Junior Achievement of New York’s Post

🌟 “When we choose to wonder about people we don’t know, when we imagine their lives and listen for their stories, we begin to expand the circle of those we see as part of us.”🌟 — Valarie Kaur One way to get people talking is to offer a quote for reflection. In conversation with a DEIB Family Partnership Group this week I shared quotes from a range of authors and thinkers and activists. This quote, from Civil Rights Leader, Lawyer and Documentary Filmmaker, Valerie Kaur, resonated with many people in the group. 🗣️🗣️🗣️ It got us talking. What was shared? 💠 Experiences from childhood when we felt cut off or misunderstood 💠Moments in parenting when we made choices for our children to expand their circle 💠Events that we’ve navigated where we felt that our own stories were not heard There was a collective desire to open up, and space was created to get to know each other a little better by listening to the details of each other’s lives. This is how community is built. This is how we nurture Belonging. ➡️ How can you get curious about the lives of the people you engage with? ➡️ What can you do to expand your circle? #DEIB #belonging #inclusion #community #SEL #studentvoice #commuinty #elementaryschool #socialemotionallearning #schoolcommunity #studentcentered #eyesopeneducation

Off to another amazing speaking engagement! Where am I headed today? Houston!! Kindness Starts With Me! Youth Empowerment Assemblies! What school should I head to next??? #kindnessstartswith #youthempowerment #assemblies #studentassemblies #elementaryschool #middleschool

We are excited to announce our new board of directors! Our board members bring together extensive experience in nonprofit management, planning, and fundraising and in-depth intersectional diversity, and we’d like to introduce you to board member, Jana Luft. ... Jana Luft is a former high school special education teacher and a White mother of two girls from Oakland, California. Through her education career, Jana became aware of the challenge progressive White parents often pose to education equity. She saw how resource hoarding affects our education system and how platitudes fail unless they’re followed up by direct progressive action. Alongside her personal activism, through her career, Jana has worked in education philanthropy, research, and advocacy to support education justice and has helped develop organizational best practices to create a culture in which staff and volunteers feel seen, included, and appreciated as full human beings. ... We are immensely excited to work alongside Jana and for what we can accomplish together at this pivotal stage in our organization! Learn more about each board member on our blog https://buff.ly/48coYTb ... #IntegratedSchools #BlackandWhite #Interracial #Multiracial #Identity #CivilRightsMovement #HumanRights #AntiRacism #DeSegregation #WealthEquity #DiversityandInclusion #inclusion #community #redlining #diversity #socialjustice #socialjusticeeducation #wealthgap #local #publicschools #parenting #parent #momlife #dadlife #boymom #girlmom #schoolchoice #privateschool #publicschool #class #classism

I am deeply saddened and outraged by the recent decision of Oklahoma's governor to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices statewide. This includes the DEI office at the University of Oklahoma, where I earned my Master's with a focus on Equity and Social Justice. The dissolution of these offices is a major setback in our collective journey towards creating more inclusive and equitable spaces, especially in educational institutions. DEI initiatives play a crucial role in challenging systemic biases and promoting a culture of understanding and respect for diverse perspectives. Oklahoma’s poverty levels make it the 8th highest in the country, with over 25% of Black Oklahomans, 21% of Latinx Oklahomans, and 20% of Indigenous Oklahomans living below the poverty line. As a doctoral student focused on leading this work, and someone who is deeply invested in decolonizing leadership, this decision feels like a personal and professional blow. It's disheartening to see such actions that disregard the importance of fostering healthy, vibrant, and equitable communities in a state like Oklahoma. We need to stand firm in our commitment to equity and inclusion and continue to advocate for the critical role of DEI in education and beyond. I call upon my network, fellow alumni, and advocates for social justice to join me in expressing our collective dissent against this decision. #DEI #Equity #SocialJustice #UniversityOfOklahoma

In today's rapidly evolving world, literacy remains of paramount importance. It serves as the foundation for individual empowerment and societal progress. Literacy is the cornerstone of personal growth, social inclusion, and the pursuit of knowledge in our ever-connected and information-driven world. Here is a look into how we are bridging the gap in foundational literacy in South Africa: https://lnkd.in/dRxHEDWQ #oneagentonechild #nutun #melloeducate #bpo #csr #literacy #youthempowerment 💚

