Help Fund Students' Trip to EmpowerED LA

Students all over the country, from Portland to Providence, are tired of feeling powerless when it comes to decisions that affect their education. That's why some of them are coming together, forming student unions, and fighting back against threats to their educational rights. From massive walk-outs and sit-ins to creative street theater and zombie walks, these students are demanding that their voices be heard. Just earlier this year, as you may have heard, the Portland Student Union held three days of action, including walkouts, speak outs, and a school board rally, to support their teachers and fight for the "Schools Portland Students Deserve." And just last week, the students of the Providence Student Union
organized "Operation: Guinea Pig" to protest high-stakes testing.

In an effort to connect various student unions in the country and to provide a safe and inviting space for students in my local community to learn about the student power movement and share their ideas on education, I have been working on organizing a youth empowerment conference called EmpowerED: Los Angeles Student Power 2014.

EmpowerED 2014, will be the first event ever to engage a student community in a conversation about their education. It is a conference designed for students by students and will be a great first step towards a more coordinated national student union.

On March 29th at the University of Southern California, high school students of Los Angeles will have the rare opportunity to
listen to the powerful stories of high school student organizers, who will be coming to LA from Chicago, Newark, Portland, Providence, and Baltimore to share incredible stories of how they have elevated student voice and fought for educational justice in their communities.

Beyond hearing from these student speakers and panelists, the students in attendance will then have the chance to work with student organizers in workshops to build organizing skills, share their ideas for education, and collaborate on developing a student power movement in their Los Angeles. EmpowerED 2014 will be a perfect starting point to a larger movement for student power that will continue beyond the conference and ideally lead to an education system that values student voice. For more info, you can take a look at the conference website (excuse the incompleteness, it is still under construction!)

-----FINANCIAL SUMMARY-----
The reason I am setting up a fundraising page is to raise money to cover the transportation costs of the speakers who will be presenting at the conference. As they are all in either high school or college with very little means to travel to LA, I would really appreciate it if each one of you could pitch in just a small amount to go towards their round trip plane tickets to LA. I will be providing them transportation to and from the LAX airport and a place to stay.