Understanding the socio-political conditions that affect the lives of our students is an essential part of being an educator. One of the most pressing issues in Los Angeles right now is the housing and homelessness crisis. Students and their families, particularly poor people of color and immigrant communities, are deeply impacted by the effects of displacement and gentrification that is currently sweeping across our city. Evictions are traumatizing our young people, students are absorbing the burden and stress of high rents, and a growing number of school-age children are classified as homeless because they don't have permanent homes. 

 

As an artist and an educator, I feel a deep sense of responsibility not only to my students but also to the communities they come from. This is one of the many reasons why I an active member of the LA Tenants Union, a diverse tenant-led movement fighting for the human right to housing for all. We work to empower tenants through a process of co-learning which is rooted in the idea that tenants can help tenants stay in their homes. I serve on the Outreach Committee of the LA Tenants Union where I co-facilitates educational workshops in movement building and tenant rights. I'm also a member of School of Echoes, a space for critical reflection on the conditions in working class and poor communities, including (but not limited to) struggles against gentrification.

 

To join the LA Tenants Union or learn more about the work we do please click here. 

 

To access the School of Echoes Anti-Gentrification syllabus please click here . 

 

**Photos courtesy of the artist, Timo Saarelma, and the LA Tenants Union.