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The Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership is committed to improving the well-being of Morehouse College and surrounding community through our research, programming, scholarship programs, and community partnerships. This newsletter will highlight some of our recent activities and introduce the AYCGL’s scholar in residence, as well as two new student programs, the Higher Education in Prison (HEP) Ambassadors and Social Justice Scholars (SJS).
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2022 AYCGL SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE
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Rodney Spivey-Jones will serve as the first AYCGL Scholar-in-Residence this October 2022. Mr. Spivey-Jones will work with the Andrew Young Center to enhance our Higher Education in Prison (HEP) Programming, Institute of Social Justice Inquiry and Praxis Programming and Scholars’ Programs, give several lectures on campus, and conduct research in the Woodruff Archives.
In 2017 Mr. Spivey-Jones graduated from Bard College, through the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI), with a degree in Social Studies. His story is featured in Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s award-winning documentary, College Behind Bars. Spivey-Jones was a founding member of the BPI Debate Union which made international news for beating the Harvard debate team in 2015. His senior project, "Messianic Black Bodies," a featured storyline in the documentary, was edited to include current events and published as “Black Disfigurement and the American Hieroglyphics of Race” in the A-line Journal. He has also published “College Programs in Prison Show the Value of Educating Every American” in The Appeal.
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NEW STUDENT PROGRAMS IN THE ANDREW YOUNG CENTER
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Social Justice Scholars Program
The Social Justice Scholars Program is a new initiative of the Institute for Social Justice Inquiry and Praxis. Social Justice Scholars were chosen from a competitive pool of applicants and will learn about social justice interventions through participation at practicum sites in the Atlanta community. The cohort will also receive training in community based participatory approaches to community engagement.
Higher Education in Prisons (HEP) Student Ambassadors Program
The AYCGL wishes to announce the first cohort of Higher Education in Prison (HEP) Student Ambassadors. This new program is designed to complement and enhance our prison education programming within the Andrew Young Center. HEP Student Ambassadors will support our Prison Education Faculty Teaching Affiliates at Burruss State Prison, Metro Reentry Facility, and the Fulton County Jail, and will work to raise awareness of criminal justice issues, the value of prison education, and the impact of mass incarceration on individuals and communities. Congratulations to the 2022/2023 cohort of AYC-HEP Student Ambassadors!
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RECENT EVENTS IN THE ANDREW YOUNG CENTER
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2022 International Education Symposium
On September 7, 2022, the Andrew Young Center held its first study abroad symposium to celebrate and highlight the experiences of our students during the spring and summer of 2022, with a particular emphasis on study abroad programs that focused on social justice and racial equity. The 2022 International Education Symposium: Social Justice and Study Abroad welcomed over 200 Morehouse students and faculty and featured poster presentations, oral presentations, and a panel discussion including students who studied abroad. Students who participated in social justice-oriented experiences were featured. The study abroad experiences of over 70 students during 2021-22 were made possible through generous awards from Delta Airlines and the Julian Grace Foundation. During the 2021-22 academic year and summer, the Andrew Young Center’s Office of International Education offered two awards to support students studying abroad. The Delta Airlines Study Abroad Award provided a $500 scholarship for each student participating in an approved faculty/staff-led study abroad program. The Julian Grace Social Justice Award advances global social justice leadership development and the study of inequalities and civil and human rights through the provision of a $500 scholarship for students participating in social justice-focused study abroad experiences.
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Gilead Sciences Racial Equity Community Impact Fund Convening
On September 12-14, 2022, AYCGL directors, Jann Adams, Sinead Younge, Frederick Knight, and Calvin Bell III, ’24 (Political Science major) represented the Andrew Young Center at the Gilead Sciences Racial Equity Community Impact Fund (RECIF) convening. Held in Foster City, CA, the convening hosted twenty organizations that received grants from the Fund. The Andrew Young Center has used the support from the RECIF grant to launch its Social Justice Collective, which supports a range of Center initiatives including internships, community forums, social justice and leadership training, the Higher Education in Prison Initiative, and the Faculty Fellows program. The convening created an opportunity for grantees to share their work and establish connections across organizations. The Center’s work was featured on two panels: Fred Knight joined the panel “Building Social Justice and Racial Equity Programs,” and Calvin Bell, III, discussed his research in the session titled “Breaking the School to Prison Pipeline.”
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Brittney Griner Teach-In
On September 20, 2022, the Institute for Social Justice Inquiry and Praxis and Office of International Education co-sponsored a Teach-In on professional basketball player, Brittney Griner. The teach-in featured Mikki Harris, Associate Professor of Journalism in Sports, Culture and Social Justice; Adrienne Jones, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Morehouse College; Tammy Greer, Associate Professor of Political Science at Clark Atlanta University; and Arelious Cooper, founder of Art in the Paint and former professional basketball player. The panel discussed the intersections of sports, gender, race, and politics and the expectations of U.S. citizenship, country-specific laws, and the importance of a sense of belonging.
AYCGL Partnership Facilitates Course Launch
On September 21, 2022, the Irish Consulate in Atlanta hosted a luncheon to celebrate the launch of a pre-travel curriculum: “Imperfect Parallels: Perspectives on Civil Rights in Ireland and the USA." Several Morehouse faculty members contributed modules to this cross-cultural course, including Vicki Crawford, Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers; Samuel Livingston, Associate Professor of Africana Studies; Corrie Claiborne, Associate Professor of English; Frederick Knight, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Research, Civic Engagement, and Policy; and Kipton Jensen, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Leadership Studies Program. The event featured Ambassador Andrew Young. Also in attendance were Robert Franklin, Morehouse College President Emeritus; Jann Adams, Professor of Psychology and Lead Director of the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership, and Michael Henry, a 2022-23 Study Abroad Ambassador in the Office of International Education.
