We are thrilled to announce our second class of Zinn Education Project Prentiss Charney fellows for the 2024–2026 school years. The fellowship offers support for a cohort of people’s history educator leaders to study, learn, and organize together for two years.
Purpose
Once again, educators are at the center of battles over what U.S. history children will learn and the kind of future they will create. We face a new McCarthyism with book bans, laws restricting what educators can teach about white supremacy, efforts to conscript school personnel into anti-LGBTQ+ persecution, and more. The goal: to enforce an unjust, unsafe status quo. The stakes could not be higher.
The right wing uses its immense wealth and the complicity of the mainstream press to fan the fires of bigotry and repression. To fight back, we need to support educators who will teach, organize, write, create, and build — like the 18 passionate and committed education activists who make up the 2024–2026 Prentiss Charney Fellows.
Meet the Fellows
Below are the educators selected for this second cohort of the fellowship.
Ariel Simone Alford
Washington, D.C.
Freda “Frankie” Anderson
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Tiferet M. Ani
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Electra Bolotas
Washington, D.C.
Zo Clement
Washington, D.C.
Fayette H. Colon
Louisville, Kentucky
Nicolle Fefferman
Valley Village, California
Suzanna Kassouf
Portland, Oregon
HS Social Studies Teacher
Hope A. Koumentakos
Silver Spring, Maryland
HS Social Studies Teacher
Mary Joyce Laqui
Teaneck, New Jersey
HS Environmental Science Teacher; Organizer; Silk City Strategies Director of Education
Tamyka S. Morant
Washington, D.C.
Tess Raser
Brooklyn, New York
Zachary Roach
Camden, New Jersey
HS Dean of Curriculum and Instruction
Sundjata Sekou
Irvington, New Jersey
Ileana Sherry
Seattle, Washington
MS Reading and Language Arts Teacher
Emma Q. Steinheimer
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Ina Pannell-Saint Surin
Brooklyn, New York
Tamara V. Russell
Leesburg, Florida
See the people and projects that made up our inaugural cohort: 2022–2024 Prentiss Charney fellow spotlights.
Goals
Fellows will meet throughout the first year as a cohort as they develop projects to carry forward in the second year. Their projects will engage in one or more of five ways:
Organizing. Organizing against anti-history bills, for school district climate justice resolutions, and for changes in district or state standards and testing.
Policy. Examining how education policy affects schools/classrooms, including gathering stories about the impact of and resistance to policies like privatization, testing, funding inequity, teacher credentialing/preparation, etc.
Professional development. Developing and offering workshops on Reconstruction, racial justice, climate justice, and other key areas that support the Zinn Education Project mission.
Writing curriculum. Adding new teaching resources and perspectives to the collection at the Zinn Education Project website so that we can eventually offer a full alternative to textbooks and packaged materials from groups like the Koch-funded Bill of Rights Institute.
Sharing stories. Writing about the work of being an educator and/or activist for multiple audiences, including op-eds, education blogs, the Zinn Education Project website, and Rethinking Schools magazine.
Fellowship Name
The fellowship is named Prentiss Charney for two education activists who embody the spirit of this endeavor. C. J. Prentiss and Michael Charney spent decades together committed to radical education for young people and recognized that creating the conditions for that learning requires creative, grassroots organizing. Through their many years of work in Ohio, including both statewide and national work, they modeled the tenacity and strategic brilliance required to succeed against the well-funded right-wing institutions.
The Future
Help us fund the Prentiss Charney Fellows for the next five years. With secure funding, teachers can plan ahead to participate and we can continue to support the alumni as they interact with the media, present at conferences, organize, and offer workshops. Learn more and donate here.