New Lesson in HRE USA Curriculum Integration Guide, New Coordinator, and Thank You to Bill Fernekes!
 

A new lesson, entitled “Digital Rights”, was added to HRE USA's Curriculum Integration Guide.  The lesson was prepared by Karen Hopkins and Shabnam Mojtahedi, HRE USA members in Washington DC and field-tested by HRE USA member and social studies teacher Jake Torsiello with students at Randolph HS in Randolph Twp. NJ. 

As of August 1, 2021 John Terry, the NJ/PA regional representative for HRE USA, will assume the coordinator role for the Curriculum Integration Project as HRE USA Steering Committee member Bill Fernekes, moves on to other human rights-related projects.

A tribute from John Terry on Bill Fernekes work...
It was in 2014 that I was first introduced to Bill Fernekes and a working group of educators he had assembled at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. I was an early career educator who had limited working knowledge of human rights but was passionate about developing quality and meaningful lessons for students in my social studies classes. Despite this background, Bill had invited me to develop a lesson plan that would model how to integrate human rights content and principles into a lesson for a history class I was teaching. Thus, with the guidance of Bill and my colleagues in this group, I had a crash course introduction to the world of human rights education. I found an affinity with this group of educators in that they were academically and professionally focused, while also dedicated to a shared set of principles and values, and I responded to Bill’s subsequent invitations to contribute to this group’s work. 

In the years since, I have contributed model lesson plans to HRE USA's Curriculum Integration Guide, served as a peer reviewer for other lesson plan contributors, and provided professional development based on the lessons I and others have contributed to the Guide. In addition, I also assembled a Service Learning for Human Rights Education Guide, which was published on HREUSA.org alongside the Curriculum Integration Guide’s lesson plans and other materials on HREUSA.org. If it was not for my work with this particular project in human rights education, I do not know if I would be the same practitioner of and advocate for human rights education that I am today. Last year, I was honored when Bill called upon me to serve as a Regional Representative for HREUSA.org, and this year, I intend to deepen my role as a volunteer for the organization by taking on responsibility for overseeing the open-ended work of developing the HRE USA Curriculum Integration Guide and making it come alive for the educators who may benefit from its existence.

HRE USA wants to thank Bill Fernekes for his vision, mentorship, and significant contribution to the development and implementation of this HRE USA initiative for the past six years!

Cancel Student Loan Debt
 

No matter who we are or how much we make, we should all have the opportunity to learn without limits. But the astronomical cost of higher education—even public higher education—forces many students to either forego their dreams or be trapped in a lifetime of debt. But the student debt crisis is not accidental—it is working exactly as designed by lawmakers, banks, and loan servicers. Immediate and broad cancellation of federal student loan debt is a necessary step to ensure we all can thrive—no exceptions.

Urge Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to take immediate action to cancel both the student loan debt of public service workers with at least 10 years of service and $50,000 in student debt for all other federal loans.

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Discriminatory Policies at the Summer Olympics 

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Article "Zero-Tolerance: The Trump Administration's Human Rights Violations Against Migrants on the Southern Border."

In 2017, the Trump Administration imposed its policy of zero-tolerance immigration enforcement on the southern border. This policy resulted in the forcible separation of families and the prolonged detention of children in harsh conditions, without due process or adequate resources. The Trump Administration unleashed these policies to deter people from immigrating and seeking asylum, consistent with President Trump’s racist rhetoric and campaign promises. This article by Jeffrey R. Baker and  Allyson McKinney Timm analyzes and critiques these policies based on international human rights law, noting the resonance human rights norms find among diverse religious traditions.

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We Are Kid Lit Collective Summer Reading List

Are you looking for a curated summer reading list that celebrates diversity, inclusivity, and intersecting identities? Each year, the We Are Kid Lit Collective produces a wonderful summer reading list. They select books by and about IPOC (Indigenous and People of Color). Chosen books are thoroughly selected, discussed, and vetted by two or more members.

The We Are Kid Lit Collective's work is premised upon the principles of social justice, equity, and inclusion and centers IPOC voices in children’s literature in order to identify, challenge and dismantle white supremacy and both internalized and systematic racism.

SIMA Classroom - Student Film Club

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Article: Housing as a Right in the United States: Mitigating the Affordable Housing Crisis Using an International Human Rights Law Approach
 

Throughout its history, the United States has perpetuated a double standard in regard to international human rights by urging other nations to protect and promote these rights, while simultaneously forgoing international human rights treaties in favor of its own Constitution and domestic human rights laws. Notably, the United States does not recognize one of the fundamental rights introduced by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and contained in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: The right to adequate housing. Failure to recognize housing as a human or constitutional right has led to a worsening affordable housing crisis in the United States. Domestic policy has proven insufficient to combat this crisis, and the United States must adopt a different approach for resolution. This article by Maria Massimo, argues that state governments should borrow from international human rights treaties and foreign housing law, and recognize housing as a justiciable right in an attempt to mitigate the affordable housing crisis. States can best ensure a right to housing by including housing as a right in their respective constitutions and creating oversight bodies to promote and protect this new constitutional right.

