All right again thank you everybody for being here today uh we uh forced here at the hunt Institute are definitely working in the service of promoting uh racial equity and Justice within our education system and so today’s webinar is really focused on uh lessons from the divine nine how black Greek leadership
Impacts uh how black Greek life impacts leadership and education policy um to provide a little bit of a description of today’s session uh and webinar for the past Century the black Greek organizations have created safe spaces for young black adults to excel in college help unite Life Communities
Across the country with service and have laid the foundation for black people to connect with each other for professional opportunities due to the exclu exclusionary practices of higher education these organizations provided a space for black students and allies to find support belonging and advocate for change on their campus
Through the cultivation of leadership skills within these organizations many members of Black Greek later organizations have gone on to leave positive lasting March in the field of Education through shaping either policy or advocating for change and so today’s webinar will highlight members of these organizations who use
Their positions to touch on the field of education and change it for the better so we appreciate you all being here today um our webinar uh race and Ed webinar um is committed to having honest conversation about issues of race that are embedded and and impact all of Education
Um so we really kind of wanted to touch on this today with uh our topic and kind of hit on some of these things that are important to us um of course we have uh Dr uh Ashley Canty who will be moderating this session
Um so I’m going to turn it over to her now foreign I believe she might not actually be back yet so in the meantime I’ll actually have each of the panelists to introduce themselves uh to tell us a little bit about uh what members of the what organizations they are members of as
Well as the work that they currently do now so we’ll start with uh Adria good afternoon my name is Adria Merritt I am currently the director of diversity opportunity and inclusion at the Virginia Department of Education I’m also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority Incorporated I look forward to
Our opportunity to chat this afternoon and then we’ll turn it over to Dr good afternoon thank you guys for uh tuning in today um I’m a member of Omega Sci-Fi fraternity Incorporated currently I’m the assistant Vice Chancellor Dean students at Fayetteville State University I’m recently um coming from North Carolina Central
University where I ran when the nation’s leading men’s retention programs yeah foreign and then we’ll turn it over to Chris good afternoon everyone my name is Chris Ray I am the founder and CEO of HBCU internships Foundation uh Inc which is a non-profit organization uh that we just founded last year where
We are building the largest database of internships in the world specifically dedicated to HBCU students in building a pipeline of um of black leadership and opportunities for students into the workforce the foundation focuses on not just providing the internship but also getting the students to the internship uh and
Providing housing for them I have the honor and the privilege to serve as the 36th International president of Phi Beta signal Fraternity Incorporated appreciate that and so I will have uh Dr Canty to also introduce herself uh as our moderator for the session and then kick us off with some questions
All right good afternoon I’m Dr Ashley Canty and I am the director of equity initiatives at the hunt Institute and also a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority Incorporated so I’m very excited to be here today moderating this panel uh speaking about um the importance of black Greek life
And also thank you to the hunt staff uh Leticia Brown and Jameson Lowry who are also here providing support so super excited to get started today with our panelist um so for over a hundred years historically black Greek lettered organizations have long provided advocacy and support for black
Communities and so really excited to think about the ways that our panelists here are able to engage um in their work around advocacy but also how that relates to their membership in historically black fraternity or sorority so thank you all for being here today we will get started
Um with Chris with the first question and this will be answered by all of our panelists um could you explain what inspired you to join your organization and how it has impacted your career path uh thank you um well I attended undergrad at East Carolina University I ran track
Um a lot of the guys on the track team uh were members of Phi Beta Sigma uh I was always impressed with every track meet that we went to these blue and white people kept on coming up to them uh no matter where we were in the uh in
The nation there were always these these blue and white folks that kept on coming up to our uh the track guys and I was just impressed by the Brotherhood and the engagement um that kept on happening uh decided to do my research at that time and uh
Realized that the impact that Phi Beta Sigma had had in the nation based off of the members that came through the organization at that time you know kind of fit my personality and uh little did I know that getting involved with Phi Beta Sigma would put me on a on a path
Of service that uh continues of course to this day not just serving uh the fraternity public serving outside of the fraternity in in spaces around Community engagement have the opportunity to serve as just retired last year 22 years from the United States Army in the National Guard with a combination
Of active and National Guard service I had an opportunity to serve as mayor of Spring Lake North Carolina and so this this whole theme of service has really been a big part coming from my engagement being a member of Phi Beta Sigma and how the fraternity helped to
Shape my thoughts on engaging the community and making my community better and all of it just came from observing the the camaraderie and Brotherhood that uh the chapter was displayed and the the individuals that we kept on meeting along our journey at track at track meets
Great thank you so much we’ll go to um Adria next so um good afternoon um my name is um Adria Merritt and I um actually grew up in a very rural community uh where school and other Youth Development programs were a central part of my life
Um so my mom and dad were very active leaders in youth programs like 4-H and because of my parents I always saw being active in community as just being an extension of your personal identity my mom is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta and my dad was a member of Omega
