Located in West Side Saint Paul, Minnesota at Baker Center, the Jane Addams School for Democracy is an organization dedicated to the ideals of democracy and citizenship. In an environment that seeks to embody the principles of democratic education, recent immigrants and college students from the surrounding community come together to benefit from one another's experiences. This is accomplished through cultural exchanges that take place in several learning circles, where each circle represents a major language other than English that is spoken by the participants. Currently, the Jane Addams School hosts four such learning circles: East African, Hmong, Spanish, and another for Children.
While much of the work at Jane Addams School is focused on language and citizenship, the school engages in all issues that affect the lives of its participants through public work initiatives that include neighborhood art and theater projects with children, efforts to improve education at local schools, a community wellness project, and work with immigrants on new policy initiatives for citizenship, health care, transportation, and housing.
The Philosophy
Taking inspiration from the Chicago Hull House founded by the sociologist Jane Addams, the Jane Addams School for Democracy seeks to create an environment where immigrants and college students mutually learn from one another in the spirit of democracy, citizenship, and public work. The School lists its values as including the belief that everyone is a teacher and everyone is a learner, all cultures should be honored, adults and children learn together, citizenship means making contributions to the community, and changes occur when people work together.