NEW JERSEY – Imani Oakley, Esq. former Legislative Director of NJ Working Families, joins #EyesOnNJ to host her 21st episode of “Upfront Now!” today at 5:00PM.
Imani will touch upon
- Changes needed in Public Education
- Interview with Dr. Keith E Benson
Dr. Keith E Benson, Urban Educator
Dr. Keith Eric Benson, is a Camden public school educator, qualitative researcher, and current President of the Camden Education Association (CEA). He is committed to defending urban public education and pushing back against financial interests and political operatives working to dismantle public schools in Camden neighborhoods. Dr. Benson is also a Camden resident, a husband and a father who is committed to his loved ones, friends and community.
He has taught in Camden’s public schools as a social studies teacher for fourteen years before being elected to the Presidency of the CEA. He has coached boys and girls basketball at both of Camden’s comprehensive high schools and is quite proud of the young men and women he’s had the opportunity of teaching and mentoring through basketball. In 2012, New Jersey’s state legislature hurriedly passed the Urban Hope Act which imposed the establishing of up to fifteen corporate-run charter schools within Camden’s nine square miles. And 2013, the State of New Jersey took over his school district and installed an uncertificated and unqualified superintendent to lead Camden’s schools; something Benson took as a clear indicator that the future of the city’s schools was in danger. Later that year, he began his doctoral studies at Rutgers Graduate School of Education, and ever since, has dedicated countless research and activist hours to preserving a public city school system local politicians and out of state billionaires wish to see die… He is determined to use his research and platform to advocate for the improvement, growth, and sustaining of Camden’s public schools
Dr. Benson is also an author of Education Reform and Gentrification in the Age of #CamdenRising: Public Education and Urban Redevelopment in Camden, NJ (Peter Lang, 2018) and numerous articles on school choice, education reform, and urban education. He has served in the capacity of adjunct professor at Burlington County College and Rutgers Graduate School of Education. Since 2015, he has had the pleasure of presenting his research all over the country at annual academic conferences like that of the American Educational Research Association, Philosophy of Education Society, Urban Affairs Association, and University of Pennsylvania’s Ethnography Forum; and teacher union convenings such as the annual National Council of Urban Education Association and National Education Association conferences. In terms of presenting and exchanging information, nothing brings Dr. Benson more joy than presenting and building with his own community members.
His doctoral dissertation, Better for Whom? Present and Prospective Camden Resident Perspectives on State-Mandated Renaissance Charter Schools and Recent Camden Development is available online.
Imani Oakley, Esq. – Host, Upfront Now!
Imani R. Oakley, Esq was the Legislative Director & Regional Organizer for New Jersey Working Families. Imani is also an alum of New Leaders Council-New Jersey and is currently fulfilling the role of NLC-NJ Institute Co-Chair where she is responsible for constructing and facilitating a six-month curriculum for New Jersey’s emerging leaders.
Recently, Imani was voted-in as the Political Director for the Young Democrats of America’s Woman’s Caucus. Imani also currently holds the position of Northern Vice Chair for the New Jersey Young Democrats and was previously the Executive Chair of the Essex County Young Democrats. Imani is the former Deputy Chief of Staff for Assemblywoman Britnee N. Timberlake and has also served as a Constituent Advocate for Senator Cory A. Booker where her portfolio consisted of affordable housing, mortgages, taxes, student loans, consumer protection, pensions, and postal service issues. In 2018, Imani was honored to be the Keynote Speaker for the Montclair Branch NAACP’s 102nd Thurgood Marshall Freedom Fund Dinner and Awards Ceremony where she spoke about the theme “Face the Hate and VOTE” with an emphasis on protecting the voting process for the nation’s most vulnerable communities.
Imani has also been a strong advocate for criminal justice reform. In 2017, Imani was a panel speaker for the 2017 International Drug Policy Reform Conference where she spoke about her experience in effecting D.C.’s local marijuana legalization laws and what students can do to effect drug policy reform on their campus and in their communities. Furthering her endeavors to create positive change in drug policy reform, Imani was invited to participate in the 2016 Minority Cannabis Business Association’s Policy Summit where she helped draft model legislation for the legalization of marijuana in a manner that promotes access to the legal cannabis industry for marginalized communities.
As an unyielding advocate for the systemically powerless, in 2015, Imani was a legal observer during the anti-police brutality protests in Baltimore, Maryland, where she ensured that the First Amendment rights of protestors were not infringed upon. During this same year, Imani spent her summer working for the South African non-profit, Ndifuna Ukwazi, where she collected affidavits on property and sewage conditions from South African communities that suffered under Apartheid and are still experiencing Apartheid’s harsh effects, even in its aftermath.
Imani earned her Bachelor’s degree from Howard University, a Master of Arts degree from New York University, and a Juris Doctor degree from Howard University School of Law. While enrolled in law school, Imani was enrolled in the Legislative Legal Clinic and drafted policy reports for non-profit organizations focused on criminal justice reform. As the Captain of Oral Advocacy for the Goler Teal Butcher International Moot Court Team at Howard, Imani distinguished herself among national and international competitors as the 2016 Best Oralist at the Susan J. Ferrell Intercultural Human Rights Moot Court Competition. Through her passion for both policy and her community, Imani hopes to continue to be a servant of the people and a trailblazer for progress.
