Today we have special guest Zakiya Sankara-Jabar. Zakiya is a Parent Organizer/Advocate and Director of Racial Justice NOW! which is a community-based organization led by Black parents organizing to lift up their voice and agency in the educational outcomes of their children. Through her advocacy at RJN! Zakiya trains and acts as an advocate on behalf of other parents at suspension and expulsion hearings and at IEP meetings. In addition, Zakiya does policy work at the local and state level pushing for systemic changes in school discipline codes of conduct and state law changes around “zero-tolerance”. Zakiya is also a member of the Dayton Public Schools Student Code of Conduct Committee, the Miami Valley Black Health Coalition, and the Kinship Care Coalition of Dayton Center for Healthy Communities. Zakiya is also on the steering committee for the Ohio Juvenile Justice Alliance. Nationally, Zakiya is a Co-Chair of the Dignity in Schools in Campaign which is a national coalition of youth, parents, educators, lawyers, and advocates working to ensure children are treated with dignity and fairness in schools.

Zakiya studied Organizational Leadership at Wittenberg University and worked as a Human Resource Professional for the State of Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities for nearly 11 years before co-founding Racial Justice NOW! in 2012.