Aspire Firestone Academy is a TK-5 school located in South Gate, California. Our students are brave and bold, bright and curious. In the face of a global pandemic, they have shown their resilience and brilliance.

At the beginning of this year, we worked together as a school community to rewrite our mission statement. Engaging multiple stakeholders in a lengthy process, we built our new mission: To create an empowering space for Black, Indigenous, and all other minoritized individuals, families, and communities, grounded in antiracist values and fostering activism and lifelong learning. At Firestone, we believe that our students are inherently bright and capable and that it is our responsibility to support their learning through a rigorous, standards-aligned curriculum, social-emotional learning, and a focus on equity and social justice. We know that our students are capable of achieving at high levels, and we believe that - in order to do so - they must see themselves in what they are learning; we also recognize the power of celebrating and uplifting voices of those who have been traditionally underrepresented.

Your contribution will support our continued work to create an antiracist school by funding:

• The creation of antiracist libraries in every classroom, libraries filled with literature that lifts up the stories of black children and families, as well as those of Latinx, Muslim, LGBTQ+, and other too-often underrepresented groups.
  
• Virtual (and in-person, when permitted) author visits by BIPOC individuals such as Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, Isabel Quintero, and Lesa Cline-Ransome.
• Materials to send home to our students for them to engage in hands-on, culturally relevant, project-based learning.
• Virtual (and in-person, when permitted) field trips to ensure that student learning extends beyond the classroom.

Thank you so much for your support as we strive to create the school and community that our students and families deserve!