Psi Phi so I really saw that service up front growing up I have fond memories of being a debutante in Delta Sigma theta’s Cotillion in my area I grew up not far from St Paul’s college and the experience provided an opportunity just to further bonds I had with young ladies
Who I attended high school with and with young ladies from my broader community and so every experience that I had as a part of uh the Cotillion really helped or focusing on really projecting the best of who you were individually and collectively focusing on academic Excellence self-esteem etiquette and preparation for college
And I just have fond memories of the women who guide us through the experience being warm and they were leaders in my community and so throughout School many of the teachers were also Deltas but of course the most significant influence um was my mom and so her life as a
Testament of scholarship service and Sisterhood really helped push me on that get on that path and when thinking about the personal connections and that Central focus on Collective action to serve and empower the community I definitely knew that that was something I wanted to be a part of and then when I
Think about my career in education there were definitely many esteemed swords who impacted and inspired me I’ve always been one to really get into history and study history so when I think about Mary McLeod Bethune who pushed to upgrade libraries at historically black Institute Solutions and she firmly
Believed that libraries needed to be improved which played a part in Delta’s First National project and I am a former English teacher and reading specialist and literacy coach just really understanding the importance of having access to high quality text and how it can impact the trajectory of somebody’s
Life and of course I also think about was very influenced by Dorothy Height who was actually born in Virginia and she served as one of the national presidents of Delta Sigma Theta and so as a leader in multiple organizations she really harnessed that power of collective action and focused on what I
Feel like in my work I’m focusing on in terms of really building and wanting to do work to shape to make sure that everybody across student groups has access to be college career and citizen ready so when I think about the totality of that from being a little girl in the
Rural community and seeing these change makers and then growing up in my field in studying these Educators I I think that that shaped me to know that that was the only path for me to take especially when I thought about um Collective action oh I love that my mom is also a member
Of Zeta so that was definitely a significant part of why I joined um but all the things that you named um I really appreciate how intentional it was for you to kind of find that path in life so thank you so much for being here
Um next up we will have Dr Heath with the same question well for me my journey is a little different I’m first gen so I didn’t have any omegas in my family I had a distant cousin you know his cousin that the family but you really don’t
Know him much but through my throughout my high school career playing Middle School football and sports all of the authority men that helped me accountable was a men of Omega sci-fi and so my head football coach a middle school coach one of my principals was a member of Omega
Sci-fi and when I was going to office I was always see that shield on the wall never knew what it meant but something about it it’s intrigued me and so I’m a big history buff and when I find out that Carter G Wilson was a member of
Omega sci-fi you know father I’m a historian of black history and just finding out what he brought to the table and one thing I found out with Omega that really said this is what I want to be the Brotherhood um the Brotherhood is like no other
Um I had eight members on my on my line and we were tighter than ever we had 10 parties together birthday parties our kids played together and so uh just big on mentorship and so when our fraternity was established it was a professor that sat down with these young men and really
Wanted to bring this organization to light and so I carry that torch with me is that how do you get back to the younger generation and how do you lead and Mentor by holding black males accountable at the same time and so Omega just something’s in my heart and I
Think that for us um we get a lot of slack but deep down when you see the work that’s been that’s been handled behind the scenes you’ll see what this organization is really about and so for me I knew this this is where I wanted to be
Um something about that purple and gold just seeing it that royalty it’s just something that I love and you know I’m gonna wear this to to the day I die and continue to do the work one thing I appreciate about all three of you is a connection to education that
You all saw as a as a way into these organizations and a reason but also highlighting the people that you saw that were members of this organization that encouraged you and so it just really shows how important mentorship is whether it’s in our black Greek lettered organizations or an education and how
That can really change you know the experiences that people are having so I really um that definitely resonates with me um and I’m happy to hear all of you speak of that as a reason why um so Chris again this next question is for you so as the international
President for Phi Beta Sigma fraternity Incorporated um you serve as a leader for over 650 different chapters and thousands of Sigma Brothers how does this role impact the work that you do within the education policy space uh great question um first of all I’m jet lag because I
Just got back from visiting one of those chapters uh in South Korea uh 24 hours ago uh and uh having the opportunity to visit one of our overseas chapters and having the discussion with them around how we as an organization can continue to engage them and uh and Elevate
Um the resources that we provide as a national body but education is a big piece for us uh and how we are trying to redefine uh in this role as International president how we’re trying to redefine access to actually to Affordable education for our members and I’ll give you a quick example
Um just recently about two two and a half maybe three weeks ago I signed um mou with National University uh where we are now as an organization uh National University is going to be the premier University for Phi Beta Sigma members uh who we know uh we have and
All of our organizations have this where individuals start off going to college they join our fraternities and sororities uh but sometimes life happens right and they end up not finishing their degree uh and trying to navigate back to the initial institution that they were at has a lot of barriers
