Jane Addams School for Democracy
The Jane Addams School for Democracy is a community-based civic engagement initiative based in the West Side neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. It is coordinated by staff of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship. Participants in the Jane Addams School self-organize in learning circles and pairs, mixing English speakers with native Hmong-, Somali- or Spanish-speakers. There is no charge to attend, and there are no fixed courses. Individuals participate as long as they wish. The school is founded on the principle that everyone is both a teacher and a learner. The Jane Addams School is inspired by the vision of democracy, productive citizenship, and popular education held by settlement house pioneers like Jane Addams, who created Hull House in Chicago. Since the school opened in 1996, more than 1,500 participants from around the Twin Cities have naturalized as U.S. citizens.
Thursday, Jan 17, 2008
Top 7 of 2007
Each time we hear from our partners and colleagues, we’re energized by your commitment and by what you can teach about doing the work of democracy. As we begin a new year, we decided to look back at our work close to home, and name some of the other things that gave us energy and taught us powerful lessons.
Voices of Hope: The Story of the Jane Addams School
At the Humphrey Center one evening in April, volunteers who looked like an impossibly diverse group of secret agents wore headsets and spoke into small microphones. They were providing simultaneous interpretation in Hmong, Somali and Spanish for many of the more than 100 people listening to authors read from their work in Voices of Hope: The Story of the Jane Addams School (another interpreter signed American Sign Language). This book launch was a celebration of the democratic work and learning of Jane Addams School participants – including new immigrants of all ages – over the past 10 years. Twelve authors contributed to the book, which was edited by Nan Kari and Nan Skelton.
Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
Circles Celebration
This post was written by Emily Peterson, an AmeriCorps member at the Jane Addams School:
On Wednesday, December 5th, the participants of the Jane Addams School of Democracy held a celebration of all the circles that make up the school. The celebration was a time to see all the circles come together to eat, recognize accomplishments, share talents, and to learn from and teach one another. The celebration took place in the cafeteria at Humboldt High School, which was transformed to a friendly seating area and stage. Some people dressed in traditional clothing from their culture, and I myself was lucky enough to be dressed in traditional Hmong clothing.
The night started out with a "contestoria" from the children's circle telling a story about a hungry mouse in a big city. Then the program moved onto the food, as people had brought homemade food that formed a delicious potluck. Some people shared poetry while others sat and ate their food. With over 200 people at the celebration, eating took some time, but it was very enjoyable to try all the different kinds of foods from other countries.
After everyone had stuffed themselves, the talent show began. The emcees for the night were very creative in using actions and movements to get across their messages without using words, and they kept the program moving. 
Many people from different circles read their poetry, sang songs in their native language, and danced- styles varying from break dancing to bachata to swing. The outstanding talent of the performers was mind blowing for many audience participants.
One of the amazing things about the night was the mixture of people that came to the celebration; participants ranged in age from 4 to over 80 years old, from countries such as Thailand to Mexico and Somali, and five native languages were spoken. With all these distinguished people, it is no wonder a basic value of Jane Addams is that everyone is a learner and everyone is a teacher. This practice could not have been more evident than on Wednesday night.
Tuesday, Nov 6, 2007
Public Celebration
On Saturday, October 27, a group of 54 people involved in the Jane Addams School for Democracy boarded a school bus for a trip together to a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm near Osceola, Wisconsin, called Philadelphia Farm. As a college student from Macalester College pointed out, there were people born in five different continents together on the trip, and the participants' ages ranged from 3 to late 70s.
The trip was a way for participants from all of the Jane Addams School learning circles to step away from their educational goals, projects, and dialogues and interact across circles in a more informal way. For many people, there was an excitement in leaving the city and being in the country. There was some work involved in terms of helping out at the farm, but there was also plenty of space for play.
During the day, we carved pumpkins and collected seeds for future years, went on a walk through a forest and a restored prairie to a natural spring, planted garlic for the next year, played some informal soccer, cleared weeds from a trellis, and enjoyed a meal together.
As the farm residents introduced themselves and gave instructions in English throughout the day, informal interpretation spontaneously occurred in three other languages in order to keep everyone on the same page. In addition, young people, young adults, and elders played and worked together. At the end of the day, several people remarked that this type of play is really necessary for a group of diverse people to really get to know each other and do democratic work together. In many ways, it felt like a celebration. For the Jane Addams School, it was a way of interacting that is important to our overall work.
Monday, Oct 15, 2007
Freedom Festival: Voices of Hope
In July, immigrant families, college students and other community members gathered in St. Paul, Minn., to celebrate their community work together.
The theme for this year’s celebration was inspired by a series of essays written by the school's participants—many of whom are new immigrants—published earlier this year in Voices of Hope: The Story of the Jane Addams School for Democracy. The Jane Addams School is a community initiative where participants self-organize in learning circles and pairs, mixing English speakers with native Hmong-, Somali- and Spanish-speakers. The school is inspired by the vision of democracy, productive citizenship, and popular education held by settlement house pioneers like Jane Addams, who created Hull House in Chicago.
A weblog on civic engagement produced by the Center for Democracy and Citizenship
By the People
Center Homepage
Humphrey Institute Homepage
U of M Homepage
Newsfeed
Links
- Links
- The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement
- openDemocracy
- DemocracySpace.org
- Project for Public Spaces
- Idasa (South Africa)
- American Democracy Project
- National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation
- CitizenPost
- PAunite.org
- Citizens League
- November Fifth Coalition
- Peter Levine’s Blog
- Yarrow Primary School
- Public Achievement