Welcome to the College of Education Equity Challenge! (see update below*)

This challenge gives us an organized way to enter into discourse in the realm of equity and inclusion while expanding our knowledge, refreshing our knowledge, piquing our curiosity, or challenging our understanding in a variety of relevant and timely topics.

The College of Education Equity Challenge draws heavily from others across the nation like United Way, Eddie Moore Junior, Debby Irving who have been engaging in challenges like these for several years. We hope that by spending time with these resources that touch on social topics that impact us all in different ways, will provide us opportunities to exercise our courageous conversation “muscles” so that we can engage with confidence when these topics arise.

Reading these articles, watching these videos, and listening to these podcasts won’t cure society’s biggest problems, but the hope is that committing jointly to journeys like this will give us the confidence to engage with each other in ways that permit us to see new pathways towards those cures. Practicing in difficult conversations (which some of these could be), will allow us to slowly step into the discomforting stages of discourse that tend to precede transformative change.

During this challenge, for some of us the topics will come close to home, for others, they will represent new knowledge, and for still others, the topics will be reminders of bridges already crossed but will serve to reinforce our joint commitment to continued learning, supporting, and teaching for everyone in our community. Some of the activities will inspire, some may provoke, others may cause discomfort or dissonance, many will leave us wanting more information, but all should provide a foundation for discussion.

Be sure to indicate your interest here to receive reminders and calendar invitations to sessions of discourse I am interested.

Let’s get started!

Note: “The 21-Day Equity Challenge was created by Dr. Eddie Moore Jr. (#BlackMind) and co-developed with Debby Irving, and Dr. Marguerite Penick (#DiverseSolutions). The plan has been adopted by Organizations, Associations and Corporations all over the nation/world. Dr. Eddie Moore Jr. is the Director of the Privilege Institute in Green Bay, WI. Dr. Moore created the Challenge to not only help people better understand issues surrounding equity, inclusion, privilege, leadership and supremacy, but also to do so in a way that would build a habit of learning by stretching it over time. We are excited to be offering you this Challenge in partnership with Dr. Moore. As you engage in the various activities, feel free to tag, comment, and follow (1) 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge | Facebook”

 

*Update:

The COE Equity Challenge was launched in Fall 2021 and over 50 individuals across the COE community participated actively in the challenge by joining weekly discussion sessions, reflecting and journaling, and or communicating with me individually about their journey. In addition to those engaging actively, others used the challenge in classes and or shared with others in their broader community. The primary feedback received by those who engaged was positive! Participants found the materials informative and provocative but the pace too intensive to engage deeply with the material, so the challenge is being relaunched for Winter / Spring 2022 as the COE Equity Forum.