logo of Dorothy Cotton Institute
VOTING VANGUARDS POSTER PROJECT of REJOICE the VOTE!
Teens Lead at Work
Human Rights Workshop for High School Students
DCI Story Center
DCI Gatherings
Youth Leadership Development
Fellowships and Internships
DCI Educ. & Leadership Development

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It’s Black History Month!

Come to the 2nd event of  SISTERS OF CHANGE–unsung sheroes for racial justice whose names everyone should know.

The Voting Vanguards Poster Project of Rejoice the Vote!

–an exhibit of 12 original posters by Ms. Ana Goldsmith’s students from  the Lehman Alternative Community School

 

–FEB. 20, 5:00-6:30 PM at the new Tompkins Center for History and Culture, 110 N. Tioga St. on the Ithaca Commons

 

–See the Sisters of Change exhibit in the Atrium Tower, and The Voting Vanguards show in the Gallery

–Meet the student artists, their teacher, Ms. Ana Goldsmith, and Rejoice the Vote! activist, Jeff Furman

–Hear about the Voting Vanguards–the American sheroes and heroes who fought for our voting rights

–Hear about the Constitutional Amendments and Voting Rights Act: the foundation for our voting rights.

–Register to Vote on the spot if you haven’t already!

–Share your own answers:  Why do you vote? Why will you vote? Why do you want your family to vote?

–Free & Open to all, especially students, educators and families.

–Enjoy refreshments and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream!

REJOICE the VOTE!

 

The Midstate Council for Occupational Safety and Health held a 2-day training of trainers in Ithaca: Teens Lead @ Work

Led by Kirby Edmonds and Laura Branca, eight local teens have been trained to lead important workshops for young employees

The Midstate COSH trainers will train fellow teenagers and youth in these areas:

Introduction to Workplace Rights Under OSHA
Sexual Harassment
Workplace Violence
Health & Safety Hazards
Solutions at Work

If you are interested in having a teen-led workshop (usually 2-3 hours long) on these issues, please contact Antonio Triana <r10triana@gmail.com> or Midstate COSH <midstatecosh@gmail.com>

➜ Job opportunities are available with the Midstate Council for Occupational Safety and Health this Summer 2017.

 

 

 

 

On March 13, the Dorothy Cotton Institute presented an interactive half-day training workshop on understanding the human rights framework, for students from two high schools–Lehman Alternative Community School, and New Roots Charter School.  The half-day workshop was hosted by LACS in their terrific theater space. DCI Senior Fellows Kirby Edmonds and Laura Branca designed and led the training.

table work

A highly committed team of educators who are champions for equity and inclusion in their schools worked together to organize, find a time and space, and encourage their students to attend.

table work3Many of the youth who attended the workshop are already involved working for justice and positive change in their schools and in their lives. The purpose of this workshop was to encourage them to use their understanding of human rights for creative self-expression, scholarship, and positive action to end discrimination and respect human dignity. The DCI is invited some youth to design a panel at The History Center about their work for social justice, date TBD.

Human Rights are Universal, which means that they belong to all people, everywhere. Yet it’s surprising how many people do not know very much about array of rights and responsibilities that our nation and hundreds of other nation states across the globe have made a commitment to protect and uphold.

The Right to Know Our Rights: The Declaration of Human Rights Education and Training says that first and foremost is our right to know our rights, and that all people, everywhere, are entitled to human rights education.  The Dorothy Cotton Institute is very pleased to offer young people the opportunity to examine their experience through the lens of human rights and responsibilities.

If you are interested in future human rights workshops for young people, educators or activists, please contact Kirby Edmonds at tfckirby@aol.com, or 607-277-3401.

 

The Dorothy Cotton Story Center is under development.

We envision a uniquely inspiring and uplifting gathering place, providing the public with multimedia education and a moving experience of personal connection to international, national, regional and local efforts for the full realization of civil and human rights.

  • Visitors will learn about Ms. Cotton’s instrumental role in the Civil Rights Movement and how lessons from her life’s work inform human rights struggles today.

  • The Center will be a physical portal to the experience of Beloved Community, where we will foster, promote and celebrate leadership in transformative social change. Bringing forward the use of music, singing, the arts, and story to awaken the longing for purpose and the spirit of belonging, this gathering place will offer a taste of the sweetness of struggling alongside others for the greater good.

