Each year, this work draws on the contributions of individuals and organizations outside the class for expertise, knowledge, and practice. This corner of our site is a space to honor and note the work of individuals and organizations in the Philadelphia area.
Jia Lee has been a New York City special education public school teacher for nineteen years and UFT chapter leader for twelve years. She is also a proud public school parent. Jia is a member of a caucus within the United Federation of Teachers called the Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE). She organizes with other parents and educators in New York City and across the state to expose the harmful impact of high stakes standardized testing.
John Braxton is an Associate Professor of Biology at The Community College of Philadelphia (CCP), former co-president of The Faculty and Staff Federation union of CCP and a board member of Jobs With Justice and US Labor Against the War.
Dan is a high school history teacher at Science Leadership Academy in The School District of Philadelphia. He has been a member of The Caucus of Working Educators, a progressive group of rank and file members currently contesting the leadership of The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) union, for six years. Dan is acting treasurer for the caucus and believes that WE can create a stronger union focused around racial and social justice issues.
A member of the 2016 ABC course, Ismael has been a working educator in the city of Philadelphia for thirteen years. In returning to the course as a community partner, Ismael brings his relationship with both the Caucus of Working educators and the Melanated Educators Collective. Currently, Ismael is co-chair of the Caucus of Working Educators, co-founder of the Philadelphia Black History Collaborative and the Melanated Educators Collective, while being an active participant in several other organizations that seek racial justice in education and across the city of Philadelphia.
Chris (he/him/his) was born and raised in Chester, PA and is now a Ph.D Candidate within the Reading/Writing/Literacy program at PennGSE. He is a core member of Teacher Action Group Philadelphia and Public Programs Director for the Paul Robeson House Museum. For the past two years, he served in a national capacity with The National Black Lives Matter Week of Action At School, supporting curriculum.
VanJessica Gladney has worked with the Penn & Slavery Project since its first semester. As an undergraduate researcher, she studied the slaveholding 18th Century trustees & faculty members, and the connections between slavery and Penn's original and current campuses. After graduating in 2018, she served as the Provost's Public History Fellow, presenting information about the project to members of the greater Philadelphia community. Over the summer of 2019, she assisted with the design of an Augmented Reality mobile application which will feature student work.Currently, she manages the project's website, speaks at campus events on behalf of the project, and is pursuing a PhD in Penn's History Department.
Devin William Daniels is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania. His work examines 20th-century American literature and film from a perspective influenced by media theory, Marxist political economy, and critical data studies. He is currently serving as meeting coordinator for GET-UP (Graduate Employees Together at UPenn).
Audrey Jaquiss is a second-year Ph.D. student in Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania where she focuses on modern and contemporary political theory. Audrey is an internal communications coordinator for GET-UP (Graduate Employees Together at UPenn) and has been a proud member since 2018.
Kalela Williams is a writer, an arts administrator, and a history enthusiast, hailing from the South and living in Philadelphia. She partnered with the Philadelphia Communities group by sharing her insights on the importance of Black history in the US, and local history as a practice.
Adam DePaul is a Tribal Council Member of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, where he also holds the positions of Storykeeper and Coordinator of the Rising Nation River Journey.
Sam graduated from Science Leadership Academy in 2018 and worked as the Finance Director for UrbEd. He currently attends Villanova University where he studies Chemical Engineering. When he is not busy with a number of academic enrichment and mentorship programs, Samuel can be found in the Overbrook section of West Philadelphia getting coffee, showing interest in Japanese culture, or coding within his home.
UrbEd is a for-students-by-students organization that advocates for students and families that are being deprived of a quality and efficient, urban education. As a non-profit, they work directly with students, parents, teachers, school staff, policy-makers and organizations fighting for the same objective. They hope that students are able to be provided a quality and efficient urban education by 2026.
Charlotte Serves as Executive Director at Girls Justice League and as the Associate Director for the Independent School Teaching Residency program (ISTR), where she coordinates and designs the day school strand of this residency-based collaborative teacher education program. Dr. Jacobs also teaches a course on adolescent development in the Urban Teaching Residency program at Penn GSE.
The Girls Justice League (GJL) is a girls’ rights organization dedicated to taking action for social, political, educational, and economic justice with and for girls and young women. The League is a collective of young women and their allies working to build and reinforce a culture where girls are fully empowered and where gender, race and other disparities are identified and confronted in the systems which affect their futures. GJL uses multiple mediums to tell girls’ stories, disseminate research that accurately describes girls’ current realities and, social justice organizing toward a different future for all girls.
Ricardo Calderón is Director of the Philadelphia Youth Commission, in the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office. He is a first-generation Latino-American who is the product of a loving, supportive, and empowering community. As one of the first in his family to graduate from a university, Calderón has spent over 10 years in service to community and youth development. As an advocate, educator, and mentor, Ricardo strives to inspire, motivate, and empower underrepresented and marginalized youth to discover their inner greatness.
Thier mission is to “Give a voice to Philadelphia’s youth in advising key leadership in the city about policies, programs and actions that affect youth. Through this work, the Commission influences decisions that impact young people have been carefully considered and that the youth perspective is incorporated in the process.
Monique / Mo Perry is a doctoral student in the Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education program at the Penn Graduate School of Education. Monique participated in the first iteration of Activism Beyond the Classroom, in Spring of 2017, while a master’s student in Education, Culture, and Society. Perry is also a trainer for the Penn LGBT Center and previously a graduate student assistant for the Alice Paul Center for Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies.
Our mission is to actively challenge, resist and dismantle systems of oppression that adversely impact the Black and Brown worker. Thus, we push for the social and economic liberation of the Black and Brown worker...Our mission stands at the intersection of both the Worker's Rights movement and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Sarah is a graduate of Penn GSE’s Education, Culture and Society program, and a doctoral student in Higher Education at the University of Texas: Austin. They are a Boston native, former Americorps member, and organizer on Penn’s campus. In their time at Penn, Sarah founded FGLIQ, a group for First Generation Low-Income Queer students, and conducted research with Dr. Ed Brockenbrough.
The Philly Youth Poetry Movement (PYPM) is a non-profit organization that provides a safe space for Philadelphia teens to discover the power of their voices through spoken word and literary expression. PYPM offers literary arts education programming for youth ages 13-19 that promotes creative expression, critical literacy, life skills, and civic engagement. We believe that when youth take ownership of their voice, they take ownership over themselves.
Rich Coordinates school-community partnerships between Lea Elementary School, the University of Pennsylvania, and various community-based and nonprofit organizations. Facilitate communication and collaboration among all school stakeholders, including school administration, faculty and staff, family and community members, and partner organizations and programs.
Latoya Landfair, M.S.Ed., is an educator, mentor, and coach. She obtained her Master’s in Education from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010, where she was a founding member of the university’s first Race in Education Symposium, “Breaking the Silence.” She was invited to return to the symposium in 2011 as a panelist, bringing light to the disparities between school reform and quality of education for Black and Brown students in low-income neighborhoods.
Glenn directs the University's comprehensive community relations program, representing the University in local engagement initiatives, especially those related to public education, healthcare, and economic development.
