4th Annual Central Coast Social Justice Education COnference

SATURDAY, MAY 15TH, 2021
10:00 A.M. TO 12:30 P.M.

Program schedule

  • Welcome (10-10:10am)
  • Keynote & brief Q&A (10:10-11am)
  • Panel introductions & discussion (11am)
  • Audience Q&A with panelists (11:35am)
  • Radical Changemaker Awards (11:50am-12pm)
  • Curriculum Fair (12-12:25pm)
  • Closing Remarks & drawing (12:25-12:30pm)
This free virtual conference will focus on our collective work to name and challenge forms of oppression by bringing together local educators and activists committed to racial justice.
 
The conference keynote speaker is Dr. Jamila Lyiscott — a community-engaged scholar, nationally renowned speaker, and the author of Black Appetite. White Food: Issues of Race, Voice, and Justice Within and Beyond the Classroom. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she is the co-founder and co-director of the Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research. 
 
The conference will also include a panel of K-12 educators and community activists from California’s Central Coast and a curriculum fair featuring social justice lessons and resources created by Cal Poly School of Education credential and graduate students.

curriculum Fair Resources

Click and engage with social justice lessons and resources created by Cal Poly School of Education credential and graduate students.

Read the program here. 

Organized and sponsored by
The Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success (CCC-USS)
​and the Cal Poly School of Education.

meet our keynote

Dr. Jamila Lyiscott 

Dr. J's talk for our 4th annual conference is titled "White Supremacy v. Everyone"
Jamila Lyiscott aka, Dr. J, is an aspiring way-maker, a community-engaged scholar, nationally renowned speaker, and the author of Black Appetite. White Food: Issues of Race, Voice, and Justice Within and Beyond the Classroom. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she is the co-founder and co-director of the Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research. Dr. J is most well known for being featured on TED.com where her video, '3 Ways to Speak English,' has been viewed over 4.8 million times, and for her commissioned TED Talk, '2053' in response to the inauguration of the 45th occupant of the white house. She has delivered keynotes and workshops at 100s of institutions throughout the nation where she works closely with youth, educators, and communities towards racial healing, equity, and justice.

Dr. J's scholarship and activism work together to explore, assert, and defend the value of Black life globally. As a testament to her commitment to educational justice for youth of color, she is the founder and co-director of the Cyphers For Justice (CFJ) program, apprenticing NYC high school youth, incarcerated youth, and educators into research and activism through hip-hop, spoken word, and media literacy. 

Dr. J serves as co-editor of the highly acclaimed journal of Equity & Excellence in Education, and holds faculty fellowships at the University of Notre Dame, and Teachers College, Columbia University. She is the recipient of the 2019 AERA Outstanding Public Communication of Education Research Award and the 2019 Scholar-Activist & Community Advocacy Award. In her active efforts to disrupt the bounds of the academy, she has also been featured in Spike Lee's "2 Fists Up," on NPR, Cosmopolitan, NowThis, and many other media outlets nationally and internationally. 

https://www.jamilalyiscott.com/ 

MEet our panelists 

These powerful Central Coast Educators and Organizers join us for a panel discussion during our 4th annual conference!

Eunice Gonzalez 

​Eunice Gonzalez was born and raised in Santa Maria, CA and is a proud daughter of immigrant farm workers from Oaxaca, Mexico.  As a way to honor her parent's hard work, Eunice earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Chicana/o Studies from UCLA. Upon graduating, she returned to Santa Maria to work as a college coordinator to help the young people of her community. She later went on to earn her Masters of Art in Teaching from Brown University, where she gave a commencement speech paying homage to the resiliency of students with undocumented families. Eunice is now a middle school teacher at the middle school she attended many years ago. During her spare time, Eunice enjoys playing tennis, writing poetry, and finding diverse books for her students. 

​Shannon Gonzalez

​Shannon Gonzalez is a long-time Paso Robles resident and founding member of Paso People’s Action, a grassroots group based in northern San Luis Obispo County. Along with fellow PPA members, she has been involved with organizing mutual aid, social justice protests, cultural projects/events, and engaging with local government bodies over the past year, with the goal of creating a community where every person can live and thrive. Shannon received her Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from California Polytechnic State University in 2013 and currently works as a biologist for an environmental consulting firm in San Luis Obispo County. She believes in the ability of ordinary people to fight injustice where they find it and create lasting change in their local community.

Veronica Zepeda

Veronica Zepeda was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and raised in Los Alamos, California. Her encounters with injustice and racism in school sparked a passion in her to seek ways to bring justice and equity into education. This influenced her decision to pursue a degree in education and become an anti-racist educator. She graduated with a B.S. in Liberal Studies and a bilingual authorization from Cal Poly, SLO in 2018 and a teaching credential in 2019. Currently, she works as a dual language teacher embedding social justice curriculum into her daily work. Her passion for social justice has set her apart amongst her colleagues as she became the youngest teacher to ever be nominated at her site for teacher of the year. It is her drive for growth that will earn her a M.A. degree in Curriculum and Instruction this summer.

