The Work Ahead and the Hope That Fuels It – IDRA Classnotes Podcast Episode 252

Classnotes Podcast (October 22, 2025). In the final episode of the series, IDRA Education Policy Fellows share what gives them hope and what comes next. After nine months of intense legislative advocacy, relationship building, and personal growth, they offer advice to others entering this work and reflect on how the fellowship changed their trajectories. Their stories are a powerful reminder that advocacy isn’t a moment, it’s a movement.

Mikayla Arciaga, M.A.Ed., Georgia Advocacy Director & Education Policy Fellows Coordinator, led the conversation with fellows: Vivek Datla, MPA, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Regional, DeAndrea Byrd, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Georgia, Isabelle Philip, IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Policy Communications, and Kaci Wright, M.Ed., IDRA Education Policy Fellow – Texas.

The IDRA groundbreaking Education Policy Fellows Program is changing the landscape of state education advocacy by training advocates with a commitment to and experience with communities of color to influence state laws and lead a powerful network of impacted communities. The 2024-25 cycle of this program is being generously supported by the Trellis Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation.

Show length: 21:16 min

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Resources

IDRA 2024-25 Fellows – Bios and writings. Plus profiles brochure

IDRA Education Policy Fellows Program

Policy Whiplash in Georgia – The 2025 Session Delivered Education Gains, Losses and Looming Threats, with Terrence Wilson, J.D., Mikayla Arciaga, M.A.Ed., Isabelle Philip & Makiah Lyons, J.D., IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2025

Legislature Dances the Texas Three-Step: Defund, Demonize, Privatize Public Education, with Vivek Datla, MPA, IDRA Newsletter, June-July 2025

Student Voices on Public Policy, video feature by Trellis Foundation, May 2025

IDRA Education Policy Fellow Feature, video feature by Trellis Foundation, August 2025

Post-fellowship evaluation report of the program’s first cycle

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