Meet Jalisa Johnson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jalisa Johnson.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I began as an educator teaching middle school science in Charlotte, NC and in South Los Angeles. As a 22 years old recent graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, my first year of teaching refocused my life. Educating in a title 1 school where over 90% of our students received free and reduced lunch and over 90% identified as black or brown, I quickly was exposed to the systemic inequities that my students and families faced. This pushed me into becoming an educator/organizer. In order for me to have the grit to stay in the classroom and provide academic support for my students, I couldn’t ignore my understanding of how the design of our public school system was leaving black and brown students out. It was during my first year teaching that I worked on a campaign with students and families that secured 33.2 million dollars for schools that had over 60 years of deferred maintenance or for schools that had more mobile units than actual classrooms.

In 2017, after receiving New teacher of the year award from my school and being identified as a STEM TEACHER SUPERSTAR by Charlotte Mecklenburg School District, I moved to Los Angeles to continue strengthening my tools teaching middle school science and a community organizer. When I arrived in the classroom in South Los Angeles at the corner of king and western, I began to build relationships with my students and families. Quickly they shared with me their dissatisfaction with their school and called out the quality of schools in their communities. Black families specifically shared with me their frustrations with the student outcomes for black children at the schools in their neighborhood. And how Black families for decades have felt ignored in this education system. While the school I was teaching at wasn’t meeting the state proficiency level for black students in math and English. They were closer than the school two street lights away that was sitting at 4% of their students proficient in math. Black Parents explained to me that in order to avoid schools that they felt were not preparing their children, they traveled far out of their neighborhoods just so their child could have a chance to receive an adequate education.

This is what pushed me into being a full-time community organizer. To build power with black communities and families impacted most by the decisions that are made on behalf of their children.

Has it been a smooth road?
Fighting alongside black families to have a voice in the decisions that impact their children, does not call for a smooth road. Too often do I stand with black families that are navigating long commutes, paying for extra tutors, or simply feeling ignored when looking for resources for their children to get on track while keeping a roof over their heads. The struggles become more apparent the more we built a grassroots movement confronting the anti-black policies and practices in our school districts.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
As a community organizer, I build people power. I am known for leading black families in a grassroots movement focused on Black Students achieving academically and socially. This past year I worked with a team of black families around South Los Angeles who set out to address the systemic hurdles that hold Black students back from achieving academically. When we began in 2018, 2 out of 10 Black students were on grade level in Math in LAUSD and only 3 out of 10 were on grade level in English. This agitated Black families and community members. I began to hold listening sessions across Los Angeles to hear from Black families on their reactions to this data. We shared with the community that out of the 370 schools in LAUSD that significantly serve low income African American students, only 9 of them were considered Top Public schools.

After forming a team of Black parents who wanted to address this within LAUSD. I began to train parents on organizing principles and we practiced and prepared for over 120 meetings with elected officials and decision-makers. Beginning In August 2019, my team and I met with Local District South superintendent in LAUSD and parents began to call out the lack of plans on interventions to change the academic data for Black students. We started a campaign “Standing with Black Students” and in December 2019 we held LAUSD Local District South superintendent accountable to co-creating with black families a Black Student achievement plan.

Currently, the City Wide Black student achievement campaign has continued to build people power during the pandemic crisis. I have worked with organizations to secure funding for families impacted by COVID-19. We have also begun listening to families as they navigate educating their students from home in our virtual town halls.

Since I left the classroom full time in 2018, I co-founded an organization called Youth N Tech that provides technology and entrepreneurship programs for youth 9-18. Myself and Margeaux Randolph, a former Black educator with a degree from MIT, believe there is a gap in access to engaging STEM programs for Black and Brown youth that prepare them to create startups, apps and other computer design ventures. Since the pandemic crisis, Youth N Tech has provided its programming virtually with live coaching for students.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Los Angeles has historically been a city that values grassroots movements. There are various organizations that sole mission is to build people power around the issues they care about. If you are interested in becoming an activist/community organizer, there are many places to become trained and pursue this as a career. Start by aligning yourself with organizations that are tackling the issues you care about.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bit.ly/parentpowerla
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Personal IG: @_soulflo, YouthNTech IG: @youthntechday

Image Credit:
Ray Alonzo

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