During the Summer of 2020 I participated in CR’s Learning to Lead facilitation training and it provided the tools and education I needed to facilitate antiracism discussion forums in my own organization. I continue to be involved with this amazing and passionate group and am always learning something new. I firmly believe that my work in this area has progressed because of the foundation I received from Challenging Racism and I rely on and use the skills I’ve learned every day. They are truly an amazing group of people.
I enrolled in Challenging Racism's Learning How class in 2016 hoping to learn how to have more productive conversations about race with my family and friends. After 11 sessions, our group learned not just how to be more productive in our speaking about race, but about really listening to the experiences of others.
Then in 2020 I completed the Learning to Lead training and found it so very helpful for my work as a public school teacher and community member. I have joined the equity team at my school and at the school where my kids attend and use what I learned to support diverse communities who are able to have courageous conversations about race and equity.
Before taking Learning How in 2017 the differences between schools in my community simply did not occur to me. I was busy and focused on my family, supporting my own children in their educational path. Learning How challenged me to first recognize and then deeply consider the realities of my diverse community, and more specifically, the inequities between its schools. It opened my eyes to the real root causes (systemic racism, residential segregation) and its consequential implications (significant resource inequities, persistent achievement gaps). I now see a broken system of which I am apart of, one that happens to serve me well but clearly disadvantages many others.
This new awareness prompted me to make changes. I joined my PTA as well as the Diversity & Inclusion Committee of my son’s elementary school. I advocated for internal programs such as more diverse reading books and lesson plans at grade level. I helped secure PTA budget approval to support Challenging Racism workshops for teachers and parents. I also believe that there is a clear role and responsibility for well-endowed PTAs to support the sustainability of under-resourced PTAs.
I am grateful to Challenging Racism and my Learning How experience to opening my eyes to discover a more meaningful engagement in my school and community.