Communities for Just Schools Fund

Communities for Just Schools Fund Communities for Just Schools Fund (CJSF) is a donor collaborative that supports community-led organi

08/26/2026

Co-governance is not a one-time listening session. It's community and government sharing real decision-making power — the steady work of building power that lasts.

In our co-governance video, from moments during our CJSF Co-Governance Community of Practice in Oakland, Omar Cardenas-Verduzco, Organizing Director of Californians for Justice (www.caljustice.org), speaks to the humanity at the root of education justice. Jessica Black, Co-Executive Director of Californians for Justice, reminds us that getting there takes real intention and time.

For more insight from community leaders and CJSF partners, watch the full video: https://www.cjsfund.org/resource/what-is-co-governance-communities-and-schools-share-the-power/

And if you want to go deeper on what building durable community power looks like in practice, our Roadmaps to Power report is a great next read: https://www.cjsfund.org/building-governing-power/

08/19/2026

Youth mental health isn't just about crisis response — it's about the everyday infrastructure of support that helps young people thrive.

Captured at the CJSF Youth Mental Health Community of Practice in Oakland, this piece brings together funders, organizers, and researchers to talk about what it really takes to support youth mental health.

As research partner Kiara Alvarez shares, we have a fragmented mental health system driven by crisis, but also an incredible infrastructure of organizations already building youth agency and well-being every day. Jenny Arwade, co-executive director of Communities United, puts it plainly: "young people and communities actually play critical roles [in healing]," yet that's often the most undervalued part of the conversation.

The throughline across every voice in this video: real solutions come from the communities living this every day — and it's on all of us to trust and resource that leadership.

Watch the full video below.

Join us in welcoming two new stars to the CJSF team. 🎉💛Katie Scott, Development and Communications Director — Katie is a...
08/12/2026

Join us in welcoming two new stars to the CJSF team. 🎉

💛Katie Scott, Development and Communications Director — Katie is a field leader with experience in youth and family philanthropy and government whose lifework centers on community-led change and organizing funders. She will support funders' engagement in resourcing people-powered organizing to advance education justice. In her words: "I want to support the leadership of organizers who are lifting up the voices of those closest to the issues."

💛Andrea Colón, Executive Program Assistant — Andrea is a Latina organizer from Far Rockaway, Queens, with roots in Guatemala and Puerto Rico. Her organizing journey started in 2016, and she brings over a decade of experience in campaign development and participatory grantmaking.

Welcome, Andrea and Katie — so glad to be in partnership with you as we work toward education justice for communities everywhere.

Young people deserve to feel holistically safe — in their schools, in their communities, and in themselves.Our partner C...
08/04/2026

Young people deserve to feel holistically safe — in their schools, in their communities, and in themselves.

Our partner Communities United brought that conviction to the Youth Su***de Research Conference in New York, sharing their expertise on youth mental health and the power of community-led solutions.

We're proud to uplift their leadership and the wisdom they bring to this critical conversation. The work of building safe, healing-centered schools starts with the people closest to the experience — and Communities United continues to show what that looks like in practice.

Our new report, Roadmaps to Power is live! Communities have been doing the work of co-governance for years. Now we have ...
07/29/2026

Our new report, Roadmaps to Power is live!

Communities have been doing the work of co-governance for years. Now we have the roadmap to prove it.

Not a framework built in a conference room. A roadmap built from what’s already working — in the schools, districts, and communities doing this every day.

Dive in: https://www.cjsfund.org/building-governing-power/

Tomorrow, we release Roadmaps to Power.This report is the result of deep, collaborative work with CJSF’s grantee partner...
07/27/2026

Tomorrow, we release Roadmaps to Power.

This report is the result of deep, collaborative work with CJSF’s grantee partner network and partners — The Nellie Mae Education Foundation and the USC Equity Research Institute — to map what co-governance really requires: the conditions, the relationships, and the shifts in power that make shared decision-making possible in our schools and communities.

If you're an organizer, educator, funder, or system leader who believes communities should be co-authors of the policies that shape their lives — this conversation is for you.

📅 Tuesday, July 28
🕐 1PM ET | 12PM CT | 10AM PT

There's still time to register. We'd love to have you join us: https://cjsfund-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yaT1-UnCTl6_o8PmCWQL2w

07/21/2026

Here's how co-governance looks in practice.

It's not a one-time listening session. It's not a survey that goes stale. It's community and government sharing real decision-making power — together, on an ongoing basis.

In our most recent video, captured from moments we shared at our Community of Practice in Oakland, our partners break down what co-governance means: young people bringing the lived context that data alone can't capture, communities working together designing solutions, and schools building the kind of trust that comes from actually sharing power.

Want to go deeper on what this looks like in your own community? Join us for virtual launch of Roadmaps to Power on July 28: https://cjsfund-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yaT1-UnCTl6_o8PmCWQL2w

Coalition work isn’t about doing it all yourself. It’s about playing your role in advancing the cause.As Ruth Idakula of...
07/15/2026

Coalition work isn’t about doing it all yourself. It’s about playing your role in advancing the cause.

As Ruth Idakula of the puts it: a small staff, a big network, and a clear job — support the grassroots organizers already doing the work of caring for communities, growing movements, and implementing policies on the ground.

That’s what member-led looks like in practice — and it’s one of the throughlines in our upcoming report, Roadmaps to Power.

Hear more from organizers leading coalitions for education justice at the virtual launch of Roadmaps to Power on July 28.

📅 Tuesday, July 28
🕐 1PM ET | 12PM CT | 10AM PT

Link to register in our bio!

Coalition work isn't about doing it all yourself. It's about playing your role in advancing the cause.As Ruth Idakula of...
07/15/2026

Coalition work isn't about doing it all yourself. It's about playing your role in advancing the cause.

As Ruth Idakula of the Dignity in Schools Campaign puts it: a small staff, a big network, and a clear job — support the grassroots organizers already doing the work of caring for communities, growing movements, and implementing policies on the ground.

That's what member-led looks like in practice — and it's one of the throughlines in our upcoming report, Roadmaps to Power.

Hear more from organizers leading coalitions for education justice at the virtual launch of Roadmaps to Power on July 28.

📅 Tuesday, July 28
🕐 1PM ET | 12PM CT | 10AM PT

Register: https://cjsfund-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yaT1-UnCTl6_o8PmCWQL2w

"What I appreciate about this space is that we recognize the totality of how our people show up and really struggle... W...
07/09/2026

"What I appreciate about this space is that we recognize the totality of how our people show up and really struggle... We are committed to having a vision of what it means to make sure that our solutions get to address the totality of what it means to be Black, q***r, trans, experiencing houselessness, and have some type of contact with the criminal legal system." — Erica Perry, Southern Movement Committee

This is what co-governance sounds like — communities most impacted by injustice, not just at the table, but shaping the vision.

It's the throughline of a decade of work we're sharing in our new report, Roadmaps to Power, produced with support from The Nellie Mae Education Foundation and the USC Equity Research Institute.

Join us July 28 for the virtual launch. You'll hear directly from the organizers, researchers, and funders behind the work.

Register here: https://cjsfund-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yaT1-UnCTl6_o8PmCWQL2w

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