Education Advocacy Hinges on Community Collaboration – Podcast Episode 214 | Classnotes Podcast 214

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Classnotes Podcast (November 19, 2021). As IDRA’s groundbreaking Education Policy Fellows Program closed its inaugural year, we sat down with our four fellows to reflect on their experience. With this program, IDRA set out to change the landscape of state education advocacy by training advocates with a commitment to and experience with communities of color to influence state laws and lead a powerful network of impacted communities.

Morgan Craven, J.D., IDRA National Director of Policy, Advocacy and Community Engagement, led the conversation with fellows: Dr. Altheria Caldera, Araceli García, Thomas Marshall III and Christina Quintanilla-Muñoz, M.Ed. In this first of four episodes, they describe what attracted them to the fellowship and what they gained from it.

The IDRA Education Policy Fellows Program that operated from November 2020 through July 2021 was generously supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Trellis Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and in partnership with the John Gardner Public Service Fellowship, facilitated by Stanford University’s Haas Center for Public Service.

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Show length: 35:05 min.

Resources

IDRA Launches Education Policy Fellows Program – Fellows Will Engage a Network of Impacted Communities to Transform Education Policymaking, August 28, 2020

IDRA Education Policy Fellows 2020-21 Profiles

Exciting Advances for Emergent Bilingual Students in Texas, Araceli García, June-July 2021

Texas Legislature Takes Some Steps Toward Addressing the Digital Divide, Thomas Marshall, June-July 2021

Student Health and Engagement Response to COVID-19 in Texas, by Christina Quintanilla-Muñoz, M.Ed., June-July 2021

Most Opportunities Missed to Expand College Preparation and Access in Texas, by Altheria Caldera, Ph.D., June-July 2021

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Show Notes

  • The fellows recount what first attracted them to the program, and why they decided to apply.

  • Altheria and Araceli talk about the on-the-job experience of learning about the Texas Legislature.

  • Christina discusses the bonds she formed through her ongoing collaboration with the other fellows.

  • Christina, Araceli, Altheria, and Thomas share how they connected their own interests and backgrounds to policymaking, and to their roles as educational advocates.

  • Each of the fellows offers the most important lesson they took away from the program.