Robyn George, a first year student and the new Legislative Affairs Chair of ASM at UW-Madison, is hoping to create change in suburban communities through the non-profit organization Suburbs for Equality, where she currently serves as founder and president.
Suburbs for Equality, per its website, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which strives to utilize the disproportionate economic and political resources found in suburban communities in order to achieve equality and bridge the opportunity gap between urban and suburban communities. The organization also emphasizes the importance of equality among all communities through local involvement and civic engagement, especially among young adults and elected officials.
Created in response to the recent protests concerning racial injustice around the world, Suburbs for Equality and its explicit messaging has a strong personal connection to George and her experience growing up as a person of color in Wisconsin.
“I got the idea while organizing my first educational rally/protest in my hometown,” said George. “I felt very alone and organizing in the suburbs was very different from organizing in urban areas where a lot of the leaders I knew were from. Things like going to meet with the police chief, reading over state statutes that regard liabilities really scared me and I could've really used a support system.”
“We realized that, due to the economic and political privilege we, as community members of suburban areas, [have], we have a specific duty to educate our community, as well as assist with uplifting those in other communities.”
George moved from Milwaukee to the suburbs around six years ago and found it to be quite a culture shock, to say the least.
“My senior year of high school, I was the only black person in five of my six classes, which nearly all happened to be Advanced Placement courses,” said George. “This alone illustrated the intense segregation between Milwaukee and it's suburbs, as well as the opportunity and achievement gaps between the two environments. I also saw many of my classmates of color falling behind in school and seeming rather unmotivated. I never want a young student of color to feel discouraged academically because of the color of their skin, where they're from or what they have going on at home.”
George has a strong interest in public policy and governance. Last year she served as a Senate Scholar with the Wisconsin State Assembly, where she became well versed with the importance of directly advocating for legislation and communicating with legislators.
“Showing up to elections is always the number one priority, but in my opinion, the path to true equality cannot be made without utilizing those other forms of democracy,” George explained. “Lobby, email your elected officials, hold them accountable and remind them that they work for you. Propose policy that you feel strongly about, and see how many other people in your community see a need for that policy, because it's likely more than you think.”
Suburbs for Equality currently has a campaign advocating for an Equity and Inclusion Commission in Menomonee Falls, the home of the high school where George graduated from this past spring.
Education is also crucial to Suburbs for Equality’s mission. The organization has established a Book Club which strives to “broaden the understanding of [the] members to the BIPOC experience and history,” and has created Community Facilitated Discussions that emphasize the discussion of BIPOC issues in communities.
“A mentor of mine...said, ‘Miseducation is when you aren't given the resources to know better, it can be solved. Ignorance is when you are given the resources to know better, but choose not to believe them,’” George said. “Since then, I've decided to spend less time on ignorance and do all I can to solve miseducation. That's why education is always the forefront of our campaigns.”
To further her club’s education, George chose September’s Book Club pick to be Toni Morrison’s "The Bluest Eye," while the monthly discussion is about fair housing in Milwaukee and other urban communities.
“The executive board and I always want the main priority of this organization to be progress,” said George.
Now, as a student at UW-Madison and the Legislative Affairs Chair of ASM, George hopes to aid in progress beyond the UW community and throughout the Big Ten.
“As a native student, one thing I really appreciate here is land recognition,” George said. “I’d like to use our presence in the Association of Big Ten Students Legislative Affairs Council to promote land recognition to other schools in the Big Ten.”
Furthermore, George hopes to work with the vote coordinator of ASM to assist in making sure all students' votes are safe and secure this election; she would also like to form strong bonds between ASM and the local and state governments here in Madison.
Sophia Vento is a former editor-in-chief of The Daily Cardinal. She previously served as the college news editor. She has covered breaking, campus, city, state and sports, and written in-depth stories about health, culture and education. She previously interned with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Any newsroom would be lucky to have Sophia on staff. Follow her on Twitter at @sophiasvento.
