Project Leadership
Equity Center: Nancy Deutsch, Kimalee Dickerson, Daniel Fairley, Leah Puryear
University Partners: Youth Nex, Youth Action Lab, Civic and Community Engagement Program
Community Partners: Albemarle County Public School, Charlottesville City Schools
Overview:
The Equity Center’s deep commitment to Youth begins with Youth Power, a series of initiatives with two overarching aims:
- 1) supporting young people as change agents in their communities and
- 2) addressing long-standing racial and economic educational inequities.
Highlights:
Recognizing that local youth are already engaged in social change to promote equity, the Equity Center provides training, resources, and a platform to enhance the impact of youth civic engagement through action research. We aim to build an infrastructure for youth to engage in research and develop solutions for inequities in our community that impact their lives. In addition to supporting local K-12 youth, the Equity Center prepares UVA students to confront and combat inequity and engage authentically in community-engaged scholarship.
The Equity Center aims to build authentic partnerships and connections with local schools, educators, and youth-serving organizations and programs to address long-standing educational disparities in public school divisions in Charlottesville, Albemarle, and surrounding counties. Our plan includes supporting existing pipeline programs designed to provide educational and career opportunities to underserved students, particularly African American, Latinx, low-wealth and immigrant youth, and helping to build additional programming and/or infrastructure where the community identifies needs.