Mission
Rethink’s mission is to support Black youth in becoming thoughtful revolutionary leaders capable of critically rethinking their experiences and taking action to create transformative systemic change.
Vision
Our vision is both an equitably great education for all students and a future wherein generations of young leaders equipped with the necessary tools to affect systemic change are committed to lifelong community engagement.
We believe that every movement towards our mission and vision helps dismantle the social, political, and economic barriers that prevent young people from being heard and creates opportunities for youth to learn and practice leadership in ways that make a real difference to them, their schools, and New Orleans.
Values
- VOICE & AGENCY | expressed through practice of participatory engagement and an emphasis on speaking truth to power.
- EQUITY | expressed through the practice of power among rather than power over.
- RELATIONSHIPS | expressed through emphasis on community building, relational activism, non-violent communication, creative conflict resolution and restorative practices.
- CRITICAL ANALYSIS | expressed through use of popular education models and youth participatory action research to explore the roots and the branches of all issues.
- AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP | expressed through commitment to young people as agents of change rather than subjects to change and our understanding that those who are most deeply affected by systems of inequity must be at the forefront of developing solutions.
Foundational Beliefs
- The lives and experiences of young people are important
- Young people’s ability to deconstruct their experience and create a new narrative is important
- Young people are experts in their own reality which means that they have the capacity to both learn and teach in ways that are transformative
- What young people have to say is important
- Inter-generational solidarity and collaboration is important