A presentation from October, 2013 to the Ingham Great Start Collaborative

1. Ad Hoc Committee on Cultural
Competence & Racial Equity
November 2013

2. Lansing Early Childhood Equity
Partnership
Presenter:
Angela Waters Austin
One Love Global

3. Policy v. Practice: House Bill 5111
“Mich. panel weighs holding back reading
deficient third graders”
One-third or 33,000 of Michigan’s third-graders,
weren’t proficient in reading on last year’s test.
Rep. Amanda Price (R-Park Township) calls it
the “Third Grade Reading Guarantee.”
“Similar legislation has been proven effective in
Florida and other states (Houston, Arizona),
where illiteracy rates have declined because of
the Third Grade Reading Guarantee.”
-
October 30, 2013 Associated Press, Nov 13 MLive

4. Policy v. Practice: House Bill 5144
“Introduced by Rep. Thomas Stallworth (DDetroit) and provides early interventions to help
increase third-grade reading proficiency in
Michigan, focusing on the identification of,
intervention for and retention of struggling readers
in kindergarten through third grade.
..Allows superintendents to take into consideration
alternative assessments, pupil portfolios and goodcause exemptions for students with disabilities or
ESL students.”
Op/Ed from Rep. Amanda Price – November 19,
Holland Sentinel

5. Purpose
• Meet and come back to GSC and LECEP
with a plan
• Identify topics and things we can do
• A multi-level approach is needed
• Shape recommendations that others in
the community may take on long-term

6. What We’ve Accomplished
June – October 2013:
• Purpose
• Process
• Participants
• Proceedings
• Priorities
• Partner Engagement

7. Participants
Hon. Donald Allen, 55th District Court,
Ingham Change Initiative
Sarah Anthony, Ingham County Board of
Commissioners
Angela Waters Austin, One Love Global
Ward Beard, N.E.O.N.
Stephanie Butler, Church of Greater
Lansing
Pam Eaton Champion, Pam’s Academy
for Champions
Katie Ellero, Power of We Consortium,
AMERICORPS
DeLisa Fountain, N.E.O.N.
Rose Henderson, Power of We
Consortium
Shanell Henry, N.E.O.N.
Mina Hong, Michigan’s Children
Kindra Jackson, Kindra’s Precious Care
Sandra Johnson
Cameo King, One Love Global
Teresa Kmetz, Capital Area United Way
Cassandre Larrieux, Ingham County
Health Department
Tiffany Lemieux-McKissic, Asset
Independence Coalition
Laurie Linscott, Michigan State
University
Tim Lloyd, N.E.O.N.
Barb Monroe, Office for Young Children
Michelle Nicholson, Ingham Great Start
Collaborative
Sharon Rogers, Capital Area Community
Services Head Start
MC Rothhorn, N.E.O.N., Great Start
Family Coalition
Derrell Slaughter, MI Public Service
Commission
Isaias Solis, Power of We Consortium
Lia Spaniolo, Power of We Consortium
Ken Sperber, Ingham Great Start
Collaborative
Valerie Thonger, Ingham Great Start
Collaborative
Adam Williams, N.E.O.N.
Jerome Vierling, Sounds Good Ministries

8. A grateful thanks to committee members for sharing your hearts and minds to help
our community cast a vision for improving outcomes for children by removing barriers
created by racialized policies, practices and perceptions.

9. Process: Action Planning
•
•
•
•
•
Organizing and Agenda Setting (utilizing
the Racial Equity Collective Impact diagram
and process to build an inclusive committee to
develop an action agenda for improving
outcomes for Black males)
Storytelling (drawing on the personal
experiences of all to equalize power for trust
and relationship building)
Asset Mapping (data collection designed to
build on strengths rather than deficits)
Issues Identification (developing a shared
understanding of problems and potential
solutions)
Goal Alignment and Prioritization (applying
solutions to NEON SMART objective and data to
promote collective action with families)

10. June: Storytelling

11. June Proceedings: Themes

12. Show & Tell: Our Assets

15. September: Priority Alignment
Which actions are most
likely to have an impact
on closing the gap in 3rd
grade reading scores
between Black children
and White children?.

16. Priorities

17. Structural Racism Priorities

19. What Does Success Look Like
•
All children, even those who cannot afford it,
have the opportunity to enroll in high quality
pre-school (not just those who can afford it)
•
Parents and students are consulted on policies
that affect them and are informing policy
makers and legislators
•
Constituents are holding policy makers
accountable for the decisions they make and
ensuring that all decisions are made using a
race equity lens
(August Ad Hoc Meeting Activity)

20. Community of Practice
• Employ the best tools and thinking in
identification of structural racism barriers
• Commit to working on multiple levels to
combat structural racism
• Learn by doing through collective action to
close gap in 3rd grade reading scores
• Serve as champions for racial equity in
early childhood
• Identify resources to sustain work

21. Next Step: Partnership
•
Report out on ad hoc committee to targeted
constituencies (October 31 - ongoing)
•
Extend partnership agreements to bring existing
resources into the CoP (LOI draft distributed by
Monday, November 25)
•
Determine GSC members that will participate in
the CoP (LOI due by Friday, December 13)
•
Launch the Community of Practice for Racial
Equity & Healing (Monday, January 20 – MLK Day
– SAVE THE DATE)
•
Complete individual and organization assessments
(by January 31)

23. Other Recommended Actions

24. Thank you for your interest in improving outcomes in early
childhood for children of color.
Proceedings
If your organization is interested in joining the CoP, please contact
Angela Waters Austin – angela@oneloveglobal.org