Teaching for Transformation
Some 96% of students completing Sojourn believe that they are capable of effecting significant change, as opposed to 78% before Sojourn.
Teaching for Transformation
Some 96% of students completing Sojourn believe that they are capable of effecting significant change, as opposed to 78% before Sojourn.
“They thought that bullets would silence us. But they failed…weakness, fear, and hopelessness died. Strength, power, and courage were born.”
~ Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist
Last year, the incidence of racism and hate-based crimes increased by *nearly 20% in major U.S. cities. New York jumped by 28.4%, Los Angeles by 13%, Philadelphia by 9%, Chicago by 9%, and Arizona by a whopping 46%. We are experiencing a new, turbulent, and insidious “normal.” If we keep quiet, the problem will just keep growing.
Sojourn Project is committed to teaching for transformation. Providing immersive, experiential, paradigm-shifting Journeys out of the classroom and into real life. We show young people, through direct experience, how they can and must speak out against discrimination, violence, bigotry, inequity, and hate. To stand up for the most vulnerable in society – that their voices do matter. As one Sojourner explains, “I’ve learned that you can’t stand by waiting for a change; you’ve got to step up and be the change.”
*According to police data compiled by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino.
On Sojourn, Every Single Day, Relevance Hits You.
Imagine 100 high school students traveling across the American South: Sitting where four little girls were murdered in a 1963 Birmingham church bombing and talking with McNair family members. Writing essays in the driveway where Medgar Evers, Mississippi civil rights activist, was assassinated.
As Sojourners learn about – and from – people in the Modern Civil Rights Movement, they’re literally walking in someone else’s shoes. Through the constant reflection, each child and each adult that comes on Sojourn has a transformative “moment.” When tears flow, personas drop away, and hearts open. When they begin to think about building a life with greater meaning and effecting change in our world.
The magic is also about helping kids see that other people have similar experiences and recognize their own as valid. It sticks with them in a way that holds transformative alchemy.
Everyone is impacted in a personal way. Change may happen in seven days or in six months, but down the line they remember the lessons learned on the journey.
Give $100
You’ll provide one Sojourn student with a carefully curated curriculum binder with rich primary source materials, many provided by movement veterans.
Donate $3,200
You’ll cover the entire cost of one full scholarship for the Sojourn Journey.