LEARNING TO CARE: A CASE STUDY EXPLORING ONE GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS’ CREATION OF LEARNING SPACES

Abstract

This dissertation examines how grassroots organizations create, sustain, and enact popular education spaces rooted in anti oppression, liberation, and care. Using Foundation for Liberating Minds (FLM)—a grassroots organization in Oklahoma—as an exemplary case study, this study explores the values, practices, and pedagogical approaches that shape community based educational programming. Drawing on Paulo Freire’s concept of popular education, the work analyzes how grassroots organizers facilitate critical dialogue, cultivate collective agency, and disrupt dominant narratives upheld by systems of white supremacy and carceral logics. An ethics of care serves as the study’s central conceptual framework, highlighting how relationality, collective responsibility, and community care inform both organizational practices and the transformative potential of grassroots education.