 | | January 2021 Update from Pollyanna | | January 2021 As we enter the season of resolution-making, we encourage you to consider this question: “How can we hold ourselves personally accountable to the promises we make?” Whether trying to exercise more or create positive change in our communities, the most challenging part of any resolution is to make sure it still matters in February and beyond. In a workshop for parents called Roles for Antiracist Families, Pollyanna Facilitator Jessy Molina poses a set of questions to participants. These questions are meant to help families calibrate how they might align their actions and decisions with their principles around racial justice and equity. We share these questions in the hopes they might help you create action and accountability for the resolutions you have made for 2021: - Where do you live?
- Where do you shop?
- Who are your friends? Whom do you trust?
- Who are your doctors, lawyers, dentists, teachers?
- What media do you read, watch, and consume?
- Where do you donate time and money?
For Friends, Parents, Guardians and Grandparents We have created a new series of workshops Showing Up and Standing Up: A 5-Part Journey Towards Antiracism for White Families. During these sessions, we will examine white identity and explore ways white people can help move the world towards greater racial justice. The link for more information and to register is below under Announcements. For Schools We are excited to continue partnering with parent communities in schools through our series of customizable racial justice workshops called Pollyanna Connects. In this series, Pollyanna will partner with your school to offer parent workshops around topics such as Building and Sustaining an Antiracist Community; Racism, the Brain, and Learning; and Friendship, Connection, and Racial Justice. We will work with your school to develop and offer programming that brings together the parents of your community to engage in learning, conversation, and action that will help positively transform your community. In addition to our work with parents, we continue our work with faculty and administrators to support the implementation of our K-8 Racial Literacy Curriculum. The link for more information and to register is below under Announcements. For DEI Directors Earlier this year, we surveyed you and you responded. The resulting responses led to our first Pollyanna Position Paper, in which we asked what advice you would offer Heads of School in the coming year. Half a year later, we are returning to this important constituency to gather your sense of the commitments made, progress attained, and challenges ahead in the journey towards racial justice and equity in your schools by responding to the following questions in this survey. We will publish a summary of these responses in our Pollyanna Position Paper next month. Thank you! Pollyanna is fortunate to serve many constituent groups at schools and organizations. As a 501(c)3, we also have the responsibility of raising money for operating expenses and special initiatives. The Pollyanna Board and Team offer a very heartfelt 'thank you' to all of our supporters in 2020. It was a challenging year on so many levels, and we appreciate your involvement and generosity. All best, | |  | | | | | | |  | | Pollyanna and Composer are Collaborating Announcing that Pollyanna is now on Composer! This free and public online platform allows educators to access web lessons, interactive simulations, experiential games, and guides for discussion and reflection - all dedicated to citizenship education. | | |  | | Pollyanna's 2021 Priorities We’re all hands on deck at Pollyanna in preparation for a new year; setting new goals and renewing our commitment to advancing equity at the institutional and systemic levels. Here’s where we’ll be focusing our energy in 2021. We hope you’ll join us! | | | | | | | | | | Welcome to the Pollyanna Family! We're starting off 2021 with some wonderful new school partners: Green Street Friends School in PA, Miami Country Day in FL, Parkside School in NY, and Stephen Gaynor School in NY. Mark Your Calendars for a New Series with Pollyanna Facilitators Jay Golon and Jessy Molina Showing Up and Standing Up: A 5-Part Journey Towards Antiracism for White Families 20 January 2021, 7PM ET, “I don’t really see race...” - Examining White Identity 17 February 2021, 7PM ET, “I’m the least racist person…” - Unpacking White Privilege and Power 10 March 2021, 7PM ET, “I don’t want to say the wrong thing…” - Navigating Conversations about Race 14 April 2021, 7PM ET, “I feel like I don’t know how to help...” - What Does it Mean to be an Ally, Accomplice and Co-Conspirator? 12 May 2021, 7PM ET, “I just want to do the right thing...“ - Committing to an Antiracist Life New Professional Development Offerings and Pollyanna's Curriculum Overview for Faculty and Administrators with Lead Curriculum Developer Monique Vogelsang Click on each title for more information and to register. Please share! Share with Your Athletic Directors: Countering Implicit Bias in the Locker Room, on the Bus and During the Game Pollyanna provides a 3-part, 1 hour online training for members of the Athletics department, including staff, trainers, coaches, and separately a 3-part, 1 hour online training for high school team captains. The goals for participants are: to develop a greater understanding of implicit bias, micro-aggressions, and their impact on individuals and communities, particularly in the realm of school athletics; and to develop strategies to identify, interrupt, dismantle, and repair the harm created by implicit biases and micro-aggressions in school and athletic environments. How Can We Be of Help This Year? Email info@pollyannainc.org for more information. Upcoming Virtual School Conferences January 30, 2021: St. Luke's School in Connecticut will host its first Pollyanna Intra-Conference. April 10, 2021: Westover School in Connecticut will host its first Pollyanna Conference. April 24, 2021: Ravenscroft School in North Carolina will host its first Pollyanna Conference May 1, 2021: The Wheeler School in Rhode Island will host its second Pollyanna Conference. May 8, 2021: The Dalton School in New York will host its eleventh Pollyanna Conference. 2020-21 Zoom Forums for Educators and Parents : We've decided to postpone these forums until the end of the school year. The first half of the school year was so busy for everyone and we anticipate the second half will be as well. We'll be in touch! | | | | | | | MISSION Pollyanna advances systemic change by developing stronger communities. STRATEGY Pollyanna works with academic and other institutions to achieve their diversity, equity and inclusion goals. Through its unique conference models, discussion platforms, and racial literacy curricula, Pollyanna increases cultural competence. | | | | | | | | | | Pollyanna, Inc. is a NY not-for-profit corporation 501(c)(3). Louisa Wells: Design © 2020 Pollyanna | 10075, New York, NY 10075 | | | | | | | |
