Episode 150: Our Brothers Keeper, Our Sisters Protector

Every parent wants their child to get a good education in a safe and nurturing environment. How do we ensure that our children have the opportunity to learn, are supported to grow, and be their best selves? L. Joy brings two people who are best suited to give us what we need to know to fight for our children’s’ futures, Dr. Adriana Villavicencio and Joanne N. Smith, to the front of the class for this important discussion. 

Our Guests

Dr. Adriana Villavicencio is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Irvine. Her research is focused on K-12 educational policy and school practice that deepens or disrupts inequities for minoritized communities of students and families. For nearly a decade, she conducted research at the Research Alliance for New York City Schools at NYU—a Research-Practice Partnership with the NYC Department of Education (DOE). 

As Deputy Director of the Research Alliance, she helped shape the organization’s research agenda, obtained over $9 million in external grants, developed relationships with external partners, and led many of the organization’s large-scale mixed-method research projects focused on the NYC school system. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Dr. Villavicencio’s work includes mixed-method studies on turnaround middle schools, small high schools in NYC, schools serving newly arrived immigrant English Learners, and a racial justice program embedded in culturally diverse elementary schools. She also led a longitudinal study of the Expanded Success Initiative, a precursor to My Brother’s Keeper and one of the country’s largest initiatives targeting Black and Latino male students. Her book, Am I My Brother’s Keeper: Educational Opportunities and Outcomes for Black and Brown Boys, published by Harvard Education Press, examines how districts and schools can embed racial equity into sustainable policies and practices in contrast to initiatives that come and go. The book also provides a set of concrete approaches and recommendations, so that other districts and schools can take up similar efforts with even more robust results.

Joanne N. Smith, Founding President, and CEO moves Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) closer to its mission through strategic advocacy, development, and leadership cultivation. Ms. Smith is a Haitian-American social worker born in NY. A staunch human rights advocate, Smith co-chaired the nation’s first Young Women’s Initiative, a cross-sector Initiative coordinating government, philanthropic, and community efforts to create the conditions for cis, trans girls of color and GNC youth to thrive. Smith’s leadership helped to facilitate a $30M commitment from government and philanthropy to invest in community-driven recommendations. Smith is a steering committee member of Black Girl Movement and member of Move to End Violence -a 10-year initiative designed to strengthen the collective capacity to end gender-based violence in the United States. Smith is featured on the cover of YES! Magazine, Gender Justice issue Summer 2016,

Homework

Read: Am I My Brother’s Keeper? Educational Opportunities and Outcomes for Black and Brown Boys

By Dr. Adriana Villavicencio/Foreword by David E. Kirkland

This book shares powerful insights into the challenges of implementing large-scale educational change. The book, chronicling the Expanded Success Initiative (ESI), a four-year study focused on improving the educational outcomes of fifteen thousand Black and Latinx males in New York City public high schools, covers what worked, what didn’t, and what we can learn from the experience.

Read: National Agenda for Black Girls (NABG) A collaborative project bringing the needs of Black girls to the national stage and amplifying the voices of Black girls in the 2020 elections by engaging organizations across the United States who are committed to the well-being of Black girls