In April 2018, we held our “Choose an Issue “ convention in which members from our Congregations and Partners gathered to decide by representational vote which one of many pressing issues would become the focus of our next campaign. Education Funding in Brockton was the top issue.
 
BIC Leaders then went through two month-long trainings on Power Analysis and Storytelling to understand the nature of power, conducting thorough research through building public relationships, and telling the story of the problem, the world as it is, and the world as we would like it to be. Leaders spent the summer of 2018 meeting with many local and state level public officials, non-profit community organizations, parents, students, and teachers to better understand the nature of this problem in Brockton.

On October 10th, after months of intensive research and preparation, BIC proudly held a major community Action on education funding reform.  The event was moderated by Gamaliel Lauture and Ann-Marie Illsley, and featured testimony from BIC Prophetic Leaders, as well as two former Brockton High School students.  Also invited to speak were Brockton Public Schools Superintendent Smith, Brockton Senator Michael Brady, Representatives Claire Cronin and Michelle DuBois, City Councilors Win Farwell and Robert Sullivan, and School Committee member Brett Gormley.  Over 200 community members attended to witness this powerful event, including 17 of 24 invited public officials as well as ally groups such as MEJA, the Brockton chapter of the NAACP,  the Stonehill College Office of Community Engagement, MCAN, and many others.  
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Since October 10th, BIC's education Committee has been meeting bi-weekly to create statewide and local strategies to accomplish two major goals: passing a monumental state-level bill to improve education funding for Brockton schools, and building enough power at the city level to change how funds are currently allocated to better reflect the desire of the community. To accomplish these goals we are building relationships with local non-profit organizations to build a table that can look at the city budget to learn more about how funds are allocated and how those decisions are made. To raise regional urgency around this issue of education funding we are continuing to build relationships with our state representatives to learn about new legislation at the state house, as well as connecting with other MCAN affiliates to coordinate our statewide strategy. 

In May, BIC Clergy leaders led a march through the State House during the Fund our Future rally, calling on legislators to stop sacrificing our children through inadequately funded budgets. BIC Leaders also met with the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Education, learning from them the progress of a bill aimed at addressing this reoccurring issue. We created a list of priorities we believe need to be included in any piece of legislation. Those priorities are:

1. Make certain every student counts. 
2. Make a long-term investment in the short-term. 
3. Ensure that charter school costs work with and not against district budgets.
4. Build trust between state and local districts fostering local control and accountability.
5. Review Chapter 70 Formula regularly to make sure it is working. 
6. Recognize the need in both Boston AND Gateway Cities.

Upon learning that some of these priorities would be left out of the piece of legislation aimed to address this complex issue, BIC leaders called a press conference to speak directly to the State House to invite them to use their time more wisely and to do whatever it takes to fix all facets of this issue.