For whatever reason and so what we did was we recognized that that being a challenge for some of our members uh we decided that it was important to make sure that we have an institution that we partner with that can lower those barriers and so if you’re a member of
Phi Beta Sigma if you apply uh to National University not only do you get uh discounts and tuition um uh but you the majority of your credits could transfer over to this to uh to this accredited University I know yeah by the way uh there is a discount
That we provide also for the family members of that member of the organization which is extraordinary uh and so what the message that we’re sending is is that access to education number one is the key and will always be the key to moving from one economic rung
To the other the other piece of the message that we’re trying to send to our members is that we are committed to access to Affordable education at the Collegiate level and so um because we know that it was education that pulled a generation of people uh
With our skin Hue into the next into the next economic role right and we have to continuously find opportunities in that regard but that is all centered around uh the economic opportunities is centered around the educational Pursuits uh that’s necessary and the doors that can be opened and so again as president
I knew that I have a population of my members uh that life happened and we have to create opportunities for them to get access to that economic rung to help to provide opportunities for their family and the only way to do that is to create a pathway on educational pathway
Uh and so we’re I you know in my short time as being president I will tell you that that is probably one of the greatest achievements thus far are for us is identifying the building on this new opportunity and creating a pathway for our members and their families
Thank you for that the focus on that economic and social Mobility is so important as we think about the origins of our organizations and we think about hbcus especially for um black students and black families the social Mobility provided is so important in being able to navigate systems and structures
Um that sometimes create barriers for us to be able to provide and to game the education that we hope to have um our next question is for Adria thank you again for being here today um you mentioned some of the of your network and um how that’s impacted your membership
But also your career uh could you talk a little bit about how the extensive network of your organization has helped to inform your service to the state of Virginia so I think what’s really important is when you think about the structure of fraternities and sororities I want to
Say that they are really rich and I’m going to say the word rich rich with people power rich with successful programming and Rich with Partnerships and when I think about the work that I’m doing right now specifically with cultural competency there are four domains in the framework that we have in
Virginia that is really working to deliberately address academic gaps and really have a focused pathway for how we can work on making sure there’s Equitable access for all of our communities and so the fourth domain of that I’m gonna name all four first so you’ve got uh self-reflection you have
Pedagogy and practice you have learning environments and you have Community engagement so that Community engagement piece uh that fourth domain really does have that opportunity when we think about the rich networks that sororities and fraternities provide because it really does provide that opportunity to push in to amplify and to support ways
That we can enhance the quality of life for students so the big question though when I think about Community engagement and the work that I’m doing since we know that all of the Divine are values aligned right and empowering our communities through service a question
Is as as I look at this work how do we leverage this prosperity to support young people in schools and in out of school settings in a very strategic cohesive way and so when we think about what Delta Sigma Theta offers we have a five-point programmatic thrust and one
Of those thrusts is educational development and so it has established three programs that are throughout communities where there are delta chapters and Delta alone has more than 300 000 women who are part of our ranks so these programs are the Dr Betty Japan excuse me Dr Betty Shabazz Delta Academy
Delta gems and embody and these structured programs provide school-aged females and males ranging from age 11 to 18 with additional support addressing services that range from stem education self-efficacy leadership physical and mental health relationships college readiness fiscal management coaching workshops College and Career prep programs and even Civic engagement
And Service Learning so when we think about this it’s also it’s it’s that work that allows us to strategically collaborate and to support communities in that name of transformation right now one of the things that we’re looking at as a result of covet and even prior to covet is that our K-12 spaces
Um are exploring ways to combat absenteeism and disengagement loss and instructional time which of course impacts reading and math growth as well as mental health and and well-being and so with this network we have structured curriculums and programming that really can enhance what students are getting in school and provide a more
Um Avenues or Pathways for them to access this quality program that we know ends up shaping them towards College even career and how they see themselves as students another piece I think that’s really important when we think about this framework for the work that we’re doing in Virginia with culture your
Competency and we look at that alignment with the work of sororities fraternities specifically Delta we think about the fact that we know that it’s important for students to have mirrors windows and sliding glass doors so that they can imagine more and so when you have these programs they’re able to have
Mirrors reflecting to themselves from all walks of life where you can now imagine yourself as a doctor imagine yourself as a lawyer imagine yourself as an engineer through the work of Soros who are doing this work in addition you have you have other opportunities to see Windows you’re able to look and connect
With people who are not people from your immediate circle so you can look out and see a different pathway or a different access point and certainly sliding glass doors as it’s providing ways to slide across into something new so again the programming is extremely important because schools can’t do it alone right
