Building a Movement: Critical Race Theory in Youth Development Organizations with Center for Supportive Schools

Altagracia Montilla reached out to the SSN team in late 2018 about a training she led at Center for Supportive Schools on Critical Race Theory that she believed would be useful for other network members.  On January 14th, 2019, Altagracia Montilla, CSS Lead Community Schools Director, led a training on Critical Race Theory in Youth Development Organizations. Participants engaged through drawings, discussions and rubrics, and even internet memes, all while honing in on Critical Race Theory and how issues of race affect their organization. Through a Critical Race Theory lens, they learned the difference between a “multi-cultural” organization and an “anti-racist” one, discussed racial trauma, and reflected on the ways their organization engages with staff and students, and the roles they can play in creating change together.

Acknowledging that mindset is equally important to the tools they acquired, the group made a plan to meet again next month, bringing along fellow stakeholders, with hopes to dig deeper into the content, share updates, and continuing learning from each other! If you’d like to join the conversation, contact Stefano Barros at Stefano@SSN-NYC.org. Huge thank you to Altagracia for leading network members through a session that allowed them to explore the different ways they can engage their organizations in anti-racist work!

Explore resources from Critical Race Theory in Youth Development Organizations and MORE here.

Don’t see what you want or need in the Resource Library? Want to share your own expertise with the network? Let us know how we can help with this form. If you’d like to learn more about the Skill-Building Sessions, reach out to Stefano Barros, Program Manager of Knowledge Sharing & Improvement at Stefano@ssn-nyc.org.