The Sidewalk School is a minority led and operated rapid response organization fighting for equity and safety for asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border by working to holistically meet the basic needs of the most vulnerable. We work alongside asylum seekers to empower, advocate and influence policy that advances the rights of those seeking protection.
Our Mission
We believe all children should have access to a quality education, no matter their political status. At the Sidewalk School, we work with students where they are at, always encouraging them to build expectations for themselves and for others with structured lesson plans and goal setting.
The Sidewalk School is a 501(c)(3) Rapid Response Organization for asylum seekers currently located in Reynosa and Matamoros, Mexico. The Sidewalk School for Children Asylum Seekers was founded on August 11, 2019 in Matamoros, Mexico in response to the growing humanitarian crisis created by the U.S. government’s policies of MPP (Remain in Mexico) and most recently Title 42. Since the beginning, our focus has been basic needs like food and shelter but almost immediately we realized, through our friendships and connections to the asylum seeker community, that another pressing need was education .
The Sidewalk School was quickly founded to respond to the unique challenges of the Matamoros Tent City. The school grew with the refugee camp until the Matamoros camp closed on March 6, 2021. Since its first year, the Sidewalk School has adapted to the ever changing needs of the asylum seeker community.
All of our Teachers are Asylum Seekers who hold a degree or degrees from their home countries. Our teachers face the same displacement in the Tent City as their students. As such, they are uniquely qualified to educate and emotionally support students attending the school.
Students of the Sidewalk School come from all backgrounds, life histories, and ages. All classes are catered around their interest and knowledge base.
Students at the Sidewalk School come from a variety of learning backgrounds and are between the ages of 5-14. With this in mind, the Sidewalk School has adopted somewhat of a Montessori-style of lesson planning, in that lessons are catered around what the students know and what they are interested in learning.
Most of the students attending the Sidewalk School are originally from Spanish or Haitian-Creole speaking countries. All are in the Reynosa city plaza tent camp or other Reynosa shelters because they are seeking resettlement in the US. Speaking English will allow them to communicate with US immigration officials, and also communicate with fellow community members pending their resettlement in the US.
We partner with volunteers and nonprofits to organize games and physical activities to encourage teamwork and exercise. Some activities we have organized in the past are egg hunts and yoga lessons.
Science classes encourage the development of problem solving and reasoning through the interaction with the natural world. In a typical Science class, students break up into smaller groups and work on different Science projects, once complete, students must reflect on different occurrences, and form their own conclusions on each project.
Students in the Sidewalk School have varying levels of experience with Mathematics, as such, we hold three Math classes centered on number sense and numeration, geometry and patterning and algebra.
There are many ways to get involved. We could always use an extra set of hands, donations, and help spreading the word about our efforts.
Tell members of your community and network about our work, to encourage others to support our mission.
Provide translations remotely, and if you’re an experienced professional - assist with lesson planning.
Our services are completely dependent on the goodwill donations of others. Please consider supporting us today!