And when we really think about what I think Jeffrey Canada I go back to him and what he did with Harlem children’s Zone and those wrap around services and we know that we really need those right now the work of fraternities and sororities are really poised through that programming in that Network to
Really support and help us make those gains that we’re talking about when we want to talk about using assets to leverage and help support our students thank you for that um just a reminder that our audience is able to submit questions or anything into the question and answer for our
Panelists so our next question will be for Dr Heath and for Adria so and you touched on this some so we’ll start with Dr Heath and then we’ll go back to Adria to answer this how can black Greek lettered organizations work together to advocate for Equity what are the key
Issues black Greek lettered organization should be focused on in the next hundred years of their existence well that’s a great question um I think we all have this camaraderie we want to make our organization look the best be the best and so in these these organizations were started
Um there was they was put in these communities to uplift and build a community up I think now that we’re still doing that but I think we’re working in silos so if we want to look at the next hundred years I think we have to get back to Community
Development and partnership we have to get back to youth mentoring and revisiting the missions of our organizations and the reason I say that uh we had our national conclave in Charlotte North Carolina and they wrote a big article about how much money Omega sci-fi brought into the City and I
Was like wow that’s a lot of money but if you really look at it who really won from us coming into the city the hotels the restaurants the community really didn’t see that money so I talked to my Line brothers who are one in finance one
Is a pastor a barber one is in uh mental health one is an education and one is into insurance and so we have all the these pillars within our friendship that a lot of men don’t have so I have somebody that I can reach on and call
And ask about Finance but I looked at it I said imagine as a fraternity if we’d have found a single parent mother who’s raised him some young men and we would have went and said you know what we’re going to put all this money into her
We’re gonna buy her house have a ribbon cutting you know what it would have done to those young men that have saw uh two thousand three thousand four thousand men of Omega standing in the front yard and giving their mama the keys to a brand new house uh visited to all the
The ethnic restaurants the black restaurants in the city that’s how we build and be Community I think for us when we talk about politics you have to look at it Omega Psi Phi has a boys Camp every year it’s funded by us right and this is an every year thing
Hundreds of boys come out but if politicians look at the the programs that are really doing the work and funnel that money through there because two things are for sure um College may not be for everybody but education is and so everybody might not
Want to go to college but if we get into these young men like early young ladies like early we can gauge them to figure out where they want to go and I feel like you looked at the greatest debate W.E the boys and Booker T Washington
Right you got to look at your child and say are you on a divorce track are you the book of t-track and Booker T was like some students just need to go find them a trade and find out where they want to be but we put a lot of kids to
College and but if he wants to go to college she wants to go to college and they’re on that track that’s when you send them and eventually they’ll figure it out so if they only the the boys I mean the book of T Washington side that
Say you know I gotta trade but now I think I want to get my degree but we have to look at that totality and see what it is is that most people don’t want to hand out they just want to hand up and if we’re going to be these great
Organizations we got to go back to our community to our foundations and and talk um talk to our elders and find out what did you do during these times because time’s so hard and they made a lot happening with a little and we have a lot we’re not making a lot happening so
What we have to look about the mission the youth mentoring in the in the in the community development I challenge all these Greek organizations to come together every year find a different family build something start something give a full ride to a to a to a rural
Kid that wants to get out of those cities that’s the power and that’s showing what we do as organizations to make this thing work and so that’s just my opinion on how we can really be in the trenches and start getting to the politics I said but we’re we call
Ourselves the talent intent I know that’s a word that’s not used much but if we’re this group of people that want to see Movement we have to move as an army and put our I’m a part of the issue a part of that I mean that’s all fun but
The real work starts with us having action and making things happen and so that’s my marketing I I totally um Echo the cinnamon I I think the word that I want to lift up that you just said was silos right and and so just how much more effective we
Are when we can come together as one um and and that when we think about the the rope with separate strands but then we think about the power of that rope when it’s together so I guess my question for us to consider is how do we strategically and Visually really visually
Um to collaborate to support Community transformation and I keep going back to schools because that’s the realm where I work when I think about that K-12 space right so how are um do we have mutually beneficial Partnerships with each other and even with other community partners that are focused on impact and those
Measurable outcomes that can be sustained and expanded and when we’re looking at those those measurable outcomes what are we doing then to amplify and to tell those stories so that it can be replicated intentionally when when you look through that lens of again coming together to collaborate and
I want to go back you mentioned tutors mentors we think about Student Success coaches post-secondary transition coaches and I go back again to those wrap around services that we’re able to provide in in our Network so what could that model look like when we think about like you mentioned there’s a summer camp
Right that Omega has right but when we’re looking at and some of the initiatives I’m thinking about with Delta when we come together and really do A needs assessment with schools in our community to really strategic find out what do you need and what can we
Offer right and then really sit down as a cohesive unit in order to collaborate and provide those services and and really amplify it where we get the success and we get those metrics and and we can measure it to really amplify those stories so that we are seen as
