Minnesota Education Equity Partnership

Programs: Mn black male achievement network (mnbman): this mneep program network brings together leaders from k-12, higher education and community focused on the acceleration of achievement for african american young men in minnesota. Mnbman oversees the "solutions not suspensions campaign". Mneep minnesota solutions not suspensions (sns) is a campaign to end discipline disparities in public school systems, beginning with the minneapolis public schools. This trailblazing effort is founded on mneep's own research, which revealed the way overly harsh discipline measures and unjust racial biases in local education systems contribute directly to the disproportionate push out of african american boys through detention, suspension, and expulsion. Sns focuses on cultural change within schools, redefining how schools perceive, interact with, and respond to the concerns of african american students and reframing how students view themselves, which empowers them and increases feelings of self-efficacy and connection to school. The 2015-2016 year produced a pilot restorative practice circles process implemented in a st paul elementary school.

race equity and excellence in education network (reeen): this mneep program network builds local leadership capacity in communities of color throughout minnesota, to ensure that communities have the knowledge, skills, resources, and connections necessary to address educational inequity through community collaboration. Mneep's model requires a leadership team comprising school leaders, community leaders, families, and other community members. This framework is helping multiple communities across the state define ways to set race equity goals and implement effective cradle to career solutions to improve outcomes for students of color. In 2013-2014, the reeen effort produced the organization's first "race equity and excellence in education action plan" outlining key recommendations for race equity policy and practice, from a collective action approach of community coupled with school leader voices, local american indian leaders and student input and overall community leaders' input. In 2015-2016 the reeen model was implemented in two regional communities: the mille lacs and sw mn areas of mn.

teacher of color/american indian teacher campaign (toc): the teachmn2020 initiative seeks to drive a statewide campaign for increasing the numbers of teachers of color/american indian teachers in mn. It aims to shape an initiative capitalizing on the use of cutting-edge technology to support a statewide "systems mapping and engagement process of stakeholders critical to big systems decision making on public investment in producing and keeping effective teachers in minnesota schools. This effort will lead to a new understanding by public decision-makers of the teacher pathway eco-system and is unique across the nation. It seeks collaboration with education advocacy partners and the minnesota department of education (mde) to create a strong database and accountability tool that will capture the success rates of graduating and supporting teachers of color and american indian teachers in the professional field and review results of current higher education teacher prep programs.