Attend a Member Event

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law more than three decades ago, but we know more work must be done to ensure equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities around the world.

In honor of the 31st anniversary of the ADA, please join the Urban Institute for a conversation with Judy Heumann about the history and future of the disability rights movement.

Heumann is a lifelong advocate for the rights of disabled people. Her extensive accomplishments include cofounding Disabled in Action and the World Institute on Disability, serving in the Clinton administration as assistant secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the US Department of Education, and most notably, being the first person to serve as a special advisor for international disability rights, a position established by the Obama administration. She also served as the World Bank’s first special advisor and recently published Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist and was featured in the Netflix documentary film Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution.

With issues of racial injustice dominating national and state discourse, policymakers’ attention has been drawn to state social studies curriculum and the importance of ensuring that all students see their identity reflected in their learning. Join us for our next edition of Governing Principals webinar as we discuss how state policymakers have worked to navigate the politics of adopting new social studies curriculum and build consensus around the way students interact with our nation’s complex history.

Hear student panelists from Michigan, New York, and Tennessee in a conversation with Secretary Cardona on June 24 from 7-8 p.m. ET. Students will share their own experiences of learning during a pandemic and ask the secretary questions about the policy changes they seek in their schools, districts, and communities.

Following the panel, Chalkbeat managing editor Sarah Darville will interview Secretary Cardona about students’ return to school buildings, planning for next school year, and the live discussions across the country about how to teach history and address racism.

As the fight for gender equity in education policy and leadership continues, we must examine the obstacles faced by Black women in education leadership and elected office. Black women often face dual burdens lived at the intersection of their race and gender identity, frequently subjected to lower compensation, microagressions, and a slew of other insults not faced by their male peers or white female colleagues. In this webinar, hear from resource experts about the discrimination faced by Black women in education spaces and how the field can address this long legacy of asking so much, while providing so little.

The Century Foundation recently launched the Bridges Collaborative student contest, which encourages K-12 students from across the country to shed light on the history of segregation in their communities and to propose potential solutions to this problem. Students are invited to submit a creative project of their choosing (such as a written, audio, video or other media presentation) that explores the topic of segregation in the community where they live; this may include racial, economic, housing, or school segregation, or the intersection of any of these. Winners will receive cash prizes ranging from $50 to $575 and will have the opportunity to share their ideas with a network of leaders and policymakers!

Submissions are due by Wednesday, June 30 at 11:59 PM PT. You can learn more about the student contest here.

Learn how The Mind Trust and educators across the city navigated the pandemic. The event will include a panel where attendees have an opportunity to ask questions to a school leader at Purdue Polytechnic High School, a teacher from pilotED Schools, and a parent whose student attends Herron High School.

Systemic inequities are real and continue to be a challenge across the early childhood education system. Although the problems in unequal access, availability, and treatment are universal across the education system, state leaders are creating solutions to infuse equity in system reform. In this webinar, hear from state early childhood leaders within state departments of education, highlighting strategies taken to infuse equitable practices across state systems.