In this session, participants will be introduced to the culturally responsive continuum and will use this tool to self-examine where along the continuum their practices fall. Practitioners will unpack the various social identities they hold and how they fit in dominant and/or subordinate cultures to better understand how these identities can subconsciously impact how they respond to students. The purpose of today’s session is to get folks to see how whiteness is normalized in our society and, by default, others groups that don’t fit this norm. Folks will engage in exercises that will push them to examine the depth of whiteness beyond race but its meaning as a culture. Tools will be shared for participants to use to evaluate curricula or books used in their space to determine how culturally responsive they are for the students they serve.

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In this session, Chemay will share her experiences as a grassroots parent organizer to share tips and strategies backbone providers can take when attempting to create more equitable and affirming spaces for the communities they serve. Folks will be introduced to the concept of liberation to help them understand that equity should never be the final destination in their work. Folks will walk away with resources and tools they can access to continue their journey toward equity.

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Over the past two years, Bridge to Success has intentionally integrated an equity mindset into the partnership’s everyday practices, rather than viewing equity as an add-on. In this workshop, BTS’s Executive Director, Althea Brooks, and its Equity Coach & Consultant, Chemay Morales-James, will highlight the steps of this transformation, including successes, hurdles, and insights around engaging community partners on issues related to race, power, and privilege. Participants will identify key criteria for selecting equity-driven leadership and staff; learn how internal equity teams can support their organizations to center equity in everyday work; and gain new ideas for equity tools and services for their communities.

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Chemay Morales-James is Founder of My Reflection Matters, LLC (MRM), an online resource hub for parents and educators seeking products and services that center the identities of Black and Brown children. Through MRM, Chemay serves as an equity and liberation coach and consultant offering coaching and training to individuals or organizations seeking guidance in creating equitable and liberating spaces for youth of color. She is sought out by non-profits and educational institutions to create socially conscious written products or tools such as books, training materials, curricula, and guides geared towards promoting equitable and liberating practices. Under MRM, Chemay recently launched My Reflection Matters Village—a virtual co-learning community for primarily BIPOC families (and radical educators) seeking support in navigating self-directed, liberatory education. Chemay is also a parent organizer and founded Connecticut’s first self-directed learning cooperative for Black and Brown un/homeshooling families in Waterbury, CT. She is a published author of several education articles and two books (The ABCs of the Black Panther Party & Let’s Talk About Race: A Family Guide to Raising Kids with Positive Racial & Ethnic Identities). She also serves on the board of the International Association of Co-Learning Communities and the Connecticut Commissioner’s Round Table for Family Engagement. Prior to starting MRM, Chemay was a public school teacher and later spent a decade working as an equity coach for NYU’s Metropolitan Center for Equity and the Transformation of Schools, led by renowned urban sociologist, Dr. Pedro Noguera.  You can learn more about Chemay’s work at myreflectionmatters.org or follow My Reflection Matters on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagra