Building A Leadership Pipeline for African American Parents and Students

Jameelah with her daughter, Fatima.

In 2015, Unite Oregon began partnering with Portland Public Schools to design, create, and implement BUILD (Building Undergraduates through Inclusive Leadership Development), a program that serves 3,000 families with students in 7th/8th and 10th/11th graders in Jefferson, Madison, and Roosevelt clusters. Through BUILD, Unite Oregon provides parent programming on leadership development, issue organizing, and mobilizing. This collaborative approach addresses systemic barriers to educational attainment for many students of color.

Jameelah with BUILD parent, Annu Hart-Muhammad.

BUILD Parent Organizer, Jameelah Rasheed, started with Unite Oregon three years ago as a participant in the BUILD program and reminisces on how she started with the program and eventually joined the staff as an organizer. Her first assignment was the Parent Learning Walk, where BUILD parents would meet with a BUILD mentor, and can visit their student’s classroom to observe. Already a regular volunteer for her daughter Fatima's school activities, Jameelah loved having access to Fatima’s teachers to support her educational goals further. The program allowed her to play an active role in Fatima’s education by forming direct relationships with her teachers. Since then, Jameelah’s daughter is now a junior in high school and has advocated for more recognition and resources for other parents to support their children as they prepare for college admissions. 

BUILD aims to spearhead a strategic, bottom-up approach to parent engagement aimed at addressing disparate graduation rates for students of color and immigrant and refugee students. We know that empowering and engaging parents and families in navigating the school system is essential to student success. When Jameelah first joined BUILD, she was the only African American parent amongst a majority of Latinx parents. Now through her organizing efforts, the program has more representation of African American parents. BUILD parents, Crystal Badon and Annu Hart-Muhammad, have been key volunteers in supporting Jameelah and organizing other parents to join the program. Both are active out in the community as well - Crystal currently serves on our Multnomah County Leadership Council and Annu works with women and people who give birth as a midwife. Crystal and Annu are dedicated to this work, having grown with the program since their kids were in middle school. 

BUILD parent, Crystal Badon, holding her certificate from completing the BUILD program.

Jameelah is hopeful for the future of BUILD. She looks forward to a day when BUILD is present at all middle schools and high schools around Oregon. She shares, “It’s important for parents to know how to navigate high school. We equip them with skills to take out into the world. It just makes you feel good and prepared for your child’s future.”