youth organizing

Harsh disciplinary policies, such as zero tolerance, contribute to the school to prison pipeline by criminalizing students and pushing them out of school. Restorative practices, on the other hand, offer an opportunity to repair & move forward after a problem arises, keeping more students engaged in their education.
 

On this month's show:
    •    Highlights and victories from PSU's '09-'10 school year
    •    Connecting the struggles of students and taxi workers
    •    Philly & Harrisburg students talk about ending violence
    •    Youth express themsleves through poetry
    •    Music and education news
 
This show was hosted by Azeem Hill and Gregory Jordan-Detamore. Matt Johnson was the engineer.

The Philadelphia Student Union's Building A youth Movement (BAYM) Leadership Institute is happening again this summer! Every summer, high-school age young people from all over Philadelphia are invited to join Philly Student Union's youth leaders for a week of leadership, creativity and fun.
 

Philly Student Union had a powerful year. As the school year comes to a close, we created this montage to capture the highlights of the 2009-2010 school year. Thanks to all of the people who helped make this school year so successful and congratulations to all of our graduating members!

Philadelphia Student Union is turning 15 this year. Celebrate with us on Tuesday.  Here's a look back at some of our victories over the years.
 
1995 A group of Philadelphia high school students who are concerned with the state of public education in the city realizes that if meaningful school reform is going to happen it will have to be led by the most-affected: students. The Philadelphia Student Union is formed.

I am certain that project based learning is one of the best ways for young people to learn. My experiences with the West Philly Hybrid X-Team and Philadelphia Student Union have taught me this.

Members of PSU recently traveled to Harrisburg PA to meet with students from Harrisburg's William Penn High School and engage them in our Campaign for Nonviolent Schools and our Campaign for Equitable School Funding. We led a participatory workshop that explored the root causes of violence in our schools and communities. We also talked about conditions inside our schools, and students from both Philly and Harrisburg agreed that underfunding of schools is a root cause of many of the problems we face.
 
By sharing our experiences, students came to the realization that the problems we see in our schools are not isolated to our own districts; that the struggle for a high quality education is a statewide struggle. In this radio piece, we hear from Harrisburg students about conditions in their school, their views on violence, and how PSU's Nonviolence workshop affected their perceptions.

On this show:

• Picture the Homeless organizes for the right to housing in NYC
• PSU brings students together for a nonviolent 'flash mob'
• Students stand in solidarity with Temple nurses & techs
• Temple University Health System tries to limit college access for nurses' kids
• Plus music and local education news

This show was hosted by Greg Jordan-Detamore & Shania Morris. Dan
Jones engineered.

On, Tuesday April 20th around 2pm, Philadelphia Student Union conducted a 3-minute action. In only 180 seconds, we showed the power and leadership that young people have when we are organized for non-violence.

On April 8th, the Philadelphia Student Union, along with the Unified Taxi Workers Alliance and Media Mobilizing Project, went to the front lines of the Temple nurses strike to show support and stand with picketing PASNAP members. Justin Carter, a member of PSU and a senior at West Philadelphia HS, spoke to the crowd about the connections between students' struggles & nurses' struggles. He called attention to the problems with the 'gag clause' that Temple is trying to put on nurses, saying, "Just like students have the right to speak out about the conditions in our schools, nurses have the right to speak out about the working conditions in their hospitals."