​Vania Agama Ramirez

​Vania Agama Ramirez was born in Acapulco, Mexico and raised in Orange County, CA. From a young age, her undocumented identity fueled her drive for supporting underserved communities and create equitable spaces. This purpose led her to earn her B.A. in Psychology and Social Behavior from the University of California, Irvine and then her M.A. in Higher Education with a concentration in Diversity and Social Justice from the University of Michigan. As a student, scholar, and activist, Vania is dedicated to increasing access, resources, and retention for undocumented/DACAmented students across institutions. Her work has included advocating for equitable policy changes in California K-12 English Learner education, spearheading the UCI basic needs movement, and strengthening access pipelines for undocumented students in Michigan. She believes in the importance of engaging in an equity driven, culturally affirming, and inclusive practice to uplift students, disrupt oppressive systems, and create healing spaces.

MEet our 2021
​Radical changemakers

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The Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success is pleased to announce the recipients of our “Radical Changemakers” award — in recognition of their efforts to advance the rights and dignity of undocumented people and who spark institutional change to address social and racial injustices.

 The award is presented to individuals and organizations who challenge anti-immigrant and oppressive ideologies, institutional practices, and everyday actions that threaten undocumented and historically marginalized communities. 

 The awardees and their work will be recognized during the 4th annual Central Coast Social Justice Education Conference on May 15, 2021 to be held virtually.

On behalf of the Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success (CCC-USS) we thank them for their contributions toward improving the lived-experiences of undocumented students and the academic success of vulnerable community members on the Central Coast.

2021 Youth Awardees

Sharon Elmer, Mel Gonzalez, Cheyanne Holliday,
​and Kelen Macharia​
Paso Robles High School Students

2021 Student Awardee

Alan Faz Ochoa
California Polytechnic State University
 Graduate Student

​Known by their fellow Ethnic Studies advocates as the "Fearless Four," Paso Robles High School students Sharon Elmer, Mel Gonzalez, Cheyanne Holliday, and Kelen Macharian embody the passion, intelligence, and civic engagement of a new generation dedicated to social justice and a more truthful telling of our nation's diverse histories. 

Sharon, Mel, Cheyanne, and Kelen courageously advocated for a new Ethnic Studies course at Paso Robles High School.  Their leadership and activism brought student voices to the forefront of the conversation about the need for a curriculum that extends beyond the dominant narrative that all of America's most important history comes from European or white traditions. 

Cheyanne is president of the Activists' Coalition for Tomorrow (ACT) at Paso Robles High School, a club she founded two years ago.  Kelen is president of the Black Student Union (BSU) club. Mel and Sharon are active members in both clubs, which have worked together in distanced Sidewalk Art Activism (for environmental awareness, racial justice and LGBTQ+ solidarity). They sponsored a social media campaign in February to honor Black History Month, and helped the city's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee have an educational film about students' experience with racism at Paso Robles High School.  

They each came from different places, but found in each other inspiration and solidarity.  When the school board pushed back in opposition to a proposed new Ethnic Studies class, they wrote a viewpoint published in the SLO Tribune.  In it, they write that the school board "failed to realize this course is the balance needed within the existing curriculum that stresses European/white historical perspectives while overlooking the contributions of other groups. Authors we’ve read include John Steinbeck, William Shakespeare, Arthur Miller, George Orwell and Ayn Rand — all white authors. Of the 23 required English novels taught at Paso Robles High School, all but African American Zora Neal Hurston and Nigerian Chinua Achebe are white. The Asian American, Latino American and Indigenous voices are nowhere to be found." They spoke in person at the April 13, 2021 school board meeting, and shared their viewpoints with local and state reporters covering the issue. 
​
 Next fall, Sharon, Mel, and Kelen will be taking the Ethnic Studies class they helped create. Cheyanne will be off at college, leaving a legacy of energized student activism at Paso Robles High School. 
 Special shout out to their teacher Geoffrey Land, for his radical mentorship and helping us in writing about their accomplishments!

Alan Faz Ochoa is an aerospace engineering graduate student with a B.S. in aerospace engineering and a B.A. in Spanish. He was born in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, and was raised in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Alan is the first member of his family to attend a university. 
During his time at Cal Poly, Alan has been involved in many advocacy efforts to support underserved students. He currently serves as the vice chair of the ASI Board of Directors to ensure all students have an equal opportunity to explore their potential. Alan also served as the chair of the ASI Diversity and Inclusion Committee which advocates for inclusive policies within ASI and campus as a whole. He has played a critical role in the creation of Cal Poly’s Dream Center for undocumented students.

​During his undergraduate days, Alan served many leadership positions for the campus club, Rising Immigrant Scholars through Education (RISE). He co-authored and authored many ASI resolutions to advocate for marginalized and underserved students including reallocating $35,000 from ASI Club funds to the Cal Poly Cares initiative-- which is a basic needs initiative that works to provide financial assistance to Cal Poly students experiencing temporary hardship or emergency situations; and two resolutions supporting the wellbeing and futures of undocumented students at Cal Poly: Resolution #20-03 in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Resolution #19-11 in Support of Expanding Opportunities for Undocumented Students. Additionally, he helped establish an ASI Dreamer Scholarship.  

Most understated is his tireless advocacy for undocumented students. He has been there for so many students day and night, mentoring, encouraging, problem solving, and empathizing. As he graduates this June with a Master’s in Engineering Management, he leaves behind radical change that will aid so many that will come after him, taking to heart “together we rise.”