New (School) Beginnings

Hi Friends,

Welcome to the new school year! We moved two of our kiddos to a more integrated school this year (my eldest will wait another year before we move her to a more integrated middle school), so there were a lot of changes yet again for our family and our connections to school communities. As you might imagine, I’m still working on educational equity efforts and I have learned a lot in the last year about what this landscape looks like in Denver.

I am also still connected with efforts specifically to address inequities in private funding of public schools. This article in Romper, by Sarah Jaffe, was really helpful to read. I’m still learning from advocates across the country who are undertaking these efforts in their areas. I’m also encouraged to find an appetite for addressing this specific issue in other organizations, including at our very white segregated school and at Integrated Schools, and at council and state level PTAs, as well as the school district’s foundation.

And to continue my learning about education equity in general, I’m also slowly making my way through the Integrated Schools podcasts. Every time I make the time for these, I am struck by how so many smart people are working on these issues and I am encouraged to continue my efforts. We are not alone. I also read more about Community Schools, in this article from The Hechinger Report by Emily Woods.

While I didn’t have a lot of personal inspirational work in the last month or so, I have been reading some really great things that have challenged my thinking. I finished reading Debby Irving’s Waking Up White, which I highly recommend, and her website has some great resources, including “21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenges” that I encourage you to check out. I learned about an organization called Braver Angels, which encourages conversations across lines of division for greater understanding and compassion.

Please also remember that Service Never Sleeps is holding its next Allyship Summit this October 26–27. You can learn more and register here.

I am wowed every day by the impactful updates from Anti-Racism Daily, particularly these:

- Don’t have a plantation wedding. This update includes ways to reconsider how Thanksgiving is celebrated by you and your loved ones this year. Read it now, even though that’s a couple of months away, because it will likely take intentional rethinking and convincing if you want to make changes to your traditions.

- Support equitable school funding.

- Reflect before reaching out. I needed to be reminded of this because it’s so easy, when something happens in our country, to reflexively reach out to people to “show” you’re a good person instead of taking a few minutes to reflect and really think about why you’re reaching out.

Use this new school year to identify the one or two things you want to throw your energy into and bring others along with you! Let me know if I can help.

Emily
Listen. Amplify. Follow. In Solidarity.