Today, I interviewed Shelby, the founder of little justice leaders, an organization that creates subscription boxes to help adults talk with their kids about social justice issues. The interview is down below:
If you would prefer the written version, its down below:
What does your organization do? how does it help?
Little justice leaders is an organization to help parents and educators teach kids about social justice issues in an easy way. Every month they would get a subscription box, with a book, activity, info cards about the subject, and stickers, magnets, or posters about the issue!
Why did you decide to start little justice leaders?
"I had noticed kids were interested in social justice issues, but their parents or teachers didn't really know how to talk about it, or feel like an expert in the subject enough to talk with kids about it" It's especially hard to talk with younger kids about big issues, so that's why I created Little Justice Leaders, so info and activities can come and kids can learn about these things and understand big topics and issues.
how do you decide on themes?
We try to address some big topics, like racism, sexism, environmental awareness, things like that and try to approach them in different ways. We think, how can we approach this in a different way then before? So for example, this month the box is themed pride, but we mostly focused on gender pronouns and learning about pronouns. We also try to make themes about what's going on in the world, and what people are talking about. And sometimes people will reach out to us and say. "hey we want to help create a box with this theme" That's another way some boxes are created.
how do you decide which books to put inside the boxes?
Sometimes we will find a book we love, and just make a box surrounding that book, and other times we will think of a theme, and then try to find a book related to that issue. We try to find books, but not always, that are written by someone who has experienced or is in that group of whatever the book is addressing. "Now that we are a little bit bigger, we have some publishers that send us book samples all the time, so we are able to browse through and choose ones we like."
How do you think homelessness is a social justice issue? Have you ever considered homelessness as a theme?
Yes, I think homelessness is a social justice issue, and is interconnected to a lot of social justice issues, like poverty, food security, transportation, and is also connected to LGBTQ+ because lots of homeless youth are people who identify as LGBTQ+ and that's a big problem too. Homeless is also connected to mental health, which is another social justice issue. Yes, we have considered homelessness as a theme for our boxes, we have not done it yet but its on our radar!
What are some struggles you faced when trying to educate/ start your organization?
One of the struggles we faced is some people thinking we tell kids how to think, some even saying brainwashing, but I am totally against that, our organization does not try to tell kids what to think, or what is right or wrong, we try to help kids understand issues, and we try to cultivate empathy, and have kids try to understand different perspectives and value people who are different from themselves.
We show kids an issue, and show them people who have experienced that issue, these are their stories, and the challenges they faced. Another issue is sometimes people think kids are too young to learn about these kind of things.
what can kids do to help problems in the world?
Their are so many opportunities for kids AND adults! I think one is really getting to learn about topics your interested in, or finding an issue that impacts people around you. kids can write letters, or write cards and draw pictures, there are so many things you can do! Like volunteering, if there are any volunteering places where you are. It really depends on your age and what you can do!
Learn more OR get a subscription box at:
find them on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/littlejusticeleaders/
Let's help, Together!
