Allies in Progress: The Public-School Institutions We’ve Ignored

Abstract

This article highlights some of the successes the Humanities Out There (HOT) program at the University of California, Irvine had when partnering with progressive institutions, namely with the Chicano/Latino Studies program at the university and with the arts program in a local high school. The first program engaged students in exploring the history underlying their communities, and the second helped students to dramatize their life experiences before a local public using their home languages. Analyzing what enabled HOT’s successes, I urge others sponsoring youth literacy to seek out, and make alliance with, progressive institutions within public education