Partners that people know what we’re able to provide and we’re seen as a cohesive unit it in terms of advancing the outcomes for our communities and our students so silos breaking them down I think is some of the power that we definitely definitely have I want to add this last little piece
Um when we talk about you said what could we do we got to create a village model right and so when you when you take on that young lady if her mother hasn’t been to college why not wrap your hands around that family and pass them
Along and so I just spoke to our grand bosses about when a young man wants to join our organization and I write a reference letter he now belongs to me for four years until he graduated so we meeting twice a month you know we’re just seeing the data showing how this
Helps him get to the next level I think we bring him in but we got to mentoring them all the way through this thing and so they’ll go back and get somebody else and then that’s how the train keeps going so that pipeline approach exactly I think it’s great that you both
Mentioned the value of kind of building those relationships there’s a lot of organizations where there’s a lot of alignment in what we’re doing specifically in the divine nine and so kind of growing our our power in numbers by connecting with additional Community organizations many of which some of us
Hold dual membership and being able to be a part of community orgs and our respective fraternities sororities and just build yeah can you hear me something happened keep going okay sorry about that thank you yes thank you both for you know your focus on community organizations and built and
Bringing those pieces together that’s so important to think about like how we create opportunity and access and alleviate some of the barriers that our communities May face this next question is for Chris and for Dr Heath so both of you have extensive work with hbcus and nphc Leadership however historically
There’s a lack of funding for hbcus which recently the Hun institute’s higher ed team has written a few policy briefs on addressing it and naming it and also providing some resources to learn more about that um what does the Strategic partnership look like between hbcus and their legislative officials and what should
Each group seek to gain from such a relationship we’ll start with Chris so how should I say this um I think one of the keys to hbcus um there’s a strategy here right we have to elect more members to the legislature um individuals who go to certain undergrads graduate institutions
Um who get elected to their who gets elected to their state legislatures by Nature want to take care of their institution that’s that’s just reality um we can we can flower it up and make it sound all kind of pretty like now the right thing to do would be as a
Legislator is that you should look out for all the public institutions in your state but the reality is is that we know that the majority of those individuals who go to specific universities um that dominate the legislature the majority of the funding ends up going to those particular institutions and so
Strategically we have to look at making sure that we are number one electing more individuals from those specific institutions to get into the legislature who would also then be in the room to be able to remind those legislators that hey uh this isn’t happening and we need
To do more or you get a greater number of individuals from that from those particular institutions that can amplify the voice and so therefore being able to move more resources um to the table now it’s going to take some time to get there you know we have been slowly but surely building
Political uh power over the last over the last century and so uh but you know what we have to be able to do now is as you engage there has to be a commitment to engaging legislators and you would be surprised how many hbcus uh uh do not engage their legislators they
Just don’t uh there may be the the typical I invite you to a luncheon or a dinner at the institution but they’re not really engaging that legislator for them to see the not only the economic impact uh that those individuals that this institution has in the community
But also uh the global impact that the institution is having and why that legislator could be tied to the success of these individuals who are coming out from their particular District right and so it has to be not and it has to also be strategically not just the legislator
That represents the district but also uh those other legislators who are that that has whether there’s a a common interest or or or or a or a level of relationships that that they can kind of build on um my my particular HBCU may have a engineering background but there may be
Multiple members of the legislator legislature that are Engineers right and so not only should I engage um the the legislator who is in my district but I need to identify the other legislators who have a uh a background that would be able to give them an interest into what our
University is doing which would then allow for them to become become allies uh some sometimes it’s just being able to seek those individuals out uh I’m not going to sit here and say that all members of the legislature are not willing to be an ally to our hbcus but I
Think that there has to be a greater effort that has to be an effort that has to be put on there while also leveraging the relationships of your more prominent individuals who have come through your University right so being able to use those individuals to do particular Outreach to those legislators and be
Able to say Hey you know we want to make sure um that you remember us here we want to make sure that we’re leveraging those alumni that have come through that are sitting in spaces of influence that could do that Outreach which will then pique the interests of that legislator
Uh and allow for them to make that engagement so there’s a lot of strategic ways that we can make this happen but I will tell you the biggest piece of it is we need to elect more folks uh that come from our hbcus uh that that will be in
The legislation and that’s a whole other conversation uh about um supporting uh folks politically and understanding the importance of of whether that’s from a financial standpoint and what that looks like and there needs to be a whole political strategy in that regard but we’ll save that for another webinar I also just
Want to plug so and that’s a great Point thinking about how hpcs engage legislators at the hunt Institute we work with the collective of other organizations on what we call the nc10 which is the collection of our 10 hbcus five public five private it’s our our higher ed team along with other teams
