Our members say that Teachers Unite keeps them motivated to stay in the classroom. 

It is vital that we support them to continue. 

Your donation or membership dues will:

* Ensure that 10 NYC schools hire Restorative Justice Coordinators through our Pilot School Campaign targeting the DOE

* Increase the number of TU workshops that train NYC educators to use and promote restorative practices

* Send our members to Washington DC to share their stories and support student testimony to get cops and guns out of U.S. schools

When I was a child, my father was very ill. Much of this hospitalization took place during my middle school years. It radically changed the way I saw the world. I began to understand at a young age the importance of social services. One of the services that saved me was my free public school education. 

Health issues can create social, economic, and emotional chaos for a family, and as this swirled around me, I always knew that I could walk to my neighborhood school and get the support I needed from my teachers and my school. As young as 6th grade, I began working on the school newspaper wherein I stayed at school until as late as 6 or 8 pm helping to make sure that the paper was perfect. This continued into my senior year of high school.It was not rare for me to spend an entire Saturday (and possibly Sunday) preparing for a mock trial case or researching a debate resolution.

I became a teacher because I knew first hand that some young people need to have a safe space - like school - to fully develop. Due to budget cuts, closing schools, charter co-locations, and police presence in schools, many NYC schools are hard pressed to be safe spaces. And, now as a teacher in NYC, I recognize the racist and unequal distribution of services. The schools that face the most struggles are often schools with predominantly Black and Latino students with disabilities.

I am a member of Teachers Unite because we recognize this inequality and through the Dignity in Schools Campaign, we fight in coalition with young people and their families at multiple levels. We seek to create caring and safe schools for young people.