School Boards, Grassroots Democracy and pushing power out with Ashley Esposito

Ashley "Ash" Esposito, a working mom, artist, and advocate for educational equity and social justice, was elected to the Board of School Commissioners for Baltimore City Public Schools in 2022.. Ash is deeply committed to addressing systemic issues affecting marginalized communities and is passionate about community engagement, ethical data usage, grassroots democracy, voting rights, and inclusive campaigning in politics.

 

On this show Ash and I discuss how she approached her campaign for school board, why she didn’t follow the conventional wisdom about who to talk to, and what it was like to run for and win a position that never existed before. 

 

Then we talked about the Student Members of the Board, why giving young people power changes  everything, and what this means for movements and organizing. 

 

Finally Ash gave us three great book recommendations, links are below!

Links

Local Progress School Board Statement of Values

https://localprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/School-Board-Cohort-Statement-of-Values-2024.pdf

 

Ashley’s Website

https://ashleyesposito.com/

 

Resmaa Menakem’s Website (Author of My Grandmother’s Hands)

https://resmaa.com/

 

Professional Troublemaker

https://luvvie.org/books/professional-troublemaker/

 

Unbossed and Unbought

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/unbought-and-unbossed-shirley-chisholm?variant=40152567545890