Across the Institute have led this work and or and to engage hbc’s connecting with legislators specifically here in North Carolina North and they were also able to support legislators in creating the first HBCU caucus in the country and we’ll be ex and have also supported this work in
Georgia so as you’re following along with HBCU work Chris you are absolutely right hbu’s hbcus has to engage and do that work however um I think you’re right in terms of getting those people elected so there are voices and advocacy there and so we’re really excited for this work to
Grow and to continue to highlight how hbcus and legislators across the country can engage um and to your point you were right they’re that there’s also some barriers there in terms of access uh but hopefully being able to support and see growth there so Doctor Who your next
Same question doesn’t say brother Chris you dropped the mic on that answer but I’m Gonna Come From Another approach from from a historical standpoint standpoint when you looked at the Civil Rights Movement um it’s called the children’s movement and if you ever visit the Greensburg uh Museum you see how those children was
Leaving school they packed got the jails right and so as as older members in these Greek organizations and sororities we have to go back and teach our youth how to collect data how to put the the politicians on Front Street with numbers and with data that shows what’s needed
And I’ll say this it’s kind of like when when we had all these issues with police it wasn’t the two cameras and people start showing the data and start running the numbers that these politicians had to sit down and say hey we got to look at these policies and procedures and so
For us as brief organizations we have to train the youth and it really dawned on me I met a lady I remember Delta Sigma she was 90 92 the most passionate lady I ever met in my life when it’s voting time she was in her wheelchair she would
Come to the university pass out flyers and she would get on to you because she said the Next Generation belongs to you you gotta get out here with these politicians and you got to make your boss hurt she was 92 years old and when she said invite the politicians in rooms
Sit down like like brother Chris said find that politician that this that went to your University let’s pull him in a room let’s tell him how what the data is saying and that’s right uh let’s help him write some policies and procedures that was gonna work for our community I
Think that we have like he said we got a vitamin and not just a speaking engagement like we need to really do a lock-in this is a working session we’re going to be here from eight to five we’re gonna come out with some tangible strategies to make sure that our our
Voices heard when these bills are being written and I so and also our chancellors are University um they’re our biggest uh that they’re the head of this University and so they have to make uh networking opportunities as well to get in these rooms and tell the stories of the hbcus and I think
That’s the power of that whole data collection that’s the power of the movement and showing the youth because now if you talk to the average college student they’ll say what am I voting for because they don’t see the action they don’t see the imagery and so we have to
Show them why it’s important and how their word and their efforts and their footsteps and they’re showing up and striking that box and voting for what they want to see it has outcomes and and it’s just not the president it’s local voting and so we got to teach and lastly
I’ll say I’m going to take another historical approach when you’ve seen the Civil Rights move before you can go out there march to do anything it was kind of like uh initiation you had to go through training you know they would they would smash eggs on people’s faces
To make sure that you can go out here and know that when you go out here these people that don’t like you gonna do any and everything to harm you and you have to be mentally strong to fight for what you believe in so that we can get things
Accomplished now I know that was a hard faith for those individuals and I I would never want to see that again but just think about the the mindset you had to be in to train yourself to go out there and fight for policies and things
That you believe in and so for us we got to get back to teaching and training that’s the whole key to this whole thing the village model the family model Each one teach one can I just comment really quick I know um just really quickly I love that last
Statement you talked about the that training piece um uh you know John Lewis who was a huge personal mentor of mine uh he talked about I mean he talked about how it fits how they trained in the basement um with them slapping eggs in their face and them slapping each other and and
Them literally um doing things that they knew that they were going to encounter uh when they got there you know and again we can have a lot of discussions around um what is valuable to folks today the reality is is that you know there are there are laws now in place
That you know we know that racism is not as overt as it used to be it is a little bit more covert and so therefore the engagement is is totally different now just like they had their strategies in the 40s 50s and 60s
Um you know we have to have a new era of strategies today uh because we know that it still exists we know that there’s a group of people that wake up in the morning and says that you know what I am better than you because of the color of
My skin uh and so therefore we have to be able so I’m going to make sure that I create a barrier for you and so we have to be able to know that um that even though we all can now ride anywhere that we want to on the bus
Um we got to know that the bus company uh that there are no Executives that are at that level that look like us and so the fight is different today and so and and so we as organizations uh you know recognize that you know from a policy and an economic standpoint it’s truly
Where the fight is today it’s no longer an access in some in some Arenas you know is still necessary but the reality is is that they know that they have to give us rights um that are is not so uh uh they have to give us rights in
Certain areas like we can know you know we have to go in the back of the you know go in the back of the hotel now you know we they got to sit us wherever we need to in the restaurants but the reality is is that when you peel back
The layers there are still so many barriers that are there and so the strategies today um even though we have to get back to the level of training that they did back then that training is is different today uh on how we attack the issue because of
The way that the barriers are now set up and I hope I said that right but yeah yes it’s definitely been a shift in the way that we approach some of the systemic barriers um and I think you’re absolutely right like what is needed today to dismantle
