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Advancing Equity Early in Oak Park and River Forest
From the Executive Director letter in response to
George Floyd’s death:
The well-documented epidemic of
the disproportionately high preschool
suspension rates for Black boys is part of
this problem. It begins as early as two or
three years of age, when studies show that
Black boys are sent home at a rate much
higher than any other children. It is when
they are first told that they don’t fit, or that
their presences, their contributions, their
lives don’t matter. Gone unchecked, this
lack of belonging finds children engaged
in juvenile justice and law enforcement.
Two or three decades of this exhausting
and discouraging dynamic can convince
any Black mother, any Black family, any
Black child, any Black man to lose hope.
It’s not a surprise, then, that so many
people feel that in the absence of hope,
they can’t breathe.
An Invitation
Systemic inequities that perpetuate negative
The global pandemic has been hard for everyone. But it has been life outcomes for Black children and families
harder for the more vulnerable members of our communities. exist in our early childhood systems. For
With early childhood centers closed, Oak Park and River Forest this reason, George Floyd’s murder is an
shifted their focus to mitigating the impact of this time on our early childhood issue. The Collaboration
children. has opened up a space for us all to address
racism within our own community, and to
• Held a virtual town hall for providers to hear about what facilitate opportunities for us to look within
they need to reopen safely. Participants received a goody ourselves.
box full of supplies including masks, disinfectant, and hand
sanitizer. We hold an open invitation for:
• To meet the changing needs of parents, we launched the • Parents to share
pilot, Ready4K, a family engagement curriculum delivered
to parents via text messages, as well as the Ready, Set, experiences with the
Kindergarten! A 4-week program offering a remote set
of learning activities to support families in preparing their Collaboration of when
preschoolers for kindergarten their children have
• Collaborated with Erikson Institute to offer individual and been “deprived of
group telehealth counseling to address the mental health
and emotional support needs of children and adults. opportunities because
• Equity training for EC teachers? of their race”
• Program staff to let Welcome to Fatherhood
Leading Conversations: Last fall, The Collaboration the Collaboration know
presented a series of movie screenings for the documentary No
Small Matter. Through poignant stories and surprising humor, the how they can help them
film lays out the overwhelming evidence for the importance of the learn more about racial Quisque dictum semper libero congue facilisis.
first five years of a child’s life. Our screenings were promoted to Phasellus fermentum vestibulum lacinia. Sed eros
teachers, health care professionals, child care providers and the equity in the context massa, lacinia in aliquet id, rhoncus id dolor. Donec
community at large to move this important discussion forward. fermentum quam ut massa ultricies tempor. Praesent
of early childhood rutrum egestas nunc, commodo lacinia risus mollis a.
education Praesent leo risus, tristique id imperdiet eget, portti-
tor nec tortor. Etiam imperdiet, turpis quis consequat
suscipit, odio massa vulputate sem, eu aliquam odio
massa vel magna. Donec tempus metus quis est iaculis
• Program directors to fermentum. Sed ullamcorper mattis nibh a egestas.
request training for Donec tellus dui, placerat nec ornare posuere, mattis
eu libero. Nulla enim metus, faucibus eget volutpat
their staff to help them sed, fermentum sit amet sapien. Nulla pretium egestas
examine classroom massa sit amet rhoncus.
Phasellus at arcu sit amet massa aliquam facilisis et
practices and give non ipsum. Maecenas non risus mauris, eu rhoncus
them strategies to lacus. Nulla rhoncus gravida sagittis. Curabitur tinci-
dunt, odio et volutpat imperdiet, eros elit blandit ante,
help Brown and Black sit amet adipiscing leo dui sed lacus. tincidunt, purus
children thrive consequat hendrerit.
equity@collab4kids.org