  • Through experiential learning and education, changing exhibits of historical interest, video and live performance for multigenerational audiences, the Center will be a place to gather, learn, showcase and celebrate the heroic efforts of people much like themselves to advocate successfully for their own human rights and the rights of others. The Story Center’s oral history component invites you to share your personal stories of struggle, bravery, and transformation. Eventually the Story Center will be a location where visitors can tape their stories which will be archived and shared with other visitors to the Center and the website

DCI gatherings provide a regular opportunity for human rights leaders to build community and advance the movement, strategize, and share lessons learned.

 

Watch our calendar and Blog for our next scheduled gathering and information about how to register.

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Check out our facebook page to talk with other young people about what they are thinking and doing!!

 

Youth Leadership Development Work

The DCI Youth leadership development program:

  • Educates young people about their rights as human beings and their responsibilities as global citizens
  • Provides opportunities for young people to:

-participate in the global human rights movement

-develop their leadership skills

-develop relationships with young people from around the globe through a network of young human rights
leaders and activists.

 


Opportunities:

DCI’s youth education and leadership development work builds on the following opportunities:

  1. Eliminating the widespread ignorance, at least in the United States, of the scope of human rights, through universal education of young people of all ages about their rights as human beings and their responsibilities as global citizens.
  1. Providing activities for young people in all communities, and particularly in marginalized communities, to develop their leadership and inspire and support them to work to improve their communities.
  1. Building real relationship, understanding and community between young people, particularly in the United States, with young people from of other cultures and nations.

 

Key offerings:

Human Rights Education

Youth Leadership Development Workshops

Field Trips

Youth Gatherings

 

Human Rights Education:

DCI, working with other human rights education organizations, develops and promotes the distribution of human rights core curricula in public schools. DCI also, again in partnership with other human rights educators, develops and provides training for public school teachers in the use of human rights core curricula.

 

Youth Leadership Development:

DCI will through its fellowship program and in partnership with community youth programs (e.g. community –based programs, religious institutions and schools) provides:

  • human rights education for young people and adults (including parents) working with young people.
  • training in non-violent social activism for young people and adults working with young people.
  • opportunities for young people, through internships, fellowships and other projects to develop their leadership skills and to develop relationships and networks with other young people involved in the global human rights movement.

 

Key Activities:

  • Training workshops for young people
  • Training workshops for adults (e.g. teachers, youth workers, parents) working with young people.
  • Training of trainers.
  • Field trips and projects (including performing arts projects).
  • Gatherings for young people.

 

Populations Served:

  • Young people to 30 years of age.
  • Adults working with young people to age 30.

 

Anticipated impact and outcomes:

  • Widespread distribution of K-12 core curricula in public schools.
  •  A well-informed and engaged critical mass of young people engaged in the human rights movement.
  •  A strong local, national and international network of young leaders and activists.
  •  A positive shift in national consciousness in the United States regarding human rights.

 

Please contact us for more information about youth education and leadership development opportunities.

  Kamagra

DCI Fellowships

The Dorothy Cotton Institute’s Fellowship Program supports the efforts of human rights activists in their communities, helps close the gap between their work and scholarly research, and establishes the core of  a think and do tank to develop effective strategies, identify projects and areas of research for DCI fellows, and contribute to a growing knowledge base.

Opportunities:

The DCI’s Fellowship Program builds on the following opportunities:

  1. Increasing the success of social justice and human rights organizing efforts by reducing the isolation between those engaged in these struggles around the country and around the planet.
  2. Closing the well-documented gap between human rights education and research on one hand, and the direct practice and action taken on the ground in communities here and around the world.
  3. Organizing and widely disseminating analyses, for use at the grass roots level, of how the Citizenship Education Program (CEP) provided the undergirding organizing mechanism for the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The lessons of this effort are in danger of being lost before they can be fully documented and made available to current and future civil and human rights activists and educators. The lessons of the CEP are an important tool that should be made available for grass roots education, mobilization and leadership development.
  4. Increasing recognition of the frequent failure at all levels of government, in the United States to protect human rights because human rights are defined so narrowly in this country and promoting a policy framework for educating people about their rights, and translating human rights as articulated by the UN human rights conventions into law, at all levels of government.
  5. Increasing the number of models and frameworks in use that actually support inclusive, democratic practices in practice both in governance and at the level of both public and private organizations so that it becomes possible for people to fully exercise their cultural, political and economic rights.

