As a PK-12 Chair of Equity & Instruction, I designed and led all school professional development, created a framework to assess equitable practice, coached faculty, staff, and administrators, facilitated affinity spaces, and worked to develop more inclusive school practices and policies. My 20 plus years as an educator and administrator was invaluable in helping me understand the importance of investing in relationships and committing to embodied action in order to influence real change.
To achieve racial equity and social justice we must be committed to personal, institutional and systemic transformation. We must be willing to examine the past, look closely at ourselves, and transform individual and collective ways of being that contribute to, and collude with, oppressive systems. This is challenging and ongoing work; it doesn’t happen in a one day workshop or series of online trainings.
As an equity and social justice trainer, I work with organizational leaders to develop long term equity plans and design training geared to their organization’s particular needs. A Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory, I use the IDI as a tool to assess, guide and support individual, group and organizational change over time.
There’s a way out of this mess, and it requires each of us to begin with our own body. You and your body are important parts of the solution. . . . Your body—all of our bodies—are where changing the status quo must begin.
-- Resmaa Menakem
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