On a broiling May afternoon in a classroom at Lakewood High School in Long Beach, California, 10 people are seated together in a circle. Eight are teachers and two are students. The teachers are asking questions and listening to the students’ responses. 

It is not an examination. The topic of their conversation is relationships—student/teacher relationships—and the teachers are getting coaching from the students. Most of the teachers are leaning in, but one expresses hesitancy and frustration. 

“Listen,” says one of the students, “I know you are afraid, but we are afraid too.” The discussion then moves on to what it means to be honest and open with each other as teachers and students and how to build healthy relationships. 

Californians for Justice (CFJ) is a community mobilizing organization that has elevated the power of youth by establishing authentic relationships between themselves and teachers, educators, and officials. Their vision has remade education in the state and offers a model for broader social change. They call this approach Relationship Centered Schools. 

Relationship Centered Schools explores a new and deeper approach to power dynamics in education. Many advocacy and mobilizing organizations build power in a way that focuses on placing pressure on decision makers. CFJ, by contrast, is taking an approach to building power that has the potential to be more inclusive, impactful, and transformational. 

For CFJ, if we seek to transform our systems, to direct them towards liberation and justice, to dismantle incisive and oppressive racism, we need to engage with each other both inside and outside our homes in more humble and authentic ways. This means creating a space where people can learn to understand and embrace that my wellbeing depends on your wellbeing and realize that decisions to support others should be based on solidarity rather than on charity.