Join Border Crossers and a renowned panel of racial justice experts as we discuss the current state of racial equity in education and necessary steps to ensure racial justice in our schools.
Panelists include
Joe Brewster
Martha Haakmat
Ali Michael
Pedro Noguera
Howard C. Stevenson
“Creating Racially Equitable Schools” A Border Crossers Fundraiser and Panel Discusssion
Thursday, June 18, 2015
6:00-9:00 pm
Brooklyn Heights Montessori School
Networking reception will follow at 8:00 pm.
Wine and hors d’oeuvres will be provided.
Panelist Biographies
Pedro Noguera is the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education and the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at New York University. His research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions, as well as by demographic trends in local, regional and global contexts. He is the author of eleven books and over 200 articles and monographs. He serves on the boards of numerous national and local organizations and appears as a regular commentator on educational issues on CNN, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and other national news outlets. From 2009 – 2012 he served as a Trustee for the State University of New York (SUNY) as an appointee of the Governor. In 2014 he was elected to the National Academy of Education. Noguera recently received awards from the Center for the Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences, from the National Association of Secondary Principals, and from the McSilver Institute at NYU for his research and advocacy efforts aimed at fighting poverty.
Dr. Howard Stevenson is the Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education, Professor of Africana Studies, and former Chair of the Applied Psychology and Human Development Division in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. He conducts two racial literacy development intervention programs.One is The PLAAY (Preventing Long-term Anger and Aggression in Youth) Project uses basketball and racial socialization to help youth and parents cope with stress from violence and social rejection. The second is in collaboration with Penn professors Loretta and John Jemmott, and Christopher Coleman– the SHAPE-UP: Barbers Building Better Brothers Project which trains Black barbers to be health educators of HIV/STDS and teach violence risk reduction and negotiation skills to Black 18-24 year old males while they are cutting hair.His most recent best-seller book, Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools, focuses on helping youth and educators manage racial stress in face-to-face situations by actively reading, reducing, and resolving racially stressful encounters.
Ali Michael is the Director of K-12 Consulting and Professional Development at the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania and the Director of the Race Institute for K-12 Educators. She is the author of Raising Race Questions: Whiteness, Inquiry and Education (Teachers College Press, 2015): a book designed to support teachers in the long term and personal process of understanding the role that race plays in their lives and in their classrooms. She is also co-editor of Everyday White People Confront Racial and Social Injustice: 15 Stories (2015, Stylus Press).
Joe Brewster is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist who uses his previous experience as foundation for approaching the social issues he tackles as a filmmaker, outreach producer and award-winning author. Brewster’s films has appeared on PBS, Showtime, MTV, and other broadcast and digital outlets. His most recent film, AMERICAN PROMISE (PBS/POV) won the Sundance Special Jury Award and its’ outreach campaign, aimed at African-American families, received the prestigious Brit Doc Impact Award for films that changed the world in 2014. His film work has received numerous honors, including an Independent Spirit Award nomination and the 2013 African American Film Critics’ Association Award. Brewster wrote the best selling parent guide, Promise Kept: Raising Black Boys to Succeed in School and in Life, which earned him a 2014 NAACP Image Award Award for an outstanding literary work. Brewster lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two sons.
Martha Haakmat has taught and led in New York City independent schools for the past 28 years. Currently the Head of School at the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School, Martha has been a lower, middle and upper school educator and has held administrative positions such as Diversity Director and Middle School Head. Martha has served as an independent school trustee and has been a member of various committees for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS). She was also the founder and director of Educators for Growth and Empowerment (EDGE), a diversity consulting team that presented in schools and conferences nationwide. Martha has three daughters who are being educated in the independent school system.
Volunteer opportunities available.
Contact: info@bordercrossers.org