Shineika Fareus is an anti-racist educator, a community organizer, and a transformative leader.

 

A youth organizer since 2014, Shineika has always valued the importance of having access to equitable education. She is a co-founder of Hearing Youth Voices who became involved with the organization in its development at the age of 15. As a youth researcher, Shineika worked alongside a team of young leaders on the organizations first official “We Want to Graduate”, a campaign to address issues of credit loss due to tardiness and absences. The Campaign succeeded in getting the New London Board of Education to update its district’s Attendance Policy.  

​

Shineika is committed to the liberation of Black folks that necessitates the destruction of capitalism and imperialism. Through her organizing work as a Program Associate at the Center For Youth & Community Leadership In Education at Roger Williams University, her role as a Co-Director-in-Training at Hearing Youth Voices, and as the previous Board Member at a Better Way Foundation, she believes and fights for a world where we choose the well-being of people over profits. 

​

In 2021 Shineika graduated with a BA in political science and sociology, and a Masters in Organizational Leadership from Gordon College. During her time at Gordon College, Shineika campaigned for and was elected as the Student Body President. In this position she provided strong leadership and advocacy that sought to hold the institution accountable and contributed to the creation of Gordon College’s first Black Studies Minor. 

​

Shineika is now the Organizing Director for the Ct. Black and Brown Student Union doing work across the state to address issues of education justice, leadership development and community safety.