well as what you can do to stand up for yourself and your students in your schools.

Are you needing a moment to reconnect to your purpose? The focus of this session is to unpack the systemic approach of dehumanizing leaders in this work and share strategies aimed to rebuild and restore our sense of self. The goal is to better equip ourselves in order to balance the work of advocating for racial and social justice during a time when we need it most. By the end of our session participants will design a tailored plan to add to their current set of skills and have ones to share with others.

This workshop is a space for Black educators to explore how internalized and systemic anti-Blackness shape our experiences and we’ll practice “care-frontation” within our communities as a way to move toward collective healing. Through live modeling, role play, and reflection, we’ll sharpen our facilitation craft, build strategies to interrupt harm, and reclaim the magic, creativity, and ancestral wisdom that ground our leadership. Participants will examine the workplace identities we’ve adopted for survival and reimagine what it means to lead from authenticity and joy. We’ll leave with strengthened skill, a deeper sense of shared purpose, and the reminder that our Blackness—and our brilliance—are our gifts.

Our Special Education programs are in crisis. Every school district across the nation has to meet the needs of our most vulnerable students with woefully inadequate staffing, training, and support. Local Union activists from CTA / NEA locals in the Bay Area formed SPEAC - the Special Education Action Coalition - to fight for our kids. This workshop will share strategies and resources for: Local Organizing and Training for Local Members; Coordinated Bargaining and Solidarity Actions across regions; Linking Local grassroots action to state affiliate efforts to move legislation and policy on a State level; and Building a Statewide and Nationwide movement to win the schools that our Special Education Students deserve.

This interactive workshop will equip educators with tools to critically vet and integrate Indigenous content into their classrooms through culturally respectful, accurate representation. Participants will learn to identify and avoid stereotypes, evaluate resources for authenticity, and incorporate Native perspectives that support Indigenous sovereignty. The session includes practical strategies, discussion, and collaborative analysis of real materials. Attendees will leave with skills to build inclusive environments that honor Native cultures, support Native students, and challenge systemic misrepresentation.

[Warning: offensive language] From “Baljeet” to “I’m calling ICE to deport you,” anti-Asian slurs are evolving—and escalating. In just the past two years, they’ve risen 40% in extremist online spaces, fueled by rising anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies. Many of these new slurs circulate first on social media, where children encounter them long before adults recognize their meaning or harm. This session equips educators, parents, and community members to identify and respond to anti-Asian harassment affecting students and families. Drawing on Stop AAPI Hate’s latest research and youth reports, we share trends, frameworks, and concrete tools to counter hate in the classroom and beyond.

Ableism impacts hiring, evaluations, leadership pipelines, and professional advancement across education workplaces. For educators and union members, confronting it is not only about inclusion—it’s about labor rights, equity, and collective dignity. This session builds awareness of how ableism operates in school and union culture, strengthens members’ understanding of their rights and protections, and offers practical organizing strategies to challenge discrimination and demand access and justice for all.

When the pace is relentless and the pressure unspoken, educators often carry more than they name. This healing-centered session offers space to pause and take inventory through self-assessment, breath work, journaling, and mindfulness practices that help explore and navigate the inner experience. Participants will examine how stressors and triggers affect their emotional responses in educational settings, especially within justice-centered work and the demands of public education. Through hands-on strategies and self-reflection, educators will build an emotional regulation toolkit and leave with practical ways to sustain presence, perspective, and peace in their daily practice.

In the evolving landscape of education, student success encompasses much more than academic performance. A positive, inclusive school climate and culturally responsive environment are critical to fostering emotional well-being and long-term achievement. School counselors are uniquely equipped to lead these efforts—bridging student support, advocacy, and systems change. In this interactive session, presenters LaShana Richards (A&T Four Middle College, GCS, School Counselor of the Year 2021-2022) and Stephanie Preston (The Middle College at GTCC-High Point, GCS, School Counselor of the Year 2024-2025) will share real-world practices that highlight how counselors can shape and sustain healthy school cultures. Drawing from their experiences in diverse middle college settings, the presenters will explore strategies that promote belonging, equity, and emotional safety for all students.

Black male educators are not just missing from the pipeline—they are the pipeline. Research shows their presence improves academic outcomes, school culture, and student belonging, yet systems continue to push them out. This bold, data-driven session reframes the issue from recruitment to restoration, exploring how institutional culture—not individual choice—drives exclusion. Participants will engage the Bridge Framework—Brotherhood, Representation, Identity, Growth, Healing, and Empowerment—to design conditions that sustain Black men in education and higher ed. Leave ready to build bridges where Black men don’t just enter the profession—they rise and stay.

Given the current sociopolitical climate, with intensified attacks on DEI initiatives, bilingual education, ethnic studies, and culturally responsive practices, creating asset-based knowledge systems and collective wisdom in educational spaces is more critical than ever. Grounded in and guided by Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) by Tara Yosso and Funds of Knowledge (FoK) by Luis Moll, this discussion-based participatory session will equip educators with the theoretical and practical knowledge to implement more socially just and culturally responsive practices within their respective work and/or involvement spaces. This session will offer participants space to connect, reflect on their educational experiences, and brainstorm ways to create equitable and welcoming educational spaces. We affirm that education is not merely a labor pipeline; it is a transformative, liberatory, and humanizing force that must be protected.

Trans communities are navigating an increasingly complex policy landscape, especially in education. This session will begin with an overview of key education policies impacting trans students, grounding participants in the current challenges and opportunities. We will then shift into practical organizing strategies, exploring how advocates can build power, mobilize communities, and influence policy at the local, state, and national levels. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the issues and actionable tools to support trans students and their rights.