Confession: I just realized there's an "I" and the word "unity"  in community 🫣 Before you judge, hear me out 😂 When Gabrielle Hurley reached out to me last week to lead a faculty retreat workshop with Sisters Academy of Baltimore, my middle school alma mater who has a proven track of increasing quality education access to underrepresented girls in Baltimore City, a conversation on community came up. As the wheels turned, I thought about the Christian belief that we all have a role in His mission and gifts meant to serve one another. I took that revelation and ran with it to the workshop. Here's a quick recap of what we discussed 🎞: 🎁 Operate in your gifts no matter where you are! You have them for a reason - to honor what makes you unique while empowering others to tap into their gifts for a greater cause 🤲 Your gifts are not just for you  Remember, every system is a sum of its parts! If you withhold your gifts and abilities from others or yourself, the community at large will not flow at its highest level 🧵Find the common thread Everything is connected. It’s helpful to figure out the common thread among one another's gifts to meet the shared goal seamlessly These points could benefit anyone seeking to create impact and change. Whether you’re on a mission to create impact professionally, locally, or personally, collectively syncing your gifts with the gifts in the community speaks to the famous African proverb “If you want to fast, go alone. If you want to go further, go together.” How can you use your gifts to generate change in the last half of 2024? In what ways can you lean into community to see that change come to past? #communitybuilding #professionaldevelopment #impactdriven

Updated this post on the 17/10/2023. After events today, the penny has finally dropped. The severity of our case, the length of time it has been going on for, the amount of organisations involved, the amount of suffering involved and the fact that I have been ignored for years and allowed to write on social media is because of three reasons. (Four reasons, if the truth be told - because I am telling the truth) For a long time, I was only aware of one, and that is the fact that my ancestors were treated like second class citizens in school and denied an education. Beaten, and degraded. The other two factors are racism and hate. I knew I would get there in the end, if I could keep writing, I would write myself our truth and nobody has tried to stop me. I would educate myself and put my family's story down on paper so I could revisit often until the penny finally dropped. Or should I say, to all the pennies finally dropped. ✍ When young people are left to be bullied in school, they have got to fight and fight with every little cell in their body to gain an education, if the system fails these young people, then they are left to fight twice as hard again in the world outside of school to gain a place in society. Without a full, proper, and meaningful education. ( & do all this, without help?). Is this task possible, I hope so. 🙏💙🧡 #belonging #racism #adversity #inclusion #HumanRights #diversity

Priti Said, "Girls, let's 'GO BACK' to school!" This is Priti. Through the Maitri project, she enrolled out-of-school girls into schools despite abuse and questions about her interest in this task. She continued her efforts because she knew that her efforts would "impact the girls through a positive ripple effect on their lives and communities." What inspired you to make such commitments? Share your Journey to inspire us. The mission of building "Leaders of Change" starts early. Educate Girls #EducationForAll #EmpowerGirls #TransformativeImpact #GirlsEducation #SocioEconomicGrowth #EducationMatters #EmpoweringCommunities #EducateGirls #SuccessStory #BuildingBrighterFutures #EducationalEmpowerment #InclusiveEducation #TransformingLives #ImpactfulChange #EmpowermentThroughEducation #MakingADifference #EducationForEquality #GirlsEmpowerment #SuccessInEducation #CommunityDevelopment

Attn: #Parents #Teachers Community Instructors & #Leaders! Do your children or students have money mottos? It's one of the totally unique features of #SammyRabbit's #DreamBig "Head + Heart + Habit" #FinancialEducation strategy! Take a peek here: https://lnkd.in/gAcApr45 ADVANCE early age, #youth & #family financial #education. Grow the good. Comment. Like. Share. Partner and Patronize!

Community building Principle #2 In so many spaces Black boys show up as fragmented versions of themselves, schools must provide a space for them to feel free to be themselves in all of their brilliance. This freedom is often experienced in racially homogeneous spaces because they do not see race as a deterrent to how others perceive them. In turn, many predominantly white schools have a history and a culture that makes boys feel unsafe to be who they are naturally. For schools to establish community school leaders must celebrate difference as opposed to expecting uniformity.