Those systems is not what was needed 60 years ago but being able to shift and stay relevant is so important not only for communities but also for our organizations and the work that we do we have several questions from the audience so we will move into those uh this first
Question I will give to Andrea as our Dei person on the call and member of Delta Sigma Theta with so much research data showing that the future is queer how are folks within this system and I’m assuming that means fraternities and sororities ensuring that the environment is safer for those who identify as
Lgbtqia especially in higher education a space that is gendered and power is often placed with maleness so I feel like with the higher education I’m going to have to toss it to either Chris or Dr Heath but I do want to kind of address that though still I think the
Importance of development and training I think that was lifted up one of the things that Dr Heath talked about is how taking that page from history in terms of training and opening perspective right and so when we have deliberate efforts deliberate modules delivered conversations in order to open up
Perspectives I think that’s one of the ways that it definitely works when you’re talking about within sororities and fraternities themselves I also want to take it though and and leverage that and take it to the K-12 space in in terms of the work that we’re doing some
Words I want to lift up that I think came up in the conversation that we just had policies and procedures was a word that came up uh outcomes is is a word that came up looking at that Village mentality and Collective efficacy so when we’re also looking at policies and
Procedures and outcomes that have a deliberate lens or deliberate focus on making sure that there’s more access more open more availability to wider segments of our population then you can measure that you can monitor for that you can have continuous Improvement and adjust your strategies in order to make
Sure that you are being responsive to that so um that strategy approach I think is really really big in terms of looking at how we make sure we’re more inclusive and I’ll throw it over for one of you guys to talk about the higher ed space well I’ll say for me
Um transitioning to assist device Chancellor before that I was definitely day-to-day programming and partnering with different uh departments on campus and we would have a lot of focus group centered around belonging the insists of belonging sexuality and all this but we have to remember this generation has been the most inclusive generation there
Is to date I’m an 80s baby so it was different right back then but so what I’ve learned through these focus groups is that these students in college they don’t want to really focus on who you go to sleep with who you go to bed with at
Night they want to know about can I belong can I be in your space and you not judge me and they do a great job with it I think for us as as older adults sometimes politicians uh don’t listen and don’t don’t understand what these students uh how they feel they’re
Not worried about belonging as much as we think they are they’re worrying about the policies that keep them from belonging and how do they get around like Chris said these hurdles they come every day and so I think higher ed um is really moving in spaces for belonging as
You know some universities are taking away the freshmen sophomore Junior and Senior year and calling it more first year second year third year fourth year and so um a lot of more gender gender neutral restrooms are coming around on campus um with diversity inclusion training
First day uh uh it was a first date I can’t think of the name of but uh so they’re making all these trainings and transitions even with pronouns you know so I think for us we need to look once again listen to the youth who are living
In it right they’re living it day to day and we have to find Space to learn from them what I would do as a higher ed coordinator uh educator I would go to spaces where they are and just listen and not say anything and hear their conversation and then I would program
Off the needs that they wanted and that’s how we we had a good marriage because I was giving them what I wanted and then also I was getting what I wanted because I had the students come I got the data but they was intrigued because we were listening to what they
Wanted and how they felt as a college student yeah I think um sorry as we think about you know belonging I think that’s really important and someone mentioned some of the statistics specifically for black Trans Community um I think specifically when we merge what’s happening especially like as
Fraternity and sorority members um a lot of the genderedness of our organizations can often be a barrier and it’s very nuanced and something that in National spaces when I was involved as a fraternity sorority advisor and working at for national headquarters it’s a conversation that needs to continue but
A conversation that has to be really intentional um to your point Dr Heath to the lived experiences of these students so how we talk about membership how we um how we engage our members what happens at convention being able to use pronouns be being able to talk about
Um identity and what that means and even Beyond training because as we know a lot of times with training those are great and they bring awareness but they may not change the structures and systems in place that create barriers but I do think you make a really great Point Dr
Heath that we have to listen to the lived experiences of the students and really take that into consideration because they know exactly they will tell us exactly what it is that they need it’s if we are actually listening and doing the things that are needed to make
Sure that they have the resources so that people um are very much safe in in the places that we occupy we are we have several questions I’m going to go through our attendee question our panel or audience questions we will not get through all of
Them so we will do our best to make sure we touch some of the ones that we haven’t gotten into this next one’s for Dr Heath because I know of the work that you did I’m North Carolina Central and um the work you’re doing at Fayetteville State specific to the Recruitment and
Retention of teachers of color and at the hunt Institute we work with seven other partners on something we call one million teachers of color to add 1 million teachers and 30 000 liters of color to the educator Workforce over the next decade so this is something that is
Very near and dear to our leadership’s heart into our staff’s heart as we think about what this means and Dr Keith I am aware of the work that you’ve done I know that you could probably speak to this um so the person the panel the audience member says I’ve heard about the program
