This summer, around 150 youth, mostly Black and Latinx, took part in Ujima Freedom School in Champaign, a joint effort involving the College of Education and the University of Illinois that is aimed at transforming lives and communities.

Two Black boys of elementary school age stand solemnly in the center of Bottenfield Elementary School's gym. One holds a potted snake plant, its thick, upright leaves reaching toward the ceiling; the other holds a pitcher of water.

They are surrounded by nearly 150 Black and Latinx children ranging from grades K-8, along with many parents.

The boy holding the pitcher of water loudly but reverently calls out a name, then pours a bit of the water into the plant's soil.

He calls out three more names, one after the other, each time pouring a little water into the soil. His voice quivers a bit when saying one name. But he does not stop. He is taking his duties seriously.

Each time a name is called, everyone in the gym intones a single word: Asé (pronounced ah-SHAY). The word is from the Yoruba language, an African tongue spoken by people in Nigeria and Benin; it is a word of affirmation, similar to saying "amen" at the end of the prayer.

The libation ceremony is an African tradition that honors ancestors.

In this case, it honors the family members, friends, and loved ones of those in the gym who had been killed by gun violence. The brothers and sisters, the mothers and fathers, the aunts and uncles and cousins, the neighbors, the school friends, who had been senselessly taken from their lives.

A child from the audience calls out a name. The boy pours the water onto the plant. The crowd, as one, says Asé.

This is repeated over and over.

Every name called out that morning represents someone known personally by the child or parent calling out the name.

The ceremony is part of the final-day celebration of the Ujima Freedom School in Champaign.

"A Social Justice Lens"

Ujima Freedom School is a six-week summer education program that offers a literacy- and culturally-enriching program that strengthens academic, civic, and socio-emotional skills in a creative and engaging way. (Ujima means "collective work and responsibility.”) This year's theme was "Children Are Not Bulletproof."

"It was about gun violence," says Cessily Thomas, project director and Freedom School parent. "We always have a social justice lens to the program."

The libation ceremony, she adds, really had two aims. One was to honor the dead. The other was to keep more from dying.

"Kids are losing people close to them, and they aren't being taught how to deal with and move through their grief so that it doesn't turn into anger and rage," Thomas says. "And when they don't get through that grief, what ends up happening is more people get lost. Nobody has the answer, but I think we're all trying to do our part."

Kids met weekly in small groups in the afternoons to talk about the impact of gun violence. "They talked about the causes of it," Thomas says. "We had parent meetings also. And the students made posters and marched in Douglass Park."

"The Need Is There"

Freedom Schools was born from the long Black freedom struggle and, more recently, the Children's Defense Fund (CDF). The CDF was founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman, the first Black woman to pass the bar exam in Mississippi. It operated in Champaign in the early 2000s, stopped for a while, and resurfaced in 2021.

"This is the end of the third year of university involvement with the program in Champaign and the end of the first year for the historic statewide grant supporting the creation of Freedom Schools," says Jon Hale, associate professor in the Education Policy, Organization and Leadership Department at the College of Education. He is referring to the $17 million grant announced by the Illinois State Board of Education in the spring of 2022 to create the nation's first state-funded Freedom Schools network.

Hale and the College have been actively supporting the Champaign Freedom School and building that network.

"In addition to supporting the Champaign Freedom School, we also hosted for the first time a statewide training where about 80 people representing 30 programs showed up for the training," says Hale. He estimates over 40 programs across the state are receiving funding to develop Freedom Schools.

Last year, Hale notes, 55 children enrolled in the program, which is offered at no cost. This year that surged to 153. "That was pushing us a little bit," he admits. "It just shows we have the capacity for growth and that we've been growing."

Thomas agrees.

"It was a huge undertaking. We grew a bit too quickly," she laughs. Not that they weren't prepared: Last year, they had five servant-leaders, generally students from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign or other colleges, or people from the community; this year, that number tripled, matching the expansion of the young scholars in the program. Each servant-leader was in charge of 10 students throughout the program.

"As you can see, the need is there," Thomas says. "We had a waiting list of 20 or 30 beyond the 153 who enrolled."

Impacting Children, Families, and the Community

The Ujima Freedom School also piloted an after-school program at Garden Hills Academy, says Tracy Dace, executive director of the school and founder and CEO of DREAAM (Driven to Reach Excellence & Academic Achievement for Males).

Speaking of the summer program at Bottenfield, Dace says the experience was ambitious, powerful, and incredible. "Each day, scholars not only engaged in culturally relevant literacy activities, but they also experienced empowerment, joy, and hope with and from caring adults," he says.

Thomas says the support received from the University of Illinois and the community is vital to keeping the school going. "We would love for the University of Illinois to continue to support our efforts," she says. "Freedom School changes the lives of our scholars, and it impacts our families, our servant-leaders, and the community. We appreciate the support we've had over these last three years from the university and hope this relationship continues to grow and be maintained."

Dace says he's been excited to have DREAAM co-lead the planning and implementation of the Freedom School initiative in Champaign with the University of Illinois and Champaign Unit 4 School District.

"Our collaborative partnership is vital to the sustainability of this critical opportunity for Black children and families," he says. "This year, state funding was instrumental in expanding Freedom School to reach more children. However, we need the community's and donors' support to ensure that Freedom School is here to stay and grow. Our children are watching to see what we will do. We can't disappoint them."