Program Assistant for Closing the School to Prison Pipeline (FWS)

Shut it Down, a community-campus partnership for racial equity, is looking for students eligible for Federal Work Study to join the team beginning September 2015. The project, currently in the first year of a three year funding cycle, works with the St. Louis Public School district to understand how educating teachers on issues of racial equity can contribute to changing school climate and supporting healthy child development and success. This partnership involves a coalition of advocates aimed at a achieving a shared set of goals: (1) examining current policies and practices at the building, district, and state level that create and enable racial inequity; and (2) developing alternative policies that support a healthy and equitable educational environment for all students to thrive.

The interested student will assist in conducting community inventories of service organizations and other local assets that may be enlisted to assist teachers and students in one of seven elementary schools. They will also assist with hosting meetings of community stakeholders, participating and recording data from focus groups, school observations, data entry and other tasks as needed.

Interested students should have a passion for working in under-served communities and learning about not only the community but also themselves through the work they will do.