i was humbled by the leadership i saw from the executive director of the San Antonio Teach For America region today. she has pulled high school students into the organization for the summer to help them observe, explore, and engage with the education policy landscape in their region. today these students met with their school board president and the leader of the teacher union. then they traveled through neighborhoods of San Antonio and analyzed differences between different parts of town, their schools, and the implications of the disparities between them. they were part of a meeting between TFA and LEE as new staff started to build relationships, and they came to the training that i helped to facilitate this evening on analyzing root causes of policy problems and identifying solutions that promote equity. the most amazing part of all of this? these students had only been learning English for a couple of years but bravely engaged in very high level conversations. these students represent immigrant communities who are often excluded from decision making processes that impact their lives, and though it was sometimes hard for them to keep up, i watched as the ED purposefully unpacked complicated terminology or acronyms; as she brought them into difficult conversations; as she prepared them with the complex truth of the system in which we live; as she gave them the building blocks to understanding power and community organizing. it was beautiful. this is what it takes to shift the face of leadership. we have to slow down, build relationships, share the process, ask questions, invite folks to the table who have never before had a seat. we have to humanize the folks that are affected by policies by making sure they are present and involved in the development, implementation, and assessment of policies that shape their lives. this is the kind of leader i seek to be. i am grateful for the continued challenge to think about how i can do this in my work to create a more equitable world.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 23:42:44 +0000
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