Over the summer, 3rd - 6th grade Fellows have the opportunity to join the Freedom Project family for academic classes in reading and math, and activity blocks like science and manga taught by our college teacher-advisors.

Middle-school Fellows participate in five weeks of reading, math, art, and fitness classes; learn about Freedom Fighters and liberation movements; and travel to Civil Rights monuments and colleges across the mid-South.

Through the Freedom Project Network, high-school Fellows have the opportunity to take classes for college credit, taught by professors from across the country who design and teach unique course based on their disciplines.

Critical pedagogy means a commitment to a transformation of ourselves and our society. The school-to-prison pipeline and the system of mass incarceration threaten the lives of our Fellows, families, and communities. That is why we teach about the prison industrial complex, study abolition struggles past and present, and lead prison solidarity work like letter-writing campaigns and packing books at Big House Books.

Fellows receive academic support throughout the Fellowship. Daily study sessions provide Fellows with individual tutoring, peer-to-peer learning, and project assistance to help them thrive in their classes. When Fellows don’t have homework, they can access thousands of culturally relevant, leveled books in our library.

In 9th grade, Fellows join our college cohort program. There, they explore their college and career options, learn the lingo, and reflect on their dreams so that they can make sharp decisions for their future. Fellows who matriculate into higher education join our partner Alumni College Success Program, through which they receive weekly mentorship, supply stipends, and scholarships to support them through college.

Through our workshops, Freedom Fellows develop their artistic practice through classes, mentorship, and showcases. If they choose, Fellows also learn how to turn their passions into professions. Arts programs include visual arts, theater, filmmaking, and creative writing.

Through our workshops, Freedom Fellows develop their artistic practice through classes, mentorship, and showcases. If they choose, Fellows also learn how to turn their passions into professions. Arts programs include visual arts, theater, filmmaking, and creative writing.

Through our workshops, Freedom Fellows develop their artistic practice through classes, mentorship, and showcases. If they choose, Fellows also learn how to turn their passions into professions. Arts programs include visual arts, theater, filmmaking, and creative writing.

Through our workshops, Freedom Fellows develop their artistic practice through classes, mentorship, and showcases. If they choose, Fellows also learn how to turn their passions into professions. Arts programs include visual arts, theater, filmmaking, and creative writing.

Since 2021, Fellows have been organizing our Gender-Sexuality Alliance to educate and struggle for safer, more inclusive communities at the RFP, in their schools, and in the community. In the past year, Fellows have led educational programs for their families and peers, and designed an anti-bullying campaign for their school.

Freedom Fellows study liberation movements past and present to learn tactics for organizing their neighbors around the issues that affect them. Tactics have included community canvassing, participatory action research, political education, and voter registration.

Too often, our young people are excluded from conversations about climate justice. Yet, hotter summers, tornadoes, flooding, and pollution are all major issues that concern our Freedom Fellows. That’s why Fellows have committed themselves to organizing for climate justice through collective learning and documentary storytelling.

In years past, the RFP has promoted food justice through the study of historical tactics (like Fannie Lou Hamer’s Freedom Farm and Delta Health Center’s food prescriptions) and contemporary efforts (like Choctaw Fresh Food, the North Bolivar Good Food Revolution, and Grow Dat) in the struggle for food justice. The RFP also maintains fruit trees, a pollinator garden, and small raised beds at the LEAD Center.

Talk to any Freedom Fellow and they will tell you that a key component of the RFP’s program is travel. From weekly trips to Delta State University to our annual Spring Break trip to Baltimore, MD, Fellows take every opportunity to explore new communities and spaces for wonder, inspiration, and connection.

Trauma-responsive, restorative practices are the bedrock of our program. Daily community-building circles, in which we play games, give affirmations, and sing Freedom Songs form a foundation of trust and empathy. We host events that bring Fellows and families together to express love and joy together. When conflicts arise in our community, trained peer mediators convene restorative circles to identify the root causes of conflict, create healing, and work toward resolution.

Working with parents and families is essential to winning educational justice. That is why the RFP regularly hosts community conversations, showcases, trainings, and know-your-rights events to involve parents and families and to build our collective power to win safe, just schools.

Community programs like showcases, performances, and potluck dinners bring elders, families, and youth together. Through these events, relationships of mutual support and understanding blossom - these form the bedrock of our organizing efforts.

Economic oppression past and present threaten our community. That is why the Freedom Project holds down programs such as grocery distribution, support for community members applying to Emergency Rental Assistance and other social programs, and community services such as litter clean-up and food drives.