To help folks finish their bachelor’s degrees what can you do to help increase the number of people of color and in particular black men and K-12 education our babies can’t be what they can’t see oh yeah and I and I wholeheartedly understand that uh the only black male
Teacher that I had in my K-12 experience was a PE teacher or when I played football he was a weightlifting coach right well I’ll take that back one teacher he was a social studies teacher and I think that’s why I really got into the policy politics side of history but
I’ll say for me when I started the marathon teaching Institute at Central um I said you know what these these big companies these big schools will go find our best and brightest athletes right I I killed our most Brown jocks but on the flip side of that it’s some
Brothers that they want to be in education so what I’m going to do is build something for them and so I would go out like a coach I said if if Nick Saban can go recruit the baddest uh black man that he thinks and get on the
Field and produce points I said I’m gonna go find the smartest brightest young man um in in across the world and bring him to North Carolina Central and provide funding for him to let him know that these students need you in this school when I was in grad school I was a
Reading Coach and so before the first three weeks everybody in the school knew me and I’m like how they know me and the teacher said look around the only black man they see works in the cafeteria the janitorial guy or the football coach and
I was like Wow and so that’s when I knew the impact of having the male in there they loved me to death a lot of them didn’t know my name I was like uh I was like an exhibit they’d go walking pointing at me and stuff so I was like
How do we do this and so lastly I’ll say we met with Roy Cooper uh doing Kobe and he said what would it take to get more males in the classroom I said historically if you look at it if you want if a man wants to run want to be
The head of his household and provide for his family right and he wants to have three and four kids there’s no way he can do that off of 35 000 a year so what he’s going to do is saying I would love to be a teacher but I can’t afford
To live the lifestyle that I want but I told Roy Cooper is that if you raise that minimum teacher’s salary to 75 000 uh 80 000 you’ll get more minority male teachers in there and it’s not about the money it’s about being able to live a lifestyle that you work hard for
And be happy in your space you never want to go home uh financially broke and try to come to school and perform to kids and you can’t take care of your own family that’s a broke mentality teacher and it’s not gonna last and I think that’s why education is suffering you
Got highly involved Educators they’re not reaping the benefits of what the skills they bring to the table but we’ll pay an athlete a million dollars uh uh uh a year just to be a athletic coach it’s not knock at football players or basketball players but look at the the
The autonomy of that these people are leading the Next Generation these students right here are playing sports they’re entertainment and so that’s why the male Institute was started and I think if we go back and recruit these meals and highlight them as these high educational uh moving parts to education
Like you are needed we see you come on black man be a teacher you’ll get more males into the system and Ashley if I could just jump in What does that also mean I know a lot of school divisions are having programs like grow your own educator Rising right
Where they’re looking at while you are a student just like you had say um a FBLA organization there are education there are programs where they’re trying to from the beginning really immerse you in it and so again as we go back to this notion of leveraging the resource Rich the people Rich we
Think about our fraternity specifically there are a lot of Educators or people who have been teachers principals even retired within that space so how do we look at even Partnerships to bring them in to partner with some of these educator Rising initiatives so to the point you can see someone who has done
This and be able to leverage their experiences and their resources well so that you have that as you’re coming up through and it’s not an afterthought you know all the way through about the pathways and what it takes and what some of those experiences are and we we added
Mentoring so we matched our young men with the male teacher so they were following him through four years as well so that’s a good point yes well we have come to time this has been such an amazing conversation and I very much appreciate the three of you
Taking time out of your day and you’re scheduled to share your wisdom with us uh for those of you whose questions we didn’t get to my apologies um but our panelists are on social media if you follow the hunt Institute on Twitter you’ll be able to see where
We’ve tagged them or if you follow the hunt Institute on LinkedIn you’ll be able to find their professional profiles where if you have additional questions um or even want to just see the work that they’re doing since they’re doing such amazing work in the policy education and non-profit space feel free
To connect with them we’re very fortunate to be able to have them as a part of our Network um we have several webinars that are coming up as we think about uh the hunt Institute and the work that we’re doing so please go to our website follow our
Twitter we do a webinar each week and it focuses across each of our content area so we have early learning we have homeroom with our K-12 team and our higher ed team has a post-secondary webinar series as well so feel free to check those out see my colleagues and
What they’re talking about and um also follow us on social media as we often will tweet out resources and we will talk about the work that we’re doing and also um connect to the people and organizations that are doing work that aligns with our goals of educational
Equity the race and Ed series will be back next month we’ll have a webinar focused on women’s leadership and education philanthropy and policy so super excited to do that in April we will be talking um with students of color in the Arts we’ll be focusing on that and then in
May we’ll have one on Asian American history so super excited for the next few months of our programming and hope to see you all there if there’s anything we can ever do at the Hunts too if there’s any questions you have don’t hesitate to reach out to myself or any
Of the other hunt staff and with that we hope you have a great rest of your Tuesday
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