Social Justice Advocates & The Empowerment Pipeline
About
History
During a Fall 2009 joint BCC and LASO meeting that addressed the upcoming elections, members of both organizations brought up the fact that neither of the candidates addressed the disparities in the educational system and the lack of access to higher education for underrepresented students.
A staff member from the Department of Student Diversity & Multicultural Affairs challenged the students that they did not need to wait for someone to get elected for them to start creating change within their communities. She offered her time and commitment in exchange for theirs and invited them to stop by her office to start the conversation and organizing. A couple of days later, Gerardo Pereira stopped by the office and thus began the creation of the Social Justice Advocates and the Empowerment Pipeline.
The Empowerment Pipeline builds relationships with various community organizations such as the Boys & Girls Club and CYP, informing youth from underrepresented groups about the school-to-prison pipeline and encouraging them to resist and challenge the system as individuals and as a collective.
The Empowerment Pipeline connects underrepresented youth with Loyola's undergraduate students who facilitate a 7 week curriculum that focuses on self and community empowerment through non-Eurocentric education, authenticating that access to higher education is a viable and possible option. Through the curriculum, the undergraduate students from Loyola will build personal relationships with the youth and establish a safe and supportive environment for them to meet, discuss and share their personal journeys and narratives with one another.
Vision
To break the school-to-prison pipeline through education, self-reflection and empowerment.
Mission
The mission of the Empowerment Pipeline is to educate our young students about the social inequities that create systems of oppression (for example damaged communities, the school to prison pipeline, economic injustice and racial inequalities) that deny their human rights. Individually and collectively we aim to foster and develop leadership that focuses on self-awareness and liberation, through intentionally addressing the histories of communities of color, who have been left out of the Eurocentric educational system.
We will accomplish this through alternative education in such forms as artivism and critical analysis, empowering and motivating them to go to college and ultimately increasing access to higher education for communities of color. It is our intention that this curriculum supersedes the systems of oppression that challenge our students and will begin to encourage them to stand in solidarity with disenfranchised people from other communities and around the world.
Meet the Social Justice Advocates
The Empowerment Pipeline Curriculum