_ A Popular Education Center for Social Change

POPULAR EDUCATION IS A LEARNING PROCESS THAT ~

         ~ begins with the standpoint of the oppressed;
         ~ is inclusive;
         ~ is accessible to people of all educational levels;
         ~ addresses issues people face in their communities;
         ~ supports people moving towards action/nonviolent social change;
         ~ is based on the experiences of those participating in the learning; and
         ~ integrates non-traditional methods of learning.

Vision:  That all individuals actively engage in participatory democracy in an effort to attain a just, humane and healthy society. 

Mission:  Promoting and providing popular education workshops and resources to strengthen people's efforts for non-violent collective social justice.

Values and Foundation for Work: 

1. Paulo Freire’s pedagogy which begins with the standpoint of the oppressed; it provides a forum for people to share their experiences, embark on a process of liberation from internalized oppression and become empowered agents for change.
2. Mohandas Gandhi teaches us to involve personal change and reflection, challenge violent and oppressive structures, and to create alternatives to those violent structures in our social change work.
3. Non-hierarchical participatory processes promoted by the feminist movement and the Highlander Center. The Highlander Center has used popular education to foster the development of grassroots efforts by marginalized communities

Goals:

1. To offer popular education workshops and programs that begin with people’s lived experience and foster critical insights (conscientization) and actions directed towards non-violent collective social change.
2. To produce, exchange and share practical popular education models among community organizations, their members, and the community.
3. To engage people in both dominant and subordinate groups who have crucial roles to play, both individually and collectively, in dismantling all aspects of oppression.
4. To seek like-minded individuals and groups to help build upon our collective vision and to engage in dialogue as how to best collaborate.

Who are our popular educators:

Freire distinguishes between banking education, where knowledge is deposited like money into student receptacles, and problem-posing education, where teachers and students cooperate in a dialogue.  Our popular educators

• engage the students/participants in individual and collective awareness of their problems and conditions; stresses a collective problem solving approach;
• aim for social changes;
• explicitly address underlying structural problems or root causes;
• will incorporate various elements of social learning, behavioral, cognitive and humanist traditions of learning but is distinct in the attention to critical reflection* as a key element of learning.

* Critical reflection involves the identification and evaluation of assumptions, beliefs and values that underlie a person’s thoughts, feelings and actions. It goes beyond the subject matter knowledge because it relates learning to values, philosophy, worldview and the nature of knowledge itself.