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COVID-19: Educational Disparities

An illustration of a pencil merging into a test tube appears by the text 'COVID-19 Educational Disparities

Schools are closed across the country and some are done for the rest of the academic year. The shift to online learning for many schools can also reveal the deep economic and racial inequities that characterize schools in our hometown and yours. We wanted to understand how this sudden change could affect long-standing racial and economic disparities in education outcomes.

In our first episode about the COVID-19 crisis, we will hear what the director of a local education nonprofit and a teacher are doing to keep kids from falling behind.

Jia Lian Yang holds a Master of Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary. She is the co-founder of the St. Louis-based Who Raised You? podcast, which explores culture and family with a focus on stories from people of color. The show won the Arts & Education Council of St. Louis’ 2018 stARTup competition and was named the best local podcast of 2019 in St. Louis Magazine. Jia brings her experience with LGBTQ advocacy, mental health, workers’ rights, mutual aid, anti-racism and the arts to her coverage.
Lauren Brown holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri where she also studied Social Justice. Lauren joined St. Louis Public Radio in June 2019 as an associate producer for the We Live Here podcast. In March 2020 she became the co-host and producer for We Live Here.