In honor of Black Futures Month, DEEL celebrates our many Black-led partner organizations and the Black youth and families they serve. From prenatal to preschool, K-12 to postsecondary, DEEL investments promote positive outcomes for our communities furthest from educational justice. DEEL partnerships prioritize culturally specific and responsive, high-quality learning environments that nurture youth as they develop social-emotional skills for lifelong wellness and achievement.
What is Black Futures Month? Isn’t February Black History Month?
Established by Black organizers in the early 2020s, Black Futures Month is a visionary take on February celebrations of Blackness, one that reminds us to remain dedicated to dreaming and designing Black futures of healing and thriving. The Black Lives Matter Foundation explains the origins of Black Futures Month as complimentary to Black History Month, rather than an erasure.
Black Futures Month inspires us to acknowledge, honor and celebrate the collective efforts that Black people have taken to cultivate a future of self-determination, love and liberation for ourselves and our communities— not only past and present, but future.
This #BlackHistoryMonth we honor the legacies of innovation, excellence, and service from generations of Black leaders— scholars, artists, athletes, and entrepreneurs—and we lift up the many Black and African diaspora DEEL community partners who are building bright futures for our young people to thrive.
In particular, we are shouting out a few early learning and college and career readiness partners who are supporting our Black youth in their education and life journeys.
Seattle Preschool Program (SPP) Dual Language Initiative partners from Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) and Center for Linguistic and Cultural Democracy (CLCD)
Addisalem Ergete is an SPP Dual Language Initiative teacher at Refugee Women’s Alliance in Lake City. Ergete co-facilitates a dual language preschool classroom, immersing children in English and Amharic language lessons. Ergete has participated in personal and professional development opportunities in partnership with the Center for Linguistic and Cultural Democracy (CLCD). To learn more about this partnership and the ways our littlest learners are thriving in ReWA Lake City SPP classrooms with the care and instruction of educators like Ergete, read the CLCD community impact story in the 2022-23 DEEL Annual Report (see page 23).
The Breakfast Group, Project M.I.S.T.E.R.
DEEL honors and acknowledges the late Dr. James Carter, director of Project M.I.S.T.E.R., along with the generations of Black scholars he mentored during his tenure. You can learn more about the ways Project M.I.S.T.E.R. is improving academic outcomes and amplifying college and career readiness opportunities for Black young men and other young people of color in Seattle by visiting their website and checking out the featured community impact story in the 2022-23 DEEL Annual Report (see pages 31-32).
Seattle Preschool Program (SPP) provider Lovable Nest and BrightSpark
Loveable Nest is a home-based Family Child Care center located in Rainier Valley. Operated by Chelon Jackson, who has thirty years of teaching experience, Loveable Nest provides high-quality early learning opportunities as an SPP site, serving children and families referred by BrightSpark Early Learning Services. To learn more about Jackson and the ways she is nurturing young learners at Loveable Nest, offering a space for learning, joy, and belonging to abound, read the 2022-23 DEEL Annual Report community impact story (see pages 21-22).
Photography courtesy of Briana Jarrett @madebybriana ©2024
Happy Black Futures Month and Black History Month from the team at DEEL to all of our partners, providers, educators, and the youth and families we serve.
