The Education Justice Initiative seeks to build successful pathways for communities of color from pre-K-12 to higher education, particularly those underrepresented in Lehigh Valley (and its extension into Greater Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and New York City Metro-areas), including  Puerto Ricans and other Latinxs, AfroLatinx, and African Americans.

Inspired by student-led Ethnic Studies movements in the late 1960s into today, including Black, Puerto Rican, Chicano, Indigenous, and Asian American Studies, we consider how each of these  movements speaks to specific community needs. We are also critical of how factors such as anti-Blackness, whiteness, immigration status, and internal colonialism (sometimes multiple colonialisms) manifest in the formation of US ethnic identities.  Our goal is to accomplish cutting-edge, community-informed research and provide and develop resources in the following areas:

• Youth Literature and Racial Justice, including author talks and free, high quality books for classroom libraries
• Ethnic Studies, including Puerto Rican/Latinx Studies, in K-12
• Ethnic Studies approaches to Research relationships with Communities of Color
• Ethnic Studies in Higher Education at Lehigh
• Survey of English Language Arts and English-Language Learners Curriculum in NYC and Lehigh Valley-area schools
• Multicultural resources for Teachers and Teacher-Educators
• Grad Amped fellowship program for graduate students of color at Lehigh