The Student & Educator Solidarity Fund (SESF) provides $350 in material support to students and educators experiencing repression and harassment.

We invite students, school-based educators, and autonomous educators to apply if, within the last year, they have experienced repression and harassment for working to abolish the school-prison nexus and/or radically transform learning spaces.

• Student: those currently enrolled and/or participating in a K-12 institution, homeschool program, college, university, or education space
• School-based educator: those working within conventional K-12 public, private, independent, and charter schools as well as community or technical colleges
• Autonomous educator: those working beyond school-based classrooms to build learning spaces, strategies, and approaches that prioritize abolitionist education

The Student & Educator Solidarity Fund does not currently fund active faculty members (e.g. instructors, lecturers, professors) working at a four-year college or university.

Graduate students who are pursuing advanced degrees and teaching to sustain themselves are not considered active faculty members under our definition and are eligible for funding.

This fund seeks to offer concrete support to students, school-based educators, and autonomous educators who, within the last year, have faced or continue to face backlash for:

• interrupting harmful educational practices
• implementing abolitionist educational practices 
• organizing within their schools or communities
• supporting liberatory social movements 
• advocating for and protecting targeted students

The experienced backlash, repression, and harassment may include: 

• administrative denunciation
• enforced bureaucratic barriers
• censorship protocols
• doxxing / public release of private information
• employment suspension or loss of employment
• event cancellations or alterations
• gag orders
• harassment or intimidation (online or in-person)
• legal threats or actions
• organizational shutdowns
• student suspension or expulsion
• surveillance or monitoring of classroom / job responsibilities

Applications are currently open. You can apply online here. 

Applications will be reviewed by AEC by the final Thursday of each month. Applicants will be notified of AEC’s funding decision via email within 30 days of submission.

Funds can be sent by paper check or via electronic payment via BILL.com.

Students & educators approved for solidarity funds can receive funds as an individual or via a 501(c)(3) organization. Our fiscal sponsor requires that all individuals receiving payments submit a W-9 via Eversign and have a US-based mailing address.

Please reach out to us at hello[at]abolitionisteducation.org if you would like to apply but are unsure how you can receive the $350.

Applicants will be notified of AEC’s funding decision via email. Payments will be sent 2-4 weeks after confirmation.

Our work (and this fund) seeks to center the least resourced and most vulnerable students and educators in the so-called U.S. K-12 educators, on average, have significantly lower salaries and less access to supportive resources than most college and university faculty members college and university faculty members.

Autonomous educators, aka those who work outside of school-based settings, tend to be even more isolated due to the lack of institutional supports or resources. These educators have also often been excluded, ousted, or have made a decision to intentionally divest from traditional school settings.

While AEC respects the labor and vulnerability of college and university faculty members doing radical education work — especially in this moment of escalating militarization of academic institutions against students and faculty — we also recognize that college and university faculty members hold advanced degrees and are granted more social and economic mobility.

Though colleges and universities are still hostile towards educators engaging in radical political work, academic educators typically receive higher salaries, have access to professional networks and high status occupations, and are regarded with more prestige than their K-12 and autonomous educator counterparts.

Currently, the application is only available online and in written English, and we recognize this will not meet everyone’s needs. Expanding access is a priority for us, and we are actively working to make the application available in additional languages and formats in upcoming funding cycles.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or access needs, please reach out to us at hello[at]abolitionisteducation.org.