Mission Statement
MISSION STATEMENT
Teachers Unite is an independent membership organization of public school educators supporting collaboration between parents, youth and educators fighting for social justice. TU organizes teachers around human rights issues that impact New York City public school communities, and offers collaborative leadership training for educators, parents and youth. We believe that schools can only be transformed when educators work with and learn from parents and youth to achieve social and economic justice.
PURPOSE
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To provide concrete methods for building power at the school site with all stakeholders: youth, parents, school staff and community members.
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To build a base of education activists with the leadership skills to effectively organize collectively at the school site in the interest of educators, students and parents
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To support the development of local educational justice campaigns with the insight of teachers committed to democracy and dignity for all NYC communities.
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To strengthen relationships between teachers, community organizers, and the low-income communities most effected by inequity
RATIONALE
Schools will never educate all children equitably unless we live in a society that is dedicated to racial and economic justice. As teachers recognize the political, economic and social forces that marginalize and disenfranchise their students and students’ communities, they grow increasingly concerned with fighting those forces rather than finding contentment with quick-fixes to school issues. There is a natural link between teachers’ workplace conditions—the decline in professionalism, the scarcity of resources, and the dangerous and heavily policed facilities—and the living conditions of the communities they serve. This link is what Teachers Unite seeks to highlight as it contributes educator experience, power, and resources to the social justice movement. Teachers Unite provides leadership development training, education about the forces that impact communities failed by our public education system, a community of like-minded educators in a notoriously isolating profession, and a range of leadership opportunities that build alliances with advocates and grassroots activists.
VISION
Teachers Unite seeks to redefine public education by rebuilding the relationship between teachers, students, families and communities as partners in the struggle for social and educational justice. Our vision is to transform the popular understanding of what it means to be an educator so that those who choose to teach are committed to pedagogical innovation, community organizing and strengthening public education. Together with families and communities, educators will design an exceptional education system that will reflect the character of every neighborhood, each of which will have the power to examine and articulate its needs and formulate responses to its particular schools’ context. Teachers Unite sets its sights on a democratic and just society, with an education system that embodies principles of equity and empowerment.
COLLABORATIONS
Teachers Unite is a proud member of the following coalitions:
Dignity in Schools Campaign-NY
Dignity in Schools Campaign (national)
We are also pleased to have worked with the following organizations:
Community Development Project of the Urban Justice Center
• Your Schools, Your Voice: The Impact of Mayoral Control on Community Participation in Schools
NESRI (National Economic and Social Rights Initiative)
•Teachers Talk: School Culture, Safety and Human Rights
