Dear Academic Approach Families and Colleagues:
For months we’ve seen COVID-19 disproportionately impact Black communities and Black students. The recent protests and unrest have followed years of racial injustice, and are further impacting the health, wellness, and education of students in communities that are already at-risk. As an education company made up of individuals who care about diversity, equity, and racial justice, we feel that we can always be doing more to support students and communities.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We’re focused on 2 initiatives:
- Donations and in-kind services: We are financially supporting not-for-profit organizations in our communities, including My Block, My Hood, My City; A Better Chicago; and the Harlem Children’s Zone. We’ve spent many years working in partnership with impactful organizations in our communities, but we can do more. If you are associated with organizations that are helping families and students in crisis right now, please contact the chair of our Corporate Responsibility Committee, Brad Kessler: brad.kessler@aapproachstg.wpengine.com. We would love to learn more and help.
- Education: We want to support extensive discourse on this topic that is as comprehensive as possible with our staff, families, and students. We’ve assembled a list of articles and resources for students and families to read that provide some context and depth of understanding. We’ve put a few links below, and you can find more on our website. We will continue to update this with valuable information.
“I knew, even then, that whenever I nodded along in ignorance, I lost an opportunity, betrayed the wonder in me by privileging the appearance of knowing over the work of finding out.”
— Ta-Nehisi Coates
Be well,
Matthew Pietrafetta, Ph.D., Founder & CEO
Resource Sampling
- Podcast: Five Pandemic Parenting Lessons with Cindy Wang Brandt
- Article: Talking to Kids About Racial Violence
- Video: “Something Happened in Our Town” Interview with author Marianne Celano, Pd.D.
Find more resources at https://www.academicapproach.com/supporting-education-in-racial-equity/