This interactive session highlights the WEA Apprenticeship Residency in Teaching (WEA-ART) program and its mission to ensure educators reflect the demographics of the students they serve. Participants will explore how intentional recruitment, mentorship, and preparation of diverse educators strengthen equity and belonging in schools. Through dialogue and collaboration, attendees will examine systemic barriers, share best practices, and design actionable strategies to build inclusive educator pathways that advance racial and social justice in public education.

In this interactive session, educators will explore how translanguaging and social-emotional learning (SEL) can build a stronger, more inclusive school community. Participants will engage in hands-on activities that highlight the power of students’ and staff’s languages to foster belonging and identity. Through reflection, collaboration, and practical strategy design, attendees will learn how to integrate multilingual practices into daily instruction and school culture. This session moves beyond theory to model inclusivity in action—inviting every participant’s voice and language into the learning space.

NYSUT’s Sticks and Stones workshops began as a courageous effort to confront bias and foster inclusion and have since evolved into a statewide Social Justice Academy that empowers educators to lead transformative change. Building on this foundation, NYSUT launched the BIPOC Pathways to Leadership project to develop and elevate leaders of color within the labor movement. This work culminates each year in the Members of Color Affinity and Action Conference, where hundreds of members of color come together to organize, advocate, and build community. This session will share lessons, strategies, and outcomes from NYSUT’s journey toward equity, belonging, and systemic transformation.

Educators and students are facing unprecedented attacks aimed at the LGBTQ+ community. While we will have to weather this storm like many before, slowly and painfully fighting through the courts, the legal system, and electing friendly politicians; kids and LGBTQ+ will still need us to bring some light to their lives, especially when our institutions are failing them. This session will provide LGBTQ+ educators and allies with the tools, supports, and ideas they need to show that queer lives can still be joyful and proud, even while under threat. We will look at the queer community's long history of fighting back with joyous creativity, the various ways students and educators of all levels can help feel affirmed, and show members how they can create or bolster their own union advocacy groups with our Fabulous State Affiliate Pride Guide.

APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Association-AFLCIO) was built on the shoulders of giants -- AANHPI workers who were among the first to strike, build coalition with workers of other races and ethnicities and fight back despite little support from the law and other unions. This workshop explores the extraordinary stories of these workers and why their heroic acts strengthened all of us. Includes expanded content. Learn the latest about APALA's Archives Project and what it takes to preserve labor history.

Strong relationships are the foundation of equitable schools. This session explores how educators and teachers’ unions are advancing racial and social justice through the Parent Teacher Home Visits (PTHV) model—a proven approach that builds trust and communication between families and schools. Participants will learn how unions have partnered with communities to make home visits a tool for equity, belonging, and educator empowerment. Through real stories and practical strategies, discover how relational trust transforms classrooms, strengthens solidarity, and brings justice to life in schools.

This interactive workshop examines the illusion of inclusion in education—where diversity is often celebrated, yet inequities persist beneath the guise of representation in our schools and organizations. Through discussion and reflection, participants will unpack performative practices, explore systemic barriers, and engage with an Inclusion Audit Tool to assess their own institutions. Participants will share experiences and gain practical strategies to move from symbolic inclusion toward authentic, transformative equity that centers shared power, voice, and liberation. The goal of this workshop is to help participants turn inclusion from a buzzword into bold, systemic change.

This interactive session equips educators with the knowledge, empathy, and tools to recognize, address, and dismantle anti-Muslim racism in schools. Using Iris Marion Young’s “Five Faces of Oppression” (exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence), participants will analyze how anti-Muslim racism impacts both educators and students. Through storytelling and counter-narratives, the workshop centers Muslim lived experiences and provides actionable strategies for disrupting bias, to disrupt bias, transform school culture, and foster solidarity.

This session will explore the teacher's influence on students' self-worth, identity, critical thinking, and literacy. Participants will unpack how educators unknowingly reinforce power structures of dominant culture. This session is an opportunity to confront barriers to educational justice through James Baldwin's 1963 speech "A Talk to Teachers." Through curated passages and critical frameworks, we will partake in an intellectual space to exercise critical thinking to inform and influence our pedagogical decisions. The aim is to have participants leaving with more questions to ultimately disrupt our own preconditioned and internalized mindsets akin to Anti-Blackness.

This hands-on workshop, developed through a partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center's Co-Create Initiative, teaches educators how to facilitate youth activism education through the story of Indian Youth Against Racism's fight against hate crimes in 1980s Jersey City. Participants will experience an abbreviated version of our student curriculum—exploring how young people organized rallies, created educational materials, and built coalitions to combat the Dotbusters hate group. Educators will learn trauma-informed pedagogical strategies, receive standards-aligned resources and poster-making activities, and gain actionable strategies for connecting students with community organizing. Attendees leave with classroom-ready materials and networks for implementation.

The Conference on Racial and Social Justice provides a unique space for educators, students, parents and families, organizers, community members and leaders to unite for the advancement of Justice in Education to grow Resilience. Respect. Power. Saving Public Education and Our Democracy.

Together with educators, creatives, activists, organizers and other leaders we will advance racial and social justice and Organize for Power for our schools, communities and to save our democracy.

The Conference on Racial and Social Justice is presented by NEA’s Center for Racial and Social Justice. The purpose of the conference is to provide a unique space for educators, students, parents and families, organizers, community members and leaders to unite for the advancement of Justice in Education.

Colorado Convention Center