Located in Center City Philadelphia, Freire Charter School’s mission is to provide a college-preparatory learning experience with a focus on individual freedom, critical thinking, and problem solving in an environment that emphasizes the values of community, teamwork, and nonviolence by cultivating students’ individuality and personal interests.

The staff at Freire, including Channey Roberts, believes that students in urban communities can often feel disenfranchised from their government and wants to encourage them to realize they indeed have a voice and to become involved. In this spirit, last year, 11 seniors studying African Civil Wars and the experience of child soldiers, attended a National Lobby Day with Resolve Uganda. The students met with aides from the offices of Senator Spector, Representative Fattah, and Representative Carney and spoke passionately about the need for greater US awareness in the fight to end human rights violations around the world. Through this process, students became engaged and felt included in the political process.

This spring, Freire will continue its work in this area and expand the program from 11 students to 40 in order to broaden its lobbying efforts to include gun control, more support for inner city programs, creation of US Public Service Academy, and for local and neighborhood clean-up efforts.

Students will be broken into groups based on their chosen issue and will conduct extensive research to inform themselves of the topic. They will then write letters to their representatives, and meet with group members to plan and rehearse their meetings with the contacts they make, which will be conducted in both Washington, D.C. and Harrisburg.