Youth Voice Integrates

In 2021, IntegrateNYC sued the state of New York for perpetuating segregation and violating the New York State Constitution and Human Rights Laws. To learn more about the active lawsuit, contact co-counsel at hello@peerdefense.org.

After a decade of championing youth-led initiatives to desegregate New York City schools, IntegrateNYC’s operations as an independent non-profit organization will conclude and seek to merge into our rising ally, The Circlekeepers. For more information on IntegrateNYC 2021 lawsuit against he state of New York for perpetuating segregation and violating the New York State Constitution and Human Rights Laws. please contact co-counsel at hello@peerdefense.org.

Over the next 3 months, we are embarking on a youth-led campaign,  “Schools By Us For Us” , to organize a city-wide network of student leaders who want to win student voting rights, and restore community control of schools.

This month our youth leaders Elena and Mia spoke at the D13 Anti-Racist Panel for Black History Month. They shared definitions and perspectives on restorative justice, emphasizing the need to shift away from punishment in schools.

A group of youth leaders attended an advocacy day in Albany to address inequity and top-down power structures dominated by adults in education. They spoke directly to those in power, inspiring others to join in the fight for a more just and equitable education system.

A group of directors from IntegrateNYC's youth spoke at the Mayoral Control hearing in Manhattan on January 18. Our bold youth leaders emphasized that the Mayors who have been in charge since Mayoral Control began in 2002 have disregarded and dismissed the opinions of public school students who are affected by education inequity.

Watch their testimony here!

A few weeks ago, a discussion in Chicago led by current and former IntegrateNYC youth executive directors Melanie Rosas-Reyes and Leanne Nunes highlighted the critical intersection of housing and education.

Coming May 20, 2023: The Youth Justice Fair is a liberatory space where real youth power lives, grows, and thrives. There are no barriers to working collectively in order to manifest change; rather, communal interactions and conversations are encouraged.

REGISTER TODAY

The youth leaders at IntegrateNYC have always moved with intentionality and purpose, united unapologetically by the 5R framework as the rubric for an equitable school system. Youth leaders at INYC connect, collaborate, convene, and create space for restorative justice.

This year, we're taking on the critical issues of Mayoral Control over schools, school budgets, and introducing our Youth Justice Fair "The Function." 📢 Join us at 4:30PM on Thursday, April 20th at NYU Pless Hall (3rd Floor, Room 340) 82 Washington Square East as we come together to empower young voices and create meaningful change in our education system. 📅📍

Use this tool to send a message to the mayor, the council speaker, the finance chair, and YOUR council member.

All New Yorkers should have access to housing, livelihood, and resources to thrive. There are no “deserving” and “undeserving” New Yorkers. New Yorkers in every city council district use our city’s vital public resources, from libraries to parks to schools to arts programs to elder care and workforce development.

Our March Retreat brought together youth for a meaningful experience focused on improving communication and self-care within the school integration movement. We enjoyed role-playing activities and games while learning about restorative justice principles from RJI youth representatives.

Dear Community is a section from our quarterly newsletter, written and prepared by our executive team.

Now is the time to mobilize for changing systems that harm youth, forcing them to attend schools that feel more like prisons with metal detectors and surveillance rather than spaces of liberatory education.

Thursday November 17th at 4:30pm at NYU Kimball Block!

Join us to build a campaign to promote integration and equity in our city’s schools. Food and drinks will be served, also gain volunteer hours as we talk about institutional division and our solutions.

Join our youth directors Benji and Django next Wednesday May 25th for a virtual House Meeting about the things we see and don’t see in our schools.

Are you a Middle School Student at Dewey, MS 51, 447, 839, 442, Park Slope Collegiate, Boreum Hill, MS 88 in D15?) Join us for our in person gathering on May 12!

January 27th at 4:30PM, join our D15 community gathering to engage around Covid safety, metal detectors, and policing in our schools. Take action within your school to address the different forms of school policing affecting you.

New York City will expand access to sports teams in the wake of a lawsuit that claimed Black and Latino students were systematically denied access to the same athletic opportunities as students of other races.

IntegrateNYC has joined a case against school segregation in New York City.

The sweeping complaint accuses New York City of maintaining a segregated school system and seeks to establish the right to an anti-racist education.

Standardized testing creates stressful and overly competitive learning environments that harm students’ growth as learners and people.

In partnership with NYC Opt Out, we call on The Board of Regents to cancel Spring 2021 Regents for all high school students and New York State to halt the Spring 2021 3rd-8th grade state tests.

NYC is taking an important step toward making school admissions more equitable, but the work is not over! We are committed to permanently eliminating all discriminatory screens citywide. Our fight for Real Integration continues.

IntegrateNYC Peer Defense Project is an intergenerational movement lawyering shop supporting youth activists fighting for youth power to integrate schools, abolish youth prisons, and win the right to vote. Apply to our Summer 2021 Intern Program! We will accept rolling applications through May 1st.

Join us on November 2nd for an evening of activation and intergenerational learning grounded in our collective power.

This event will be for the people, by the youth.

We are thrilled to announce that IntegrateNYC is a finalist for this year’s Purpose Awards! Our work to achieve real integration in NYC schools has made the shortlist of the Best Student Campaign of 2020!

IntegrateNYC and the NYC Coalition for Education Justice are creating Liberation Schools modeled after the SNCC Freedom School of the 60’s.

Stay tuned for details about Liberation School and how to participate!

The Comptroller proposes free bikes and Citi Bike memberships to lower-income high school students and to build 1.5 miles of protected bike lanes around 50 NYC high school buildings.

Imxn spoke with the Comptroller’s office on behalf of INYC about the proposed plan.