COMMUNITY CALL UPDATE June 2015
UPDATE #SOURCES2015 = SUCCESS! On behalf of the Crim Center, we are immensely thankful for the amazing turnout! Over 250 presenters and registrants participated in our activities this year, almost doubling the attendance of our previous year. We were ecstatic to welcome guests from across the nation, including participants from Los Angeles, North & South Carolina, Florida, Maryland and New York. Our program lineup included interactive workshops and informative sessions conducted by a cross-section of both academic and community-based researchers, program developers, educators and students. Topics for discussion included community-building, professional development for teachers, use of media for social justice (in the classroom and beyond), the collaboration of productive alliances between educational, economic and civic institutions, and much more – with innovative solutions serving to further build what Dr. Alonzo Crim called a “community of believers.” For more information on specific sessions and subjects of discussion, please continue to check out our Official Sources 2015 web-page @ http://crim.education.gsu.edu/research/sources-conference/.
COMMUNITY CALL UPDATE
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OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKER DR. CAMARA JONES
Reflection by Kweku Vassall I was fortunate to be able to attend the keynote speaker address, facilitated by guest Dr. Camara Jones. Previously, I was told that Dr. Jones is a phenomenal speaker and that this would be a moment not to miss – which was totally confirmed! Her presentation focused on the impact of institutional, inter-personal and internalized racism: how these systems affect minorities and their access to educational resources and upward mobility in society. She related these areas to her expertise, which is in public health – specifically with the social and economic determinants of health, how power relations in our world dictate who lives “the good life,” and who goes without. Ultimately, Dr. Jones presents allegories and potential solutions which can be instituted by individuals, programs, schools, governmental organizations etc. in efforts to identify all forms of racism, and to eradicate behaviors that perpetuate racist ideologies/systems in our everyday interactions. She asserted that these solutions can be implemented on a larger scale, with a system of accountability ensuring that we move towards equitable relations and access to resources. An example included her discussion of continually-updated documentation from the United Nations World Conference Against Racism (which I learned about in detail from this, I had no idea.) As an aspiring educator myself, one aspect I especially appreciated was her conversational style. I am always observing to see what effective strategies educators, researchers, community organizers and others use in relaying pertinent information, while at the same time engaging and encouraging an interested audience. At the beginning, she prompted members of the audience to speak up and share any thoughts, opinions or questions at any point during her speech. She spoke to the audience as a member of the community; while her expertise was solid, she approached everyone with a genuine humility and respect – which I could feel emanating from her. I think everyone present picked up on this quality as well, which encouraged folks to participate even more. From her studies and work on dismantling racism, in her interactions I felt that her exemplary skill in interacting with people came out of the basic premise of her research – that mutual learning and authenticity should permeate our interactions with any/everyone. If this doesn’t happen, everyone suffers – from the systematically disadvantaged, to those who aren’t challenged to truly grow from having an unfair advantage. True egalitarianism contributes most to the educational process, and ensures that every individual is allowed to develop their innate and unique talents to contribute to the larger world. Dr. Jones had one assignment for all participants in her session – to share one of the allegories of racism she discussed with a friend or family member. After leaving the conference, I went out to a friend’s birthday get-together at a local café. In my chit-chats I found myself talking about Dr. Jones’ presentation! - sharing her arguments, examples and stories with friends who were genuinely interested in checking her work out for themselves. The fact that I could recall and reconnect with what she said earlier (and even now writing this) showed me how much I really took from participating. I am super-glad that I was able to attend her discussion, and I look forward to looking up her articles to read further.
COMMUNITY CALL UPDATE
POSITIVE FEEDBACK! CONFERENCE OVERALL “Excellent conference. I thought the conference topic and the mix of students and professionals was very productive and engaging.” P “My favorite parts included the food, speakers, presentations, community and helpers.”
WHAT SPECIFIC INFORMATION, RESEARCH, ADVICE, EXAMPLES FROM THE SOURCES CONFERENCE DO YOU FEEL YOU CAN USE IN YOUR COMMUNITY? “Using dance/movement in teaching!” P “Being able to effectively communicate and understand students.”
“Youth-centered dialogue sessions in non-traditional settings concerning the impact and preventative measures necessary to eliminate state sponsored violence – prison, the standardization of education, and police brutality.” P “I plan on reaching out to a colleague who is a STEM teacher to collaborate on an action research project that integrates equity focused mathematics in the classroom.” P “Opening up conversations on disparities, to recognize and help eliminate them.” P “Integrative learning methods are a more productive manner of education than the traditional ‘one size fits all’ framework currently used in the urban setting.”
From Sources Conference Survey Results
INTERACTIONS AND NETWORKING “We were able to connect with others that had the same vision for our youth and create a plan together.” P “I really enjoyed the sessions with current teachers presenting social justice -focused action research. It gave me lots of new ideas for collaborating with teachers.” P “I enjoyed the interaction with community organizers and others who may not normally be present at an academic conference.” P “I liked that the workshop sessions included elders, educators and youth sharing intimate recollections – community building.” P “I appreciated the passion that the presenters had in regards to the topics they discussed.”
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COMMUNITY CALL UPDATE
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30 Pryor St., Ste. 350, Atlanta, GA 30303 crim.education.gsu.edu
PRECONFERENCE ACTIVITIES APRIL 29 - MAY 1, 2015 An added component of Sources this year included our Pre-conference events, which featured a collection of fun, interactive mixers designed to creatively expand on the work in our sessions. These included spoken word presentations, our SideNote II fundraiser concert, relaxing Happy Hour rendezvous (C2H2!), and screening of Dr. Jonathan Gayles’ informative ďŹ lm “The E-Word: A Documentary on the Ebonics Debate.â€? Our poetry event “Voices of the Believersâ€? featured poets Michael Molina and Celeste McNeil. Facilitating a lively discussion with the audience, both Molina and McNeil shared their selections along with personal experiences from their work in education and views on social justice. This very enlightening event reinforced the importance of the arts in community development and social change. We would like to once again thank our pre-conference presenters!
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For more information on all of our upcoming events and programs, please visit
C R E AT I N G
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crim.education.gsu.edu
commUNITY of
BELIEVERS A VISION OF Dr. Alonzo A. Crim,
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLs SUPERINTENDENT (1973-1988)
FACEBOOK.com/CRIMCENTER
@ALONZOACRIMCUEE
design, entries by Kweku Vassall, Crim Center GRA ivassall1@student.gsu.edu