Los Angeles Unified School District (CFL&J)

 Challenge

The Center for Love and Justice (CFL&J) works with educators in the US to reimagine, rethink, and revolutionize educational systems toward liberation. By partnering with school districts like Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), CFL&J trains educators and administrators to examine and confront how racism is built into the educational systems of the communities they work within. Together with school districts, students, and community members, CFL&J aims to redesign schools based in racial equity and justice.

CFL&J wanted to recognize and honor the work of educators and administrators of LAUSD who had participated in their program, with a gift telling the story of their collaboration thus far, celebrating how far they have come, and inspiring work for the following year.

 RC's Response

Moving beyond a symbolic gift, RC recommended and implemented a multi-purpose, expansive visual offering that could be used by not only LAUSD educators, but by any other partner of the CFL&J and by any educator in their classroom.

Through a facilitated and collaborative process with CFL&J, RC designed a deck of cards that illustrated key questions based on CFL&J’s liberation methodology. Every new utilization of the cards becomes an opportunity for conversation with new groups that interact with both the cards and the LAUSD card holders. The cards provided an interactive way for people to engage with art, story, and generative conversation and solution building in-person and digitally.

Drawing from traditions of afrofuturism and rooted in local art styles, identity, symbolism, the imagery on the front of the cards integrated the elements that were the most meaningful to participating educators and reflect key prompts and questions on the back.

Impact

The life of this deck of cards has expanded, as the visuals have been repurposed into digital presentations, displayed at events, and hung up throughout CFL&J’s parent school High Tech High. The deck will continue to make impact in its current form as the cards are distributed to CFL&J and LAUSD partners such as Teach For America.