 

Key offerings:

  • Fellows
  • Interns
  • Think and Do Tank

 

Fellowships:

Identifying and providing support and networking opportunities to practitioners and scholars working in the area of civil and human rights is the core function of the DCI fellowship program.

Fellows may be:

  • Practitioners involved in community education, community organizing, leadership development, youth development or civic engagement in their local communities or at a broader, regional, national or international level.
  • Individuals pursuing answers to particular research questions in the area of human rights. Examples might be to identify the cultural conditions that made reconciliation in Rwanda possible, to determine how to measure the effectiveness of using the internet to organize movements, how to calculate the social cost of violent versus non-violent approaches to managing inter-cultural conflict, or which forms of human rights education are most likely to lead to changes in attitude and behavior.
  • Artists and performing artists whose work inspires personal transformation of individuals and groups or educates about human rights.
  • Experts in their fields who are advocating and implementing strategic approaches to particularly vexing human rights issues such as incarceration and capital punishment practices in the United States, or codifying and protecting the full human rights of indigenous people throughout the world.
  • Experts in their fields who provide leadership in addressing critical policy questions for both governments and organizations, and to formulate and design strategic approaches to address particular human rights problems, for example:

-How to assess where a nation or organization is on the continuum of respect and protection of human rights.

-Which public education practices are most likely to produce a citizenry that understands human rights and is
able to meet the responsibilities of exercising their rights and protecting the rights of others.

The fellowship program provides a combination of financial, programmatic, administrative and/or intellectual support to these fellows through stipends, grants, scholarships, mentoring, training, seminars and access to its network of practitioners, artists, performing artist and scholars. Their work will then be included in ongoing participatory research to assess the effectiveness and reliability of particular organizing tools, methods and strategies.

Interns:

The DCI identifies interns and placement opportunities for interns.

Interns have the opportunity for short-term employment or volunteer work in organizations doing human rights education and/or advocacy work.

 

Think and Do Tank:

The DCI through its Website, Annual Gathering and the activity of its fellows will provide both a virtual and actual think and do tank to:

  • advance human rights education,
  • develop practical strategies for non-violent civic engagement
  • articulate policy frameworks for governments and organizations
  • identify and disseminate best practices for communities, organizations and community leaders and activists

 

Populations Served:

  • Groups of people who are struggling to exercise their civil and human rights or stop violations of their rights.
  • Individuals who are interested in learning how to apply the leadership tools and practices that can help these groups succeed.
  • Individuals who are interested in learning how to organize what is learned into best practices and policy frameworks.
  • Organizations and governmental units seeking advice on how to create the policy and procedural frameworks that promote the full exercise of human rights.

 

Links to Other Program Components:

The fellowship program will be fully integrated into the other program areas in that Fellows will be both the beneficiaries of and the authors of much of what is written and produced in the DCI’s Education and Training work. Fellows will be conferees and presenters at the Annual Gathering. Some of them will be the leaders of youth development programs. Some of the activities fellows participate in will take place in the Education and Visitors’ Center and some of their work will be among the exhibits for public display. For fellows engaged in the performing arts, some of their work will be presented to the public at the Education and Visitors’ Center. Some of their work will also be available on the website.

 

Anticipated impact and outcomes:

  • A stronger link between research and practice.
  • An organized body of literature on practical strategies for achieving human rights.
  • A growing leadership capacity for human rights struggles at all levels.
  • A stronger network and community of human rights leaders and educators.
  • More successful human rights efforts at the grassroots level.A more sustained human rights movement.

 

Please contact us for more information about any of these opportunities.

DCI‘s Education and Leadership Development programming helps people of all ages and backgrounds to reflect on, document, learn about and share effective practices for personal and community transformation and systemic change.