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Critical Integration Migration Law - Online Class

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New Book: Influences of the IEA Civic & Citizenship Education Studies

This new open access book from IEA (the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement), entitled, Influences of the IEA Civic and Citizenship Education Studies: Practice, Policy, and Research Across Countries and Regions, identifies the multiple ways that IEA’s studies of civic and citizenship education have contributed to national and international educational discourse, research, policymaking, and practice. The IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), first conducted in 2009, was followed by a second cycle in 2016. IEA’s ICCS remains the only large-scale international study dedicated to formal and informal civic and citizenship education in school. 

In this book, more than 20 national representatives and international scholars from Europe, Latin America, Asia, and North America assess how the processes and findings of the 2009 and 2016 cycles of ICCS and CIVED 1999/2000 have been used to improve nations’ understanding of their students’ civic knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, current civic-related behaviors, and intentions for future participation in a comparative context.  There are also chapters summarizing the secondary analysis of those studies’ results indicating their usefulness for educational improvement and reflecting on policy issues.

The analyses and reflections in this book provide timely insight into international educational discourse, policy, practice, and research in an area of education that is becoming increasingly important for many societies.

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Program Associate - Engaging Schools
 

Engaging Schools is growing and recently launched a search for a Program Associate! We're seeking a student support professional to partner with district administrators, school leaders, and staff members to recalibrate District Codes of Character, Conduct, and Support and implement schoolwide climate and culture initiatives. Program Associates provide professional learning that includes coaching and consultation, and they facilitate change processes with a focus on middle and high schools in urban districts.

Our organization is dedicated to building an antiracist and inclusive culture and an increasingly diverse staff. We're supporting change and working to dismantle systemic racism in the districts with whom we partner. Given the diversity within and among these districts, we strongly encourage applicants with lived experience of racism and other forms of oppression/discrimination.

This position will remain open until it is filled.

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National Teachers Law School - Navigating Social Justice and Democracy in Classrooms

FREE Training: Restorative Justice in our Schools: Building Sustainable, Community-Based Solutions to Conflict and Harm
 

EVENT DETAILS: 
When: Tuesdays, July 20, July 27, and August 3, 2021
Time: 12pm – 2pm
Where:  Online
Cost: FREE

Description:
The free weekly workshops, led by Cymone Fuller and Sia Henry of the Restorative Justice Project at Impact Justice, will explore how educators can bring restorative justice practices and human rights principles into the classroom—modeling alternatives to punishment, including mediation and agreement, that allow students to develop deeper empathy, patience, active listening skills, ownership over their learning environment, and responsible decision making to support their social-emotional wellbeing for years and decades to come.

The three-part training series will feature local community leaders and human rights defenders who have put these principles into practice in their work to combat racial and ethnic disparities inside the classroom and in their communities. Educators will learn how restorative justice practices can be applied to end the school-to-prison pipeline and improve community well-being.

You can choose to attend one or more of the upcoming sessions:
-  July 20, 2021: 1st session – Restorative Justice Frameworks and Paradigms
-  July 27, 2021: 2nd session – Building a Restorative Space in Your Community and School
-  August 3, 2021: 3rd Session – Stories of Human Rights Defenders Impacted by Restorative Justice

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Webinar with Kathryn Sikkink, the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School

EVENT DETAILS: 
When: Monday, August 2, 2021
Time:  1pm - 2:10 pm ET
Where: Live Stream
Cost: FREE

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Workshop: unMASKing: The Pandemic Curriculum

The program is open to educators, parents, and administrators in all settings (classrooms, organizations, and homes).

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>> Register

Drumbeat 2021: The US Human Rights Network Virtual Gathering

EVENT DETAILS: 

The theme of this year’s USHRN National Gathering, DRUM BEAT 21, is: “Human Rights Here! Human Rights Now!”, circling up not only all our people but our interconnected issues, with a human rights framework and racial justice lens. It’s fitting that DRUM BEAT 21 aligns with the 20th anniversary month of the World Conference in Durban, South Africa, and a current moment in time when the eyes of the world are on law enforcement’s role in ongoing Black and Indigenous genocide, extraction, and exploitation - across the U.S. and all around the globe.

DRUM BEAT 21 will bring member direct-action campaigns’ learnings to the forefront, exploring how each has benefited from applying 1) human rights principles to its internal workings, and 2) international standards and mechanisms to hold their targets to account for minding human rights priorities in policies, budgets, and practices. We will leave with stronger shared analysis, language, tools, and energy for supporting each other’s human rights demands, and living human rights every day, unequivocally.

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