Lack of access to resourced education has disproportionately impacted underrepresented minorities and people in middle or lower income brackets since the founding of our country. This obvious state of society is universally acknowledged and lamented - there is no more denying the true narrative of this long, unjust history.  Decades of long-simmering dissent combined with the outbreak of COVID-19 have unearthed a catalyst for impassioned action. Albeit long overdue, it seems America is finally awakening to these harrowing truths, and we at JSA Education are committed to being part of the movement to dismantle structures of oppression that have been accepted in this country for far too long. Reflection is necessary, the time for change is now.

 

The future of our country largely depends on how our education system functions. Currently, we are one of the few countries in the world that deliberately chooses to allocate more resources to wealthy communities than poor communities, resulting in a tragic narrative for millions of children (Teach Us All, 2017).  The failed attempt of desegregation in the 1950’s has created a landscape where zip codes determine who gets propped up and who gets held down. Decades later, we are hardly in a better place to adequately educate the majority of children in America, namely those who have been historically disenfranchised.

 

Our JSA team of educators does more than recognize the need for equal opportunity - we are committed to understanding the history of our country’s systemic injustices and the lives it has impacted. We feel it is essential to learn alongside young people, as every story is different. We strive to model empathy, vulnerability and compassion in our engagements with both parents and students. We seek to listen, learn and collaborate to create a new narrative rather than modify a system that was never meant to serve everybody equally, even upon its inception.

 

Recognizing cost as a barrier to obtaining educational planning, individual mentorship, or academic enrichment, as part of our efforts to support a wide range of families in their journey to experience better education, we are focusing on affordability. We acknowledge the way systemic injustices have created a severe socioeconomic disparity, leaving many Americans without equal access to the myriad opportunities that resourced education facilitates. Through JSA Access, we hope to offer our services on a sliding or pro bono scale to specifically support those families unfairly restricted from economic mobility.  Our work focuses on celebrating the potential of a child, not the privilege of a child.

 

We look forward to starting a dialogue with those who share in our mission to fight for educational equality.

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