Intermediary Organizations as Networked Resistance: Adaptive Anti-Discrimination in U.S. Education Policy, 2020–2024

• In Event: Education, Power, and Resistance: Networks, Policy, and Practice in Divided Times

Proposal

Amid the dual rise of racial justice activism and political backlash from 2020–2024, this study examines how intermediary organizations (IOs) mobilized to defend civil rights in education. Drawing on a three-year, multi-method study of 55 IOs, we document an ecosystem of “adaptive anti-discrimination” (AAD) efforts spanning legal advocacy, electoral organizing, public engagement, and cross-scalar collaboration. Through analysis of funding networks, strategic partnerships, and advocacy tactics, we show how IOs function as peacebuilders and policy actors resisting race-conscious education rollbacks. Findings illuminate how education remains a central site of democratic struggle in an era of ideological division.

Authors

• Talia Leibovitz, UC BERKELEY

• April M W Hewko, VCU

• Janelle Scott, UC Berkeleey

• Elizabeth H DeBray, UGA

• Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Sarah McCollum, Augusta University

• Erica Frankenberg, College of Education- Penn State University