By – Nehemi’EL Ibrihim-Simms

On Saturday April 18th, 2026, at Medgar Evers College Campus the long-awaited Saturday Freedom School began. The program is being initiated as a partnership between powerful community stakeholders including Inspiring Minds NYC, the NAACP, and the Medgar Evers Center for Law and Social Justice. The Saturday Freedom School provides a comprehensive blend of educational programming aimed at increasing the self-knowledge and self-efficacy of students and their parents in the Crown Heights, Brooklyn area as a tactic to invigorate a fresh, new generation, a new electorate, that can be mobilized to take the polls, and to the community. This program is leading the charge in New York City as it attempts to answer the question of youth mobilization and an informed, electrified electorate as well as chart the territory of educational activism in a time when so many community facing non-profits, schools and social agencies are struggling to respond effectively to the needs of the City’s black youth. 

The entire program is based on a framework that is family-oriented, community-specific, and grounded in a long history of civic engagement and social change activism. What’s more, it is being led by a more than capable team of seasoned organizers, educators, attorneys, and executives who hold a cumulative 100-years of experience working for the improvement of families and neighborhoods of New York City. Its namesake directly connects the program to the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) “Freedom Schools” used as a tactic for voter registration during the 1964 campaign dubbed “Mississippi Freedom Summer.” Instead of being employed as a tactic for voter registration, this Freedom School is being used to combat the systemic challenges that are resulting in gun-violence, gang activity, and mental health crises rising in our communities; specifically, amidst the youth. More specifically, the program is being used to figure out how we can increase the political enthusiasm of young people and their families in Brooklyn. In the wake of the murder of 15-year-old Jaden Pierre this program is right on time. 

At the beginning of the day, the Committed Four responsible for this program – L. Joy Williams (NAACP), Lurie Daniel-Favors (Center for Law and Social Justice), Brian Favors (Inspiring Minds NYC) and Katrena Perou (Inspiring Minds NYC) – addressed the student body of about 50 ranging in ages from 6 to 19, and their parents, in the Edison O. Jackson Auditorium. The program began with a libation that invoked the power of the Almighty Creator and our Ancestors of the participants. The Favors gave an explanation of the guiding philosophy of the program, a brief exposition on the program’s history, and dissemination of the day’s schedule. In addition, Brian and Lurie also explained the meaning of the Akan symbol “Sankofa,” its connection to their own 25 year history of community organizing, and its application to the meaning and purpose of the entire program: learning from our past to move our community forward. Excitedly, Katrena Perou exclaims that the initiative has “been a long time coming.” She told Our Time Press that “the NAACP NY Freedom School creates the space on Saturdays to go deeper, strengthen relationships with students and deliver a more meaningful, transformative experience.” 

After this introduction, everyone went outside onto the steps of the 1638 building and engaged in what proved to be an incredibly communal and spiritual modality of learning called the “Harambee Circle.” Brian Favors explains that the Harambee Circle is meant to increase the energy and positivity of the students in preparation for them to enter the classroom. First, Haitian drummer, recording artist and cultural archivist Baba Oneza engaged everyone in traditional songs from Haiti, Benin and Central Africa reaffirming the program’s firm stance on participatory cultural immersion. Then, Brian and Lurie brought some Hip-Hop bop and groove, and began to lead the circle in call-and-response chants that included songs about the Red, Black and Green Flag and the struggles of our Ancestors to be free. By the end of the session the students, engulfed in their forebears’ spirit, were full of energy and prepared to enthusiastically engage the classrooms!

In the classrooms, the student body was split into two groups: 3 grade – 6 grade and 7th grade and higher. The first class of the day is Know Your History – where students are initially challenged to think critically about the assumptions and biases about African/Black History; followed up by civics – where students are again challenged to think about how they, as youth/students, can use that information to inspire change in their communities. The facilitators led discussions that dug deeper into the topic of the meaning and application of Sankofa into the personal and family history of the students, as well as their communities-at-large. The discussion was based on Nana Jawanza Kunjufu’s Lessons From History: A Celebration in Blackness which was selected by Freedom School’s Director of Education Mr. Brian Favors as the primary material because of its straight-to-the-point diction and the easy-to-read print. The insightful additions to the lesson and their willingness to commit to embodying the traditional African principle of social order and harmony, or Ubuntu, in and outside of the classroom is exactly what Brian Favors – Director of Culturally Responsive Teaching at Inspiring Minds NYC, and 30-year educator and community organizer – explains is the ultimate aim of the initiative. In a statement to Our Time Press Mr. Favors summarized the philosophy and approach of the Freedom School as one of partnership with the neighborhoods, and of believing in the community’s ability to cultivate and nourish itself. He says  “one thing this program shows us is that there is no shortage of brilliance and leadership in our community. Oftentimes, it just needs to be cultivated. The Freedom School allows us to do just that.” 

The Freedom School, holistic in outlook, recognizes parents as an important community stakeholder whose education and development as a group is fundamental to its mission. Lurie Daniel Favors, attorney and head of the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College explains that “while the students were participating in their weekly programming, the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers college will provide advocacy and civic skills training for their parents and caregivers.” When asked to comment on the utility of this feature of the program Mrs. Favors, who is also the host of Sirius XM’s “Lurie Daniel Favors Show,” made sure to emphasize that the program is “designed to ensure that as the students are expanding their horizons, their family units will similarly be empowered to further advocate on their behalf.” 

After a lunch that began in the solidarity of prayer students selected their creative tracks. The Freedom School offers dance, theatre, music production, podcasting, drumming, and martial arts. These tracks – which are meant to allow the students a creative outlet to birth art that reflects what they are internalizing intellectually earlier in the day – are facilitated by members of the community who specialize in that specific form of creative expression.

In addition, 20 high-school students from around the city have been recruited and named “ambassadors.” These students are expected to help promote the Freedom School to other young people and play an active part in shaping the initiative in exchange for an hourly wage and an opportunity to win Inspiring Minds NYC’s Shark Tank –  a component of the overall program where five participants will be awarded $2,000 each through a Shark Tank style pitching competition called “IMconnected.” Since 2021, Inspiring Minds NYC has supported more than 50 students in launching pilot programs and businesses, many of which have since been contracted by schools across New York City. Inspiring Minds NYC CEO Katrena Perou explained that “many of us were taught that success means leaving our communities behind. We believe success means investing in them to make them stronger. That’s why we fund businesses that address critical local challenges and encourage our young people to see community advancement as inseparable from their own growth.”

Finally, the program ended where it began – in the Edison O. Jackson Auditorium with a reflection session where the youth participants along with the facilitators and administrators are able to discuss what went well and what could work better. This is a part of keeping the student voice at the center of the program. After the feedback was given everyone engaged in the closing ceremony – the “Now More Than Ever” chant. This chant encourages everyone in the room, the youth especially, to take a good look at the conditions around them and resolve themselves to find a way to change them. It was an appropriate way to end the program.