Martha’s Vineyard Diversity Coalition Education Committee

We believe that 

to understand our nation’s issues with race, one must learn the history behind it and accept the hard truths about the impact and consequences of slavery on every American;

insensitivity and disdain for a group occur when there is a lack of acceptance of their humanity and a lack of knowledge regarding their history, culture, and contributions;

doing the work provides opportunities for our own continual learning and growth, thus making us better allies in the fight against racism.

Goal: Collaboratively work with schools and other groups to support anti-racist initiatives that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging in their staffing, training, curricula, and programs by:

  • Working with schools and institutions to secure technical assistance & resources that promote diversity and inclusion. These may relate to staffing, staff-training, curricula, programs, and/or grant writing.
  • Connecting with community organizations with similar goals including confronting personal biases & promoting policies that heal the trauma of racism.
  • Developing collaborative relationships to build a trusting foundation to accomplish said work.

MVDC School Subcommittee: 

Focus: diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging in staffing, staff training, and curricula

MVDC Arts Subcommittee: 

Focus: diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging in art/music curricula and programs

Objectives

  • Recognize organizations that can work collaboratively with the MVDC Education Committee and will benefit from the offerings of the MVDC Education Committee; 
  • Meet with said organizations to discern their needs and determine how the MVDC Education Committee can support them;
  • Identify resources related to the organizations’ needs and find ways to make said resources available;
  • Assess the effectiveness of collaborations.

MVDCED Current Activities

  • Book Project
    • Offering grants to support MV libraries
      • Raised approximately $13,000
    • Building relationships with librarians
    • Streamlined process
    • Booklist link creation
  • Art/music/dance collaboration between MV and L.A. 6th graders and their teachers
  • Distribution of list of Anti-Racist Resources
  • Member attendance at anti-racism Zoom program, “A Long Talk About The Uncomfortable Truth”
  • Readers Project
    • People of Color reading stories to children in libraries to be launched in the fall
  • Attending school committee meetings to build relationships
  • Chilmark School- Racially Literacy Pilot (Pollyanna)
  • Practicing “3iProtocol” for our meeting every 3rd week (Freedom)
  • Richie Smith collecting School Comm and Principals to attend ALongTalk (15 people)

Possible future endeavors

  • “Sister Library Project”
  • “Journeys in Film” AMAZING RESOURCE!!!
  • MV Times and The Gazette press release
  • Supporting in Creating Policy
  • Podcast