Deborah Archer 
Co-Faculty Director of the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU Law School and Director of the Civil Rights Clinic. She is a nationally recognized expert in civil rights and racial justice. Deborah is a graduate of Yale Law School and Smith College. Deborah is currently a member of the Board of Directors and General Counsel to the Board of the American Civil Liberties Union. She is also the chair of the American Association of Law School's Section on Civil Rights and a former chair of the Section on Minority Groups. She previously served on the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board, the nation’s oldest and largest police oversight agency, and the 2018 New York City Charter Revision Commission.

Takiema Bunche-Smith 
Director of Early Childhood Programs at the Center on Culture, Race & Equity at Bank Street College of Education.  She began her career as a preschool and elementary teacher and then transitioned into various early childhood education management positions where she supported the implementation of developmentally and culturally appropriate curriculum and programs serving prenatal moms through four year olds. Takiema holds Master’s degrees in Early Childhood & Elementary Education from Bank Street College of Education and NYU Wagner’s School for Public Service.

John-Martin Cannon
Sixth-grade teacher at RISE Community School 106 in Rochester, NY and wrestling coach at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Abe Cohen-Garcia
Earth Science, Computer Science, and Special Education teacher at Bronx Arena High School (NYCDOE). He is a model teacher at Arena High School, which has been featured on PBS Newshour, The Atlantic, Slate, Chalkbeat, Politico, and The Hechinger Report, and a Fulbright Distinguished Educator. Abe’s work extends to partnerships with the Bronx’s Rock the Boat, Fordham University, PBS’s Student Reporting Labs and the New York Civil Liberties Union. His work at Bronx Arena has been featured on New York’s CS4All Blueprint, Jezebel, Thriving Schools, reDesign, and National Public Radio.

Ann Cook
Executive director and co-founder of the New York Performance Standards Consortium and was the co-founder and co-director of the Urban Academy Laboratory High School, a New York City public school. She has taught both high school and college level students in courses such as children's literature, the history of the civil rights movement, and Don't Read That Book -- a course on censorship.

Michelle Fine
Distinguished Professor of Critical Psychology, Women’s Studies, American Studies and Urban Education at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Fine taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1981 – 1991, and then came to the Graduate Center. She has authored many “classics” – books and articles on high school push outs, adolescent sexuality – called the “missing discourse of desire,” the national evaluation of the impact of college in prison, the struggles and strength of the children of incarcerated adults, the wisdom of Muslim American youth. A pioneer in the field of youth Participatory Action Research, and a founding faculty member of the Public Science Project, Fine has been involved with a series of participatory studies with youth and elders, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated college students and youth working at the intersections of movements for educational, immigration and juvenile justice.

Margaret Terry Orr
Professor of Educational Leadership, Administration and Policy at Fordham University Graduate School of Education; Previously, she was on the faculty of Bank Street College of Education, where she directed the Future School Leaders Academy, a two-year, dual certification leadership preparation program in partnership with 30+ school districts. She has a PhD in education administration and policy from Columbia University Teachers College.

Jose Luis Vilson
Full-time math teacher, writer, speaker, and activist in New York City. He is the author of This Is Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education. He has spoken about education, math, and race for a number of organizations and publications, including the New York Times, The Guardian, TED, El Diario / La Prensa and The Atlantic. He's a National Board Certified teacher, a Math for America Master Teacher, and the executive director of EduColor, an organization dedicated to race and social justice issues in education.