¡Juntos Podemos! Community Organizing, the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) and the Struggle for School Transformation in a Southern California School District

Abstract

¡Juntos Podemos!/Together We Can! is a multigenerational, districtwide collective of educators, community organizers, and activists. Located in eastern Los Angeles County, the group developed intentionally and horizontally to address the disenfranchisement of the working-class communities of La Puente and Valinda using the California Voting Rights Act. Drawing from a praxis-oriented approach, ¡Juntos Podemos! explores the process of organizing and its connection to theory and practice. This approach builds from the experiences of members to see how different positionalities influence their participation in the struggle for school transformation. First, we highlight the politics of the school district and history of community-based school organizing from which ¡Juntos Podemos! emerges. Second, we present narratives of two collective members who grew up in different areas of the district at distinct time periods to illustrate how their experiences were shaped by dominant ideologies of schooling and why they became involved in ¡Juntos Podemos! Third, we discuss how our efforts to change the ways school board members are elected as a first step in shifting the composition of the school board. We conclude with a discussion of transformation as an ongoing process that draws on multiple approaches and strategies.