Supporting Youth to Advocate for Student-Affirming Public Education

July 20, 2:30 pm ET

Registrants may access video upon request.

Join us for a webinar with youth advocates who are working across the country and in key states to address education gag orders and to preserve an honest history and welcoming environment in public schools for all students. Hear from young people about their strategies to engage their peers in political, social and communications campaigns including running for local school boards and engaging in narrative change efforts. Panelists will share their experience working with funders and suggest ways for interested funders to support youth organizing in sustainable ways. This webinar is a companion session to our prior webinar with the Voices for Honest Education Fellows.

This event is intended for members and other education grantmakers.

There is no cost to attend this Grantmakers for Education program. Registration closes 15 minutes prior to the program time. Thank you for your patience; we review each registration in advance.

About the Speakers

Andrew Brennen
Associate, Programs
Omidyar Network

As an associate at Omidyar Network, Andrew conducts research and analysis to inform the programmatic portfolio, and actively engages across our investment and stakeholder network to reimagine critical systems and the ideas that govern them.

Prior to Omidyar Network, Andrew served as a National Geographic 2020 education fellow supporting youth-led movements and organizations around the globe. He co-founded the Kentucky Student Voice Team, which helps to amplify and elevate students as partners in improving Kentucky schools including through the successful #PowerballPromise campaign that restored $14 million for low-income student scholarships.

Before that Andrew worked as the national field director for Student Voice, interned then consulted for the Obama Foundation’s program team and served in strategic communication roles at APCO Worldwide and Hattaway Communications.

Andrew attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. He is currently pursuing a Master’s in Education Policy & Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

Lydia Burns
Youth & Community Partnerships Manager
Seek Common Ground

As Youth & Community Partnerships Manager, Lydia leads the Student Action Network for Equity (SANE) in partnership with Seek Common Ground staff and its advisors. Lydia has previously worked for Achieve and the Prichard Committee Student Voice Team (now, Kentucky Student Voice Team) where she gained experience in research and advocacy. Lydia earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Mathematics from the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky.

Ramona Pierce
Press Corps Coordinator
Kentucky Student Voice Team

Ramona Pierce works with storytelling facilitators and student writers to edit submitted pieces for The New Edu newsroon. She also serves as a connection between the overlapping work of KSVT and the Student Action Network for Equity (SANE), where she helps review funding requests from student-led organizations across the country.

Shiva Rajbhandari
Activist and School Board Member
Boise, Idaho School Board

Shiva Rajbhandari was a senior at Boise High School in Idaho when he was sworn in during September 2021 as an elected member of the Boise School District Board of Trustees, becoming the first student to serve on that city’s school board. He is one of a small number of students with voting rights on school boards across the country.