Black Lives Matter
Recently, stemming from a traumatic event of George Floyd losing his life in the hands of the police, the Black Lives Matter Movement resurged. Corporations, organizations, startups and the like are all sharing their declarations on how they will shift their operations to extend actionable equitable solutions for black people. Thus, due to the times I feel the need to just plainly state that my primary reason in starting Effective to Great Education is to disrupt both racism and racist education policy.
ETGE is an equity driven education technology vehicle that is building tools to support our most vulnerable and underserved kids wellbeing and social emotional development. Our purpose is to help ensure our kids have a sense of belonging, safety & security and trusting relationships within their school communities. So, at this present moment, my greatest concern is about black children having the support they need during these unprecedented times. While adults work to fix the effects of over 450 years of racial oppression in our country, ETGE is focused on building cultural trauma informed social emotional learning technology tools to help our kids today lead productive and emotionally healthy lives.
A little over two years ago, while piloting my concept to 3rd- 5th grade black boys in Southeast Washington, DC they shared with me that police think “we are thugs and not good people”. These are thoughts I do not want them, or any child to internalize. Their thoughts confirmed for me to focus my energy on building accessible tools to effectively support pK-12 social emotional development and wellbeing. My work is to help our students practice shifting their mindset to recognize, understand, define, express and self-manage their feelings and emotions.
Emotional regulation is a crucial superpower that requires regular education and daily practice. It is a skill that needs to be well-taught and consistently developed in school to support the whole child. And these times have compelled me to create an actionable response to address today’s current events. Therefore, I am launching an initiative this fall within the city of Washington, DC called The Bud to Blossom Project. We’re adapting our tool to support community cultural trauma informed social emotional awareness and wellbeing across the city. Our effort supports school communities and abolition education policy and practice.
We are looking for support to successfully launch and scale this project. If you think you might be interested in getting involved or know someone who can support the awareness or funding of this project, please give me a heads up. In the meantime, know that when all lives matter, our country’s data and statistics will indicate it. We’ve got work to do—join us!
For the kids,
Laura