Voices of Hope: The Story of the Jane Addams School for Democracy
The Jane Addams School for Democracy is no ordinary school. Its diverse staff and students include refugee and immigrant adults and children; faculty and students from nine Twin Cities colleges and universities; and community residents. And 10 years after the school opened, more than 1,500 of its participants have become U.S. citizens.
It is not a public school in the commonly understood sense of the word, nor is it a stand-alone “bricks-and-mortar” institution. It shares space with Humboldt High School in the West Side neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. There are no formal classes at the Jane Addams School. Instead, people organize in learning circles and work together in pairs, usually mixing English speakers with Hmong-, Spanish-, or Somali-speaking people. There is no charge to attend, and there are no fixed courses. Individuals participate as long as they wish.
Voices of Hope: The Story of the Jane Addams School for Democracy captures the school’s far-reaching mission of educating new citizens and strengthening ties among cultural groups in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Edited by Nan Kari and Nan Skelton, Voices of Hope is an engaging account of the Jane Addams School as told through the voices of the school’s participants. The book features 22 essays by 12 writers, including nonnative English speakers, and more than 75 photos. The essays cover a variety of topics, including the founding of the school, its important role in providing a space for democratic work, an American groom’s touching story of his traditional Somali wedding, inspirational reflections by a language instructor on how the school influenced her approach to teaching, and a poignant tale of one refugee’s journey from Laos to America.
Kari and Skelton and others founded the Jane Addams School in 1996 to create a public space where ordinary people—immigrants and nonimmigrants, adults and children—could learn from one another and engage in the challenging work of building democracy. The school was conceived as a democratic organization—one with minimal, nonhierarchical structures that would allow participants to shape its agenda.
The reasons people come to the Jane Addams School are as varied as the participants. Hmong, Latino, and East African immigrant adults come to learn English or prepare for the U.S. citizenship test. Younger immigrants seek connections with people of similar cultural backgrounds. College students earn work-study credit and have an opportunity to build connections with community members. Children enjoy the freedom the school provides to create their own learning experiences.
The school is named for Jane Addams, a leader in the U.S. settlement movement who believed the classroom environment alone could not ensure civic learning. In 1889 Addams founded Hull House in Chicago, providing neighborhood services that included kindergarten and daycare facilities for children of working mothers, an employment bureau, an art gallery, libraries, and music and art classes. Addams later became involved in the peace movement and received the Noble Peace Prize in 1931.
Download essays from Voices of Hope
Introduction to Voice of Hope, by editors Nan Kari and Nan Skelton
Return to Ban Vinai, by Pakou Hang
A Call to Vocation, by Terri S. Wilson
What Others Are Saying about Voices of Hope and the Jane Addams School
“Voices of Hope is an essential contribution to the debate about public education in America. Its subject, the Jane Addams School for Democracy, does not belong to the government. It is not a nonprofit corporation. It does not grant diplomas or give grades. Yet, in a profound sense, it is a 'public school,' a model of what happens when Americans of all ages and backgrounds come together voluntarily to create knowledge, understanding, and power. The spirit of Hull House and the civil rights movement’s citizenship schools is still alive in Minnesota today and deserves our careful attention.” —Peter Levine, director, CIRCLE (Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement), Tufts University
“Voices of Hope provides an inspiring, close up look of new immigrants and their institutional partners transforming lives through community education and public work. The stories are rich and embedded in a larger narrative about making democracy real in diverse communities. Of great relevance to our national debates about immigration and the future of our democracy.” —Carmen Sirianni, professor of sociology and public policy, Brandeis University, and author, Civic Innovation in America
About the Editors of Voices of Hope
Nan Kari is cofounder of the Jane Addams School for Democracy, a civic engagement and democratic education initiative for immigrant families and college students. She is the coauthor of Building America: The Democratic Promise of Public Work. Kari has helped lead initiatives in democratic renewal in a variety of venues, including a nursing home, higher education, and, currently, St. Paul’s West Side neighborhood. She is a senior associate at the Touchstone Center for Collaborative Inquiry, where she works as an evaluator of civic engagement and social change initiatives.
Nan Skelton is the codirector of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship in the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. She leads the center’s external public work in civic education, reclaiming neighborhoods, and the democratic renewal of public education. She is also cofounder of the Jane Addams School for Democracy. From 1983 to 1990, Skelton was an assistant commissioner with the Minnesota Department of Education, where she was responsible for crafting statewide initiatives in community education, youth development, vocational education, and early childhood family education.
Kettering Foundation Press | 2007
$19.95
144 pages
Item #10151
To order publications
E-mail
Phone: 1-800-600-4060
Fax: 1-812-333-4218