 

Opportunities:

DCI’s education and leadership development work builds on the following opportunities:

    1. Capturing and preserving the wealth of “local” knowledge about transformative action – and making it readily available to others –will accelerate achieving human rights for all.
    2. Highlighting ways to apply the principles and practices of the CEP to the present need for Human Rights Literacy and for sustainable, non-violent strategies for social justice will offer this vital knowledge to new generations of change agents.
    3. Peer-to-peer learning communities help leaders to critically reflect on their knowledge, document and share effective transformative practices, and learn from the practices of others, allowing scaling up of transformation and systemic change.
    4. Developing a cadre of experienced, well-trained people who can facilitate these learning processes in their communities will also help scale-up transformative action and change.
    5. Bridging the gap between research and practice will enable people to become more effective in present-day change movements as they are unfolding. Building a knowledge base, i.e., literature about transformative education and social change.

 

Key DCI Offerings:

Human Rights Education:

DCI, working with other human rights education organizations, develops and promotes the distribution of human rights core curricula in public schools. DCI also, again in partnership with other human rights educators, develops and provides training for public school teachers and community youth development professionals in the use of human rights core curricula.

 

The Citizenship Education Program for the 21st Century:

DCI provides popular education workshops and resources for people to learn about human rights and what they can do to exercise their own rights and advocate for the rights of others. These include Citizenship Education Program for the 21st Century encourages and equips emerging activists for positive civic participation, and moving from as sens of “victim” to one of empowered “citizen”. The CEP is based on the principles of the programs Dorothy Cotton led for civil rights activists in the 1960’s.

Peer-to-Peer Learning Communities

Grassroots leaders and movement builders have a deep body of knowledge, skills, and rich experiences, they often have little opportunity to step back and critically reflect on their practice with others. Facilitated peer learning forums will create a collective space for practitioners to identify, document and share best practices for community transformation and social change. These forums will be aimed at making the work of grassroots leaders visible and influential beyond their local communities, and building the formal body of knowledge about this work. Retreats will allow participants to explore and develop their vision of personal and societal transformation, find inner and outer resources and support to transcend perceived barriers and limitations, find their voice, plan next steps, and practice action strategies with feedback and technical assistance available.

 

The DCI’s Oral History Project

offers the public the opportunity to record their own personal stories of how they have participated in social change and struggle for civil and human rights, employing both portable recording equipment and a recording booth at the DCI Education and Visitors’ Center. We will collect, edit and archive and share these stories. They will be used as educational tools to stimulate community conversations. In addition, many will be made available on our website and at the Visitor’s Center to build the base of knowledge about how people have taken transformative action in their own lives.


Training: 

DCI designed leadership training models – both “off-the-shelf” and customized – are based on the proven methods of effective social change activists and educators. These workshops are directed experienced grassroots leaders as well as those who may not yet see themselves as leaders, and at both adults and young people engaged in the DCI Youth Development Program.

DCI also offer human rights workshops to public schools and their community partners toward integrating a human rights framework into their curricula and programs.

 

Trainer/Leader Certification Process:

A Training of Trainers program for individuals will certify people to conduct CEP classes and other DCI trainings in other regions of the world.


Resource Development:

DCI supports, develops and disseminates a variety of books, articles, pamphlets, video, audio and online resources. We are also developing an archive of training manuals and educational materials based on non-violent change strategies, as well as the research papers and literature generated by DCI fellows and conference presenters. Some of this material will be scholarly and some practitioner-oriented.

 

Documentary Films:

The DCI will produce both short “museum-length” exhibit films (for showing at the DCI Visitors’ and Education Center, and at other educational venues) and full-length documentaries (suitable for broadcast on PBS or Sundance). The first will focus on the life work of Dorothy Cotton and the neglected and unsung role of women in the CEP and the Civil Rights Movement. The film will illustrate the power of the CEP and other non-violent, transformative strategies developed by women, and their relevance today.

 

Speakers’ and Facilitators’ Bureau:

Dorothy Cotton, the DCI Fellows, and others will be available for keynotes, lectures, interviews, grassroots educational forums, community-based sessions, panel discussions, etc.

Please contact us for more information about topics and availability.

 

Anticipated impact and outcomes:

  • Widespread incorporation of human rights curricula in public schools.
  • Increased public awareness and understanding of the full scope of human rights.
  • Human rights protection and advocacy included in political debate.
  • A network of human rights leaders at global, national, regional and community levels.
  • A strong network of human rights educators.