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Left to Right- Kipton Jensen, Ambassador Andrew Young, Dennis Brownlee (African American Irish Diaspora Network), Caoimhe Ní Chonchúir (Irish Consul General-Atlanta), Niamh Hamill (ISAI), and Eimear Nolan (Vice Consul-Atlanta).
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Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival
On September 21, 2022, the Leadership Studies Program was part of the 4th Annual Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival. AYCGL-affiliated faculty, Corrie Claiborne and Kipton Jensen, along with Prison Education Ambassador, Odin Kanno-Fayhe, served on a discussion panel focused on prison education following the screening of the documentary: Common Good Atlanta.
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Focus on
The AYCGL and Gideon’s Promise
The Andrew Young Center has developed partnerships with organizations that advance social justice, equality, and the transformation of marginalized communities.Gideon’s Promise is one such organization. Founded by Jonathan Rapping and Ilham Askia, Gideon’s Promise provides training and support to public defenders, extending access to justice to indigent defendants in the criminal legal system. As Rapping describes it in his book, the work of public defenders is critical to disrupting the system of mass incarceration, which disproportionately effects black and brown people. By offering their clients a vigorous, constitutionally guaranteed legal defense, the public defenders trained by Gideon’s Promise give a voice and human face to their clients in a system that has historically been dehumanizing. In support of their work in 2021, the Andrew Young Center recruited, placed, and supported twelve students for short-term, summer, and semester internships, which allowed them to gain insight into the criminal legal system and the work of non-profit organizations.
The testimonials and experiences of the interns indicate the impact of their service. Derrick Graham, a senior political science major from New Orleans, Louisiana, reflected that “this internship opportunity by Gideon’s Promise has been one of the most positive experiences that I have had while at Morehouse. It has changed my outlook on law and has altered my career trajectory.” Raymond Vincent, ’21, a philosophy major and leadership studies minor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, worked with the organization’s communications team and created content that helped spread the word about Gideon’s Promise. And Emmanuel Eziakor, a senior Biology major and Psychology minor from Austell, Georgia, learned that “public defenders play an important role in providing defense to those who do not have enough resources to afford adequate defense.”
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COMMUNITY PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
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R2ise to Recovery, Located in the Historic West End
In the fall of 2021 R2ISE was one of the first organizations to begin collaborating with the Institute for Social Justice Inquiry and Praxis in a set of community meetings called “Dreamathons”. Since that time, R2ISE has become a Social Justice Scholar Program practicum site and executive director, Alexia Jones, is a member of the Institute’s Community Advisory Board, known as the Dream Keepers. R2ISE was founded in 1995 and is a faith-based organization with the goal of creating a space for mental health in the Black community. R2ISE is committed to addressing recovery through multiple pathways including sharing stories through dance and song. R2ise is proud to serve peers from the metro Atlanta area and surrounding counties and is the only recovery organization in the state of Georgia that uses the arts to facilitate recovery. R2ISE focuses on the unique artistic gifts of each individual to overcome beliefs about personal and structural limitations in order to move beyond previous negative experiences. This ultimately eliminates fears, builds self-esteem, increases motivation, and provides a platform for advocacy. The R2ISE message of hope is ART+RECOVERY= FREEDOM.
https://r2isetheatre.org.
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Alexia Jones- Founder and Executive Director of R2ISE, Social Justice
Scholar: Cameron Ivey, Yo’ Sis, R2ISE Internship Coordinator
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UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
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Thursday October 6th 5:00-6:30 pm (virtual webinar). Problem Solving and Data Analysis – Think Like a Filmmaker/Artist/Musician. Open to the general public, please contact sinead.younge@morehouse.edu for more information.
Thursday October 13th 5:00-6:30 pm (virtual webinar). Policy 101 RAND-AUC Webinar featuring RAND Corporation and Pardee RAND Graduate Students. Please contact sinead.younge@morehouse.edu for more information.
October 26th 5:00p-6:30 pm RAND-AUC Hackathon Kick Off for all Hackathon Participants.
Wednesday October 27th 11:00 am Crown Forum will feature special guest: Rodney Spivey-Jones, AYCGL Scholar in Residence. Morehouse College Crown Forum, King Chapel.
Thursday October 28th 1:00 pm Panel Discussion, "What does Leadership look like in STEM?" Panel Discussion featuring Drs. Larry Blumer, Triscia Hendrickson, and Jeffrey Handy, moderated by JK Haynes. Massey Leadership Building, 238-240.
Thursday November 3rd at 11:00am, Crown Forum will feature special guest: George Land, Senior Vice President, Head of Business Strategy and Operations, NBA Africa. This fall Mr. Land is offering the course, Leadership in Sports, in the Leadership Studies Program.
The Institute for Research, Civic Engagement, and Policy in the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership invites applications for a faculty fellowship for the 2022-23 academic year. Applications are due to frederick.knight@morehouse.edu by Friday, October 21, 2022.
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A Note of Gratitude to Our Sponsors
The work of the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors, including Coca Cola, Bank of America, Ms. Oprah Winfrey and the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, the SMASH Foundation, Delta Airlines, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Microsoft, the Julian Grace Foundation, The General, and the RAND Corporation. We wish to thank these donors for their sustained support of the AYCGL.
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