About Us

SFER organizes a diverse base of student representative of the local public school system in states where we are and serves local college students - our chapter leaders and their members - who participate in our leadership development and organizing programs. Our recruitment efforts target students from racial and socioeconomic backgrounds currently under-represented in the higher education system: black and Latino students, first-generation college students, and low-income students. Once they are members, our students engage with SFER internally through multiple tiers of leadership development as chapter leaders, executive board members, state captains, and other roles. Chapters build a powerful, active membership base with the capacity and skills to act, build relationships with local leaders and elected officials, and take action through public demonstration, grassroots lobbying, and earned media to change the policy and political climate to be supportive of our policy principles.

Our major programs and activities draw on best practices of grassroots social justice and civil rights organizations:

(1) Campus Organizing. SFER recruits and trains outstanding student advocates to lead SFER chapters university-recognized student groups that build a diverse membership base and educate the school community.

(2) Leadership Development and Training. SFER chapter leaders attend two national summits annually, build their skills at twice-annual state organizing boot camps and policy summits, and receive weekly direct coaching from full-time state program directors. Program directors work to build the leadership skills and experience of students from racial and socioeconomic backgrounds under-represented in college in order to advance racial and socioeconomic equity. Additionally, the state captain program supports states that do not have a full-time program director by strategically and systematically providing SFER student management as a resource to drive towards impact. State Captains are responsible for thoughtful campaign planning, rigorous leadership development, and relationship building in their communities. Throughout the semester, each of them held high-impact summits (with as many as 70 SFER members in attendance) and have collectively gathered over 200 students to develop campaign tactics, meet with key issue-related stakeholders and partners, and work with partners and student leaders to hold workshops on building key, organizing tools. Kenneth Eban of SFER Minnesota is one of two state captain managers (and also Minnesota's state captain) who manage a total of five state captains in Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

The services and trainings SFER provides to students develops their skills as leaders and active citizens. The networks that members build and experiences they have while active in SFER position our members to gain employment in the education, advocacy, or nonprofit sector. This career preparation is a great equalizer for low-income students. We draw best practices from major grassroots training programs and talent pipelines such as Midwest Academy, Wellstone Action, EdVoice, and Organizing For America.

(3) Grassroots Issue Advocacy Campaigns. SFER members, organized by their chapter leaders, mobilize their peers and communities to work towards achieving clear and measurable improvements to district or statewide education policy and politics. Each SFER state coalition works on at least one major issue campaign per year, and the issues are chosen by our local student leaders who marry their knowledge of the local context with the statement of principles that unites all SFER chapters: a commitment to work to advance policies that will increase the number of great teachers and leaders in public schools; that will ensure each child has high- quality school choices within the free public system; and that will ensure our public education system prepares our students to master meaningful learning standards that will prepare them for careers of their choosing. Our members achieve these goals through taking direct action like holding rallies, working on voter registration and turnout, phone banking, and having meetings with legislators.

(4) Alumni Engagement. Our student-organizing efforts do not end at the state house. After graduation, we run an alumni network for our members who go on to become leaders in the field. We aim to build diverse pipelines of leadership into the education field to ensure that the next generation of policymakers and civic leaders represent the communities we seek to serve.