These are some of the questions we will be exploring through dialogue and participatory activities with a focus on principles and tools that organizers and educators can apply directly to what you are already doing.

Participatory Action Research or PAR brings people together to define for themselves what problems they face in their community, find solutions through talking with and gathering data from their peers, and then implementing those solutions through strategic and informed actions. It’s a model of community organizing that builds the capacity of people on the front-line of a problem to take leadership in creating the change they want.

Dates for upcoming classes in the Popular Education Series: 

Theater of the Oppressed:  New Dates TBD

Theater of the Oppressed is an arsenal of theater techniques and games that seeks to humanize people, restore true dialogue, and create space for participants to rehearse taking action.

Facilitator Bios

Levana Saxon, M.Ed is an organizer and educator with Practicing Freedom, using participatory action research, popular education and creative action to generate collaborative community-led change. Over the last 17 years she has trained and facilitated thousands of children, youth and adults. Some of the groups she has worked with include the Paulo Freire Institute, Rainforest Action Network, Center for Political Education, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Youth In Focus, El Teatro Campesino and multiple Oakland Public Schools. She currently co-coordinates the Ruckus Society’s Arts Core and facilitates trainings and dialogues with the White Noise Collective, which she co-founded.

Rosa González is a lifelong educator, a visual and performing artist and Education Director at Green For All. Before joining the team at Green For All, Rosa was program lead for PILA (the Partnership for Immigrant Leadership and Action), where she helped link political education and community organizing. She designs curriculum and facilitates theater-based workshops and townhall meetings for critical community dialogue. Rosa isalso a member of headRush, a political performance and popular education crew dedicated to inspiring working class communities through original performances and participatory workshops. Rosa has a Masters in Latin American Studies from Stanford University and a Masters in Teaching from the Arts in Education program at the University of San Francisco.

To register for any classes in the series, fill out the registration form and email to center@politicaleducation.org.
Participation in both days of classes is required.  We will have a limit on the number of participants and cannot promise a space.  These classes will likely fill up fast so get on it!

Suggested Donation for each class in the Popular Education Series: $50-$150 Sliding Scale. No one turned away for lack of funds.