The livestream below will begin at the time of the event.

More than six decades since the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, our nation’s promise to ensure equal education for all remains unfulfilled.

Join The Century Foundation’s Bridges Collaborative on Thursday, April 15, 4:00–4:45 PM ET as we discuss policy efforts to increase access to diverse, integrated, and inclusive schools and neighborhoods.

The event will feature a candid conversation with Representative Mondaire Jones (NY-17) about the Strength in Diversity Act, of which Rep. Jones is a co-sponsor, and other legislation before Congress and the opportunities they present to address segregation in housing and education. The event will include questions from Bridges members and a brief audience Q&A.

Please register to obtain the Zoom link.

Keynote Speaker:

  • Representative Mondaire Jones (NY-17)

Moderators: 

  • Dr. Stefan Lallinger, fellow and director, The Century Foundation’s Bridges Collaborative
  • Matt Gonzales, founder and director, Integration and Innovation Initiative at NYU Metro Center

Presented by The Century Foundation’s Bridges Collaborative, the National Coalition on School Diversity, and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council.

Speaker Bios

Representative Mondaire Jones is serving his first term as the congressman from New York’s 17th District, encompassing all of Rockland County and parts of central and northern Westchester County.

A product of East Ramapo public schools, Representative Jones was raised in Section 8 housing and on food stamps in the village of Spring Valley by a single mother who worked multiple jobs to provide for their family.

After graduating from Stanford University, Representative Jones worked in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy, where he vetted candidates for federal judgeships and worked to reform our criminal legal system to make it more fair and equitable. He later graduated from Harvard Law School.

As a member of the Judiciary Committee, Representative Jones continues his lifelong advocacy for civil rights and civil liberties, and the strengthening of our democracy.

Dr. Stefan Lallinger is a fellow at the Century Foundation and the director of TCF’s Bridges Collaborative. He focuses on issues of racial and socioeconomic integration, equity, school governance, and district–charter relationships.

Dr. Lallinger previously worked as a special assistant to Chancellor Richard Carranza in the New York City Department of Education working on agency policy and strategy. He earned his doctorate from Harvard University, where he studied integration and school district leadership. He has worked as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal.

Matt Gonzales is an educator, an advocate, and a policy analyst. He is founder and director of the Integration and Innovation Initiative (i3) at NYU Metro Center, a project designed to support policy development and design, implementation, and advocacy for school integration. He is co-founder of the NYC Alliance for School Integration and Desegregation (nycASID), and serves as the policy coach for the youth-led advocacy group IntegrateNYC.

Matt serves on the Policy Working Group and Steering Committee for the National Coalition on School Diversity and is an advisory board member for Integrated Schools, a grassroots parent network committed to integrated schools. He is a former special education teacher at Bancroft Middle School in Los Angeles, and earned his master’s in education policy from Teachers College, Columbia University in 2016.