Nicholas Tishuk presented on the upcoming Civil Rights Practicum that BSNBCS students and staff would be participating in May and June, Summer 2022 and during the 2022-23 school year. He summarized and answered questions about the following events:

The other members of BSNBCS SMT-Principal and CFO are on board. The staff has been informed and are also on board incorporating into the social studies lessons.

On Tuesday, May 24th members of the Freedom Riders will present to the students at an assembly.

The Board members present asked questions about participation and recommended that a vote be taken for full incorporation at the May 24th meeting.

Bed Stuy New Beginnings students are participating in a celebration of the 1961 Freedom Rides (60th* anniversary rescheduled from last year due to the pandemic) via several events, projects across the United States, as a part to its ongoing commitment to civil rights and youth activism.

Tuesday, May 24th: Freedom Riders Lewis Zuchman and Luvaugh Brown will visit BSNBCS. to meet with students and staff. They they will discuss their experiences and learn more about our students, to kick off this collaboration.

June 15th-June 19th: Freedom 60 Reunion in San Diego: A BSNBCS group of students will then travel to San Diego, California to participate in the Freedom 60 Reunion, with the remaining surviving Freedom Riders, and participate in ‘intergenerational story circles’, sharing their experience with their struggle for civil rights, modern challenges to youth of color and to forging an intergenerational exchange of knowledge and experience.

Wednesday, June 22nd: Play in New Jersey: A larger group of BSNBCS students will see the new play “Freedom Rider”, in New Brunswick, NJ at the Crossroads Theater Company.

Sunday, August 7th-August 13th Civil Rights Tour of the South: BSNBCS students will join a group of NYC based non-proits in a Civil Rights Tour of the South, led by former US Assistant District Attorney Ron Silver. The tour will provide a hands-on, practical experience making stops in Atlanta, GA, Anniston/Oxford, Birmingham AL, Philadelphia, MS and Jackson, MS. BSNBCS will be joined by representatives from the Supportive Children’s Advocacy Network, Good Shepherd, Children’s Village, the Union of Reform Judaism, Columbia University and several of the original 1961 Freedom Riders.

Early October 2022: Fall Youth Led Conference in NYC: Building on these previous experiences, youth participants will lead a conference on issues related to them in their lives, activism and connections to modern movements. Youth should lead the process in identifying workshops, topics and themes. NYC Freedom Riders will join and attend.

BSNBCS is seeking partners to support these efforts and bring these experiences of our young people to a wide audience. BSNBCS Executive Director and Freedom Rider Lewis Zuchman previously collaborated on the Freedom 50 conference, in Jackson, MS in 2011, which brought a busload of NYC students on a 9 day road trip across the South and experiences with their activist elders who make up the Freedom Riders. We seek to document this work with interviews, video, writing and community engagement around historical and contemporary civil rights issues.

The other members of BSNBCS SMT-Principal and CFO are on board. The staff has been informed and are also on board incorporating into the social studies lessons.

On Tuesday, May 24th members of the Freedom Riders will present to the students at an assembly.

The Board members present asked questions about participation and recommended that a vote be taken for full incorporation at the May 24th meeting.

All Board members are encouraged to visit the school to observe “a day”.

Review of April Board meeting minutes deferred to May 24th meeting.