PTE Comes to an End
I wanted to share some reflections with you now that we have completed our implementation process with the Pathway to Excellence Project Year 4. As you may know, the content strand was “Addressing Equity & Diversity in Afterschool Programs”. This focus has always been a personal passion for me to work on, not only for afterschool sites and staff but individually and personally as well. Walking through this process over the last academic year with the 18 program sites, the staff and the communities they serve has confirmed even more so that I, we, have a lot to learn about ourselves and each other around diversity, creating more equitable opportunities for children and youth, and recognizing our own biases that mold our paradigms through media and false assumptions.
My favorite aspect of the components within the PTE model is the accountability. Whether it was an uncomfortable conversation at our Learning Community Meetings, receiving access to resources online through our Facebook PTE 4 Groups page, or being challenged to think differently through the on-site coaching; the work on equity and diversity kept moving forward. Yes it was messy at times and will continue to be. But I’ve witnessed that “messiness” become o.k., because growing in our identity and embracing other’s differences is not a perfect process. Another observation is to accept people and communities where they are at and not push our agenda and expectations on others.
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” This quote rings true in any community building effort. The power of relationships played a major role in seeing the successes and positive outcomes that we experienced over the last year. The following are some quotes that speak to that:
“As a high-poverty and ethnically diverse community, issues of racial equity are a daily battle. So many of the youth that we work with are faced with extreme challenges that are so much a part of their life that the challenges they face in terms of racial equity become normalized and internalized in such a way that they often do not even know that they exist. PTE 4 has given us the tools, support and resources to help the youth we work with to begin to think deeply about issues of racial equity and diversity in significant ways. PTE 4 has helped me in my role as the Chair of an Anti-Racism Committee, to push my organization to take racial equity seriously and to address the areas that there needs to be change. In both areas I have seen the benefits of the work and am grateful for having been a part of the Pathways to Excellence Project.” – Karly Feria – Tyee High School, Community Schools Collaboration
“My work with PTE has enabled me to submerge myself and work more in depth with the community at Tyee and youth within it. PTE has given me strength and reinforcement in my abilities to help young people understand their identities; identities that encompass stories of their family, community, and culture; stories they will share and use to act for change; and change that addresses gaps and disparities in their community.” – Tony Innouvong – Tyee High School, Community Schools Collaboration
“PTE has given me a new lens in which to view Vietnamese Friendship Association, (VFA) and our programs and services. At the beginning, I struggled with how a Vietnamese oriented organizations can truly be equitable. But over time, I realized that we provide valuable and responsive services to those who need it. More importantly, it has helped me to critically think about how VFA can move forward with our youth and family programs to ensure that they truly meet the unique needs of the people we serve – rather than using generic programming models. I’m really proud to be a part of VFA, and to participate in PTE, because the deeper I go into this work, the more committed and invested I feel toward all of our shared vision of creating a more just and equitable society.” – James Hong, Vietnamese Friendship Association
“The PTE 4 Training that Devin and I have received has given us a new lens in which to view our afterschool program. We are more aware and attentive to the challenges and needs of our children than ever before, and are working to make Racial Equality and Social Justice everyday parts of our program. This journey has been so valuable to our site professionally and to me personally. It has been a pleasure and I look forward to continuing this work long after the trainings end.” – Jerrod Gonzales – Jefferson Community Center , ARC
“PTE 4 has impacted Evergreen in ways that we did not expect. Through very thoughtful coaching sessions with all of the team members at our site we have been able to revisit and analyze our personal stories. This guided us in making the direct connection between our different personal upbringings and how that has shaped the work that we choose to do and the way we go about doing it. We grew up with the experiences of being children of immigrant families, latchkey children, misguided young students of a messed up educational system, and victims of racism from the people we would least expect it. Rather than recreating our programs, we found ways to incorporate what we learned through PTE 4 into the things that already exist on our campus: leadership development for our ASB officers, First Aid and CPR training for our Brothers and Sisters Project, culturally relevant recipes for our Cooking Club, encouraging strong moral character and physical discipline through Vovinam, Vietnamese Martial Arts, and addressing racial tension and uniting in our World Cup Soccer Tournament…just to name a few. Thanks for all your hard work and for joining on this ongoing journey.” - Chel Cendana – Evergreen High School, Community Schools Collaboration
The work on Addressing Equity and Diversity will continue, and I hope that we can all commit to creating equitable opportunities for our future leaders in whatever role we play within our communities.
