Our Focus on Social Justice

Social justice is the communal effort to create and sustain a more just society that protects everyone's basic human rights, provides equitable access to essential human needs and opportunities, and encourages equitable participation, in which everyone’s voice is heard. At FLACS, scholars look at social justice through the four goals: human rights, access, participation, and equity. Throughout their studies and experiences, scholars reflect on the historical context for how past and current systems came to be, how these systems create or do not create social justice, and how individuals and systems can work toward social justice, particularly in the context of their own communities. 

 

FLACS graduates are critical thinkers, informed leaders, and active agents of social change, who are prepared to actively participate in continuing to bend to the arc of the moral universe toward justice. Scholars are empowered to exercise their rights and amplify their voices to confront systemic injustices, advocate for marginalized communities, and be catalysts for change to create a more just society in the Bronx and beyond. Graduates are equipped with the tools to understand, challenge, and transform the systems that perpetuate injustice and inequality. They are taught to see the intersections of oppression and to work collaboratively to create meaningful change. 

 

The focus on social justice at FLACS flows naturally from the historical creation of the FLACS Network. The FLACS Network was created as an act of social justice, as the founders created the school to correct the historical inequities and lack of educational access for scholars in the South Bronx. Social justice is called out directly in the mission which calls on the schools to “create the conditions for self-empowerment for all its K-12 scholars to … affirm human values, today, in college, and beyond.”

 

This occurs through a strategic set of experiences, course studies, and shared philosophies, which center around the following key skills: