Youth Leaders Unlocking Justice: 100 Years of Advocacy in Lawrence, MA

A movement is growing to advance justice and safety. It is increasingly evident that young people play a central role in this movement, as communities successfully build a more equitable future, one that invests in collective youth expression and development as essential to community transformation. There are examples, all across the country, where communities, with youth leading the way, are prospering by unlocking the collective power of community to counter overlapping social, economic, educational and health inequities. Lawrence, Massachusetts is such a community, with a rich history of social action. At this event we will hear directly from young people and local community organizations about how they have come together, like their ancestors in the famous 1912 Lawrence Textile (Bread and Roses) Strike, to advance justice and safety for all in Lawrence. Youth panelists include Jiberly Sandoval and Gladdys Jiminian, both long-term participants in Andover Bread Loaf, a youth leadership development program in Massachusetts and a program of the Phillips Academy of Andover, MA in partnership with the Middlebury Bread Loaf Teacher Network (BLTN). They are joined by Lou Bernieri, founder and Director of Andover Bread Loaf, and Jineyda Tapia, its Associate Director. The panel is moderated by Fred Frelow, a Senior Fellow with the Criminal Justice Reform Initiative at the Aspen Institute.

Participant Biographies:

Gladdys JiminianGladdys Jiminian is a 17 year old graduate of Lawrence High School in Lawrence MA. Born in the Dominican Republic, she’s now attending Northern Essex Community College to finish an Associates degree, then will transfer to University of Massachusetts for Bachelors degree in biology. She’s been involved with ABL since being a 7th grader. Two years ago she became one of the veteran Writing Leaders in the Lawrence Student Writers Workshop. Thanks to ABL, she joined the BLTN NextGen leadership network and is now a Co-Director of its Advisory Board. With Next Gen she’s working on the Masks Project, an initiative to encourage healthy behaviors among youth and their families during the pandemic. She was part of the Lawrence Youth Council which advocated and voiced student’s concerns for changes of the education system. Currently, she’s running several virtual workshops for ABL, including one for young children at the Lawrence Public Library.Jiberly Sandoval Jiberly Sandoval is a junior Educational Studies major at Dickinson College and has been involved with ABL since age 11, and a writing leader since 2017. She attended high school at Westover School in Connecticut. While at Westover she started a workshop with elementary students in Waterbury with the help of an ABL Teacher Workshop alum. At Dickinson, she is in the process of starting up another workshop with elementary and middle school students with the help of her Educational Studies advisor. After college she wants to go to grad school for Education and pursue a career in school administration and educational policy. Lou BernieriLou Bernieri was born in Brooklyn, New York. He earned his BA in English at Harvard College and MA in English and American Literature at the Bread Loaf School of English. He has done graduate work at Harvard and Boston College Divinity schools. Since 1977 he has been an English Instructor at Phillips Academy. While at Phillips he has served as Chair of the English Department, dorm counselor, Co-Director of the Headmaster’s Symposium on Race Relations, and Director of the Teaching Fellow Program. In 1987 he founded Andover Bread Loaf, an outreach program of Phillips Academy whose mission is to promote literacy and educational revitalization in the most economically disadvantaged school systems and communities around the world, particularly in US urban public schools. Jineyda TapiaMs. Tapia is currently teaching English at Phillips Academy and is the Associate Director of Andover Bread Loaf. Through ABL, she implements and supports programming in Lawrence throughout the year, including summer opportunities at the Lawrence History Center, the Lawrence Public Library, and the Boys and Girls Club. Her elders still reside in the city that enabled the younger generation to have a better life. As her mother says, “I raised a nurse and a teacher in these projects—this is my home.”Fred Frelow (moderator)Frederick J. Frelow, EdD, is chief executive officer for Frelow & Associates in Nyack, New York. Previously, he served as interim president for the Southern Education Foundation. From 2008 to 2017, Dr. Frelow worked at the Ford Foundation in its education and scholarship program in the United States. Before that, he was director of early-college initiatives at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey, where he managed development of fourteen early-college high schools. He also taught for twelve years in Newton, Massachusetts, public schools. Dr. Frelow holds an EdD degree in educational administration and policy analysis from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a master’s degree in education and policy analysis from Boston University.A movement is growing to advance justice and safety. It is increasingly evident that young people play a central role in this movement, as communities successfully build a more equitable future, one that invests in collective youth expression and development as essential to community transformation. There are examples, all across the country, where communities, with youth leading the way, are prospering by unlocking the collective power of community to counter overlapping social, economic, educational and health inequities. Lawrence, Massachusetts is such a community, with a rich history of social action. At this event we will hear directly from young people and local community organizations about how they have come together, like their ancestors in the famous 1912 Lawrence Textile (Bread and Roses) Strike, to advance justice and safety for all in Lawrence. Youth panelists include Jiberly Sandoval and Gladdys Jiminian, both long-term participants in Andover Bread Loaf, a youth leadership development program in Massachusetts and a program of the Phillips Academy of Andover, MA in partnership with the Middlebury Bread Loaf Teacher Network (BLTN). They are joined by Lou Bernieri, founder and Director of Andover Bread Loaf, and Jineyda Tapia, its Associate Director. The panel is moderated by Fred Frelow, a Senior Fellow with the Criminal Justice Reform Initiative at the Aspen Institute.