"How America's Public Schools Keep Kids in Poverty" (14 minutes)
Why should a good education be exclusive to rich kids? Schools in low-income neighborhoods across the US, specifically in communities of color, lack resources that are standard at wealthier schools — things like musical instruments, new books, healthy school lunches and soccer fields — and this has a real impact on the potential of students. Kandice Sumner sees the disparity every day in her classroom in Boston. In this inspiring talk, she asks us to face facts — and change them.
"The Laura Flanders Show" (25.5 minutes)
The Laura Flanders Show tries to find the common ground that unites Americans, stories of progress, equity, and resilience -- to discover that there is more evidence of congress, than of division. This week's guest speaks to some ways that he has built a career on these very philosophies of equity and unity.
Anthony Flaccavento is the founder of SCALE (Sequestering Carbon, Accelerating Local Economies) and author of "Building A Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up." Much of the Trump campaign and its cohorts campaigned for "trickle-down" economics -- the idea that, when those at the top (the 1%), do well, that prosperity "trickles down" to the bottom 10%. This concept has been disproven repeatedly. Flaccavento's experience and success in reinvigorating rural communities, which are often left out of macro policies, suggests one major way we can bridge the divides between these disparate parts of America. A restorative, perhaps, for the shared economic struggles that led to Trump's ascent.
Flaccavento hails from rural Virginia in Appalachian country, and has spent the last 25 years in community development advocating for directing government policy and resources towards building sustainable, thriving, rural communities. By building an economy from the bottom up -- that is, from the farm -- we make its foundations sturdy, says Flaccavento.
"Seeds of Freedom" (28 minutes)
This film, narrated by Jeremy Irons, details how seeds, which have been the heart of traditional farming and natural biodiversity since the beginning of agriculture, are being transformed into an expensive, patented commodity used to monopolize the global food system.
"The Big Picture" (33.5 minutes)
Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich and MoveOn.org Civic Action teamed up to create this new multi-video series of 12 short videos that focus on advancing bold, progressive policy solutions—such as expanding Social Security and making public higher education free.
"Help for Kids the Education System Ignores" (12 minutes) Define students by what they contribute, not what they lack — especially those with difficult upbringings, says educator Victor Rios. Interweaved with his personal tale of perseverance as an inner-city youth, Rios identifies three straightforward strategies to shift attitudes in education and calls for fellow educators to see "at-risk" students as "at-promise" individuals brimming with resilience, character and grit.