UCEA 2019

1. Presentation
Title Goes Here
Subtitle of
Presentation
Relationships as Assets,
Relationships as Barriers:
Social Justice Leaders’ Use of
Relationships in their Work

2. Research Questions and Method
• With whom do social justice leaders form relationships as part
of their work?
• What impacts, if any, do social justice leaders perceive
relationships to have on their work?
• How do social justice leaders form, manage, and maintain
relationships with different types of school and community
stakeholders?
• Interviews with seven social justice leaders in Chicago

3. Social Justice Leaders’ Partners
• Leaders partnered with a variety of school stakeholders
• The impetus to form relationships was typically tied to how
relationships could benefit the school and social justice
imperatives
• Relationships did center community interests, but as we have
described in other research, there was a simultaneous goal of
benefiting the school

4. Impacts of Relationships
• Barrier
• As is discussed in the literature, white parents can form a particular
barrier
• Certain district and political leaders could form barriers
• Asset
• Leaders cultivated relationships as a means to push through justice
initiatives
• Forming relationships with staff helped leaders build staff support for
their work
• Relationships with parents allowed leaders to build support and parent
advocacy for justice work

5. Managing Relationships
• Frequent presence within the community—show community
that leader is there and willing to help
• Leverage staff for help in cultivating relationships with families
• Knowing the political and relational landscape is helpful—know
who to please and who to push
• Use position in a way that forges relationships amongst
stakeholders who were previously unconnected

6. Thank You
Meagan Richard, mricha44@uic.edu
Jason Salisbury, jsalis2@uic.edu
College of Education | Policy Studies in Urban Education