Education
Alonzo Del Mundo and Nicolas Brenes Jr. are the first-ever student-athletes from Leadership Public School-Richmond to receive full, Division I scholarships to play soccer at U.C. Berkeley and San Jose State, respectively. The Richmond duo is also setting the path for future soccer players to make their way out of the city and into the world of college soccer. The two are also part of a much bigger effort, one that sees sports as a way to change a community and its…
Long before the 2016 election, there was a civil rights culture that was created by Americans of color. Many of today’s political demonstrations are influenced by historical figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers, all who fought in the long battle against racism. Even protests like the recent Women’s March, some would argue, derived from previous demonstrations of people of color. In 1997, in Philadelphia, for example, activist Phile Chionesu formed the Million Woman March,…
Marco Alberto had no desire to join an activist group. Still, resistance was in his DNA.
It is the first day back since spring break. Alana Banks still has her tan from Barbados. She walks onto UC Berkeley’s campus behind Sproul Hall to the Fannie Lou Hamer Center, a small tin building named after the voting rights activist. If you weren’t familiar with the place, it would be easy to miss, as it is hidden behind the English department and to the far left of the art studio. Banks, who is from Oakland, is one of the co-founders of the center, which opened in February. It is the first space set aside as resource center for black students on UC Berkeley’s campus.
Day after day, Criselda Feria waits for a phone call that will give her good news. Her name is stuck on a waiting list that will give her a slot for federally-subsidized child care. Feria’s 18-month-old son is one of the 2,074 children still on the Contra Costa County’s waiting list to receive Early Head Start child care.
A recent study suggests that not only do suspensions take a toll on students, they place a financial burden on their communities.
Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language in the world, and this fall, West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) kindergartners will be both speaking and learning in it. On February 15, the WCCUSD Board of Education approved a new Mandarin language dual-immersion school that will open for the 2017-2018 academic year.
SFER AN and its parent organization, Students for Education Reform (SFER), present themselves as student-run, grassroots groups that advocate for change and improvement in local public education systems. But leaders in both organizations have charter school connections that appear to influence the groups’ activities, from educating eligible voters to endorsing candidates.
Like paper, pencils and books, electronic tablets have become a routine part of classrooms across Richmond.