Supporting Regional Efforts to Reduce Segregation & Inequality in Public Education

Omaha, NE – On October 22 and 23, 2012, educators from the nation’s eight voluntary cross-district school desegregation programs will convene in Omaha, Nebraska, which is home to the nation’s newest and most ambitious regional education model – the “Learning Community.” Designed to achieve equity and socioeconomic diversity in a highly segregated region, the 11-district Learning Community establishes a common tax levy across independent school districts and creates opportunities for students to attend more diverse public schools. Participants will share strategies and best practices, expand their networks of support and hear from scholars, nationally recognized policy experts and local community leaders. Participants will visit schools and other institutions to learn first-hand about Omaha’s model.

Reading Materials for Meeting Participants

Additional resources can be found here.

Post-Conference Resources

Acknowledgements 

This One Nation Indivisible “strategy session” is made possible through the generous support of the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. It was organized by One Nation Indivisible in collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Holme, assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin, who is engaged in a Ford-sponsored nationwide study of interdistrict school desegregation and regionalism. We wish to extend our thanks to Dr. Holme and her research partners, Dr. Kara Finnigan of University of Rochester, Myron Orfield of the University of Minnesota School of Law, and Dr. Sarah Diem at the University of Missouri. We are grateful, too, for the guidance of our colleagues in the Omaha region and the work they have done to shape this event.

The purpose of One Nation Indivisible’s strategy sessions is to bring national expertise, experience and academic research to bear upon and support local efforts that have the potential to be powerful examples of community building and constructive responses to diversity.