Chicago Freedom School: Passing It On

August 11, 2008 – Thirty young people from across the city have spent their summer learning about social change at the Chicago Freedom School.

Morning and afternoon sessions cover areas including leadership development, social issues and organizing strategies. Research projects deal with neighborhood school closings and identity politics in the 2008 presidential election. Field trips to community organizations acquaint participants with the history of social movements in Chicago. Each “freedom fellow” will choose an action plan to undertake over the coming year.

“It’s like Junior Achievement for community organizing,” said CFS director Mia Henry.

CFS is inspired by the “freedom schools” established in Mississippi in 1964 by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee — and by philosophy of grassroots leadership development that SNCC brought to the civil rights movement, as well as its example of youth-led social change.

CFS also partners with organizations that want to integrate young people into their work and provide learning opportunities, Henry said.

Mission statements by CFS participants (posted on their vocalo.org site) reveal concerns including gun violence, gentrification, immigration, racial discrimination, police brutality, and gay and lesbian rights. Personal and family experiences have led participants to focus on teen pregnancy and diabetes awareness.

The atmosphere is relaxed and collegial. “It’s a happy environment,” said Travon George, a junior at Urban Prep Academy who lives in Back of the Yards. George said CFS helped him “learn to accept people of different cultures” — and exposed him to a new understanding of sexism and attitudes toward people with disabilities. Timothy McBride, a freshman at North Lawndale College Prep, said he’s found “a new family in my life.”

CFS has shown him that “youth can do anything if we put our minds to it,” said George. “We are the future and it’s up to us to solve these problems.”

McBride said he plans to work on issues of homophobia and racism over the coming year. Sandra Gonzalez, a senior at Kelly High School, plans to work on GLBT rights and immigrant rights — and said she hopes to address social concerns in the music she creates.

George plans to work against teen gun violence over the year, and said CFS has inspired him to want to work with young people — perhaps as a pediatrician — to turn them on to alternatives to gangs and drugs and encourage them “to actually do something with their lives.”

Asked about the problem of gang violence, McBride mentioned the need for more jobs for young people. “And show them love,” he added. “I think people [commit acts of] hatred because they haven’t gotten enough love.”

“More programs like this,” said George. “Help them see that they can help solve problems.” He added, “We just need places where teens can go and talk.”