INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY
PEOPLE OF COLOR
Conference
Taylor Kanemori Director of Equity & Inclusion
We were very excited to take twenty-eight Seattle Academy faculty and staff members of color to the People of Color Conference (PoCC) this past December in Seattle. This was the National Association of Independent School’s (NAIS) 32nd PoCC with the highest attendance yet with over 7,000 attendees. The theme of the conference was 1619-2019 and Beyond and there were over 120 workshops to choose from over four days. Along with the faculty and staff, we were able to give a group of Upper School students the opportunity to attend the 26th annual high school Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) that was happening simultaneously. It was truly meaningful to be able to share this conference with so many members of our community. Over the four days, both conferences provided safe spaces for attendees to talk through issues of identity, equity,
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BEST OF SAAS
VOL. 19 | 2020
and inclusion with members of other independent schools from across the country and even a few that were international. People attended engaging sessions, heard from meaningful speakers like Valarie Kaur of the Revolutionary Love project and sociologist Pedro Noguera, and actively participated in affinity spaces based on their racial identity and then their geographic location.
