KINETIC
Applications for KINETIC Organizing Fellowship 2026-2027 are open now! Please apply by June 22nd. Reach out to Jennifer Wang (jwang@advancingjustice-chicago.org) with any questions.
KINETIC is a space for Asian Pacific Islander Desi high school youth, including multi-racial folks, to build community with other progressive Asian American students and develop as youth leaders and organizers. Drawing on their lived experiences and learnings through political education, KINETIC leaders will participate in and lead issue campaigns on policies impacting their communities.
KINETIC was featured on ABC 7’s Asian American Heritage Month special in 2016. Watch the story here.
About
In 2018, KINETIC leaders won a campaign to make high school graduation more accessible for English learner immigrant students in CPS. The policy change addresses the “world language” graduation requirement for English learner students, who previously had to take a “world language” class concurrently with an ELL class for multiple years in order to graduate. KINETIC youth leaders identified the issue and organized over the course of three years to pass changes through the Board of Education.
In 2016, KINETIC leaders authored and passed a Chicago City Council resolution affirming the rights of English learner students and advocating for culturally relevant curriculum in Chicago Public Schools.
In November 2019, the youth leaders from KINETIC hosted their fifth annual immigrant and refugee youth art gallery. The theme, Re: Title, is a reference to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act which prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin in federally-funded programs. The gallery featured work that demonstrates the power and resistance of our communities as we challenge the narratives that are often assigned to us and retitle and define our own stories.
For updates on KINETIC campaigns, follow us on Instagram.
To find out how you can help the program or bring KINETIC to your school, contact Jenn at JWang@advancingjustice-chicago.org.
From Our Leaders
