Grassroots organizing of parents and students in Oakland and around the country provides a vital counterbalance to the destabilizing influence of disinvestment and privatization on school systems and communities. Across the country, organizing is an essential tool for elevating the voices of low-income communities and communities of color in the conversation about public education. As Dr. Pedro Noguera, Distinguished Professor of Education, UCLA, says in The Long View, ‘The most important thing we have to learn is that the community can’t just leave decision-making up to the Board and the Superintendent. The public’s role is critical, and in order for the public to be heard, the public has to be organized.”
