At our Summer Training Institute in June, we have asked three renowned educators to speak on helping children of color.  Marion Hill, Dr. Glynetta Fletcher, and Dr. Daryl Howard each provide a  different focus, as you will see in this week’s blog post.

To learn more about our Summer Training Institute and to register, please visit:  https://gurianinstitute.com/events/gurian-summer-institute-2022/.   All our keynoters come from a systemic change context–hopeful that every school will engage in systemic measures to aid children of color.   To bring groups from your school or community, please email gail@gurianinstitute.com.

Marion Hill, June 26, Sunday Keynote. The Fatherhood Experience: How to Invigorate Healthy Fathering in Your School and Community

A former coach and youth mentor, Marion Hill is Program Director for Head Start and a Gurian Certified Trainer with the Greater Phoenix Urban League.  Dynamic, visionary, and deeply committed to social change, Marion founded M.A.N.C.A.V.E. (Men All Need to be Caring Actively-Engaged, and Encouraged), a fatherhood program designed to encourage fathers/male role models to be actively engaged in their child’s growth and development.  In his keynote, Marion Hill will present some of his own powerful, developmental story as an African-American boy growing up in a military family around the world.  He will also use anecdotes from his two decades of work in child development and father-engagement to bolster audience understanding of the crucial role fathers play in children’s lives.  As he tells his story, Marion will bring to life evidence-based success strategies M.A.N.C.A.V.E. is using as it works to help children and schools in under-resourced neighborhoods and classrooms.  Because of his work in Hispanic/Latino communities in Arizona, Marion will also provide culture-specific success strategies for engaging Black and Hispanic/Latino fathers and male role models in their children’s education and social-emotional development.

Dr. Glynetta (Fletch) Fletcher, Second Morning Keynote, June 26. What It’s Like to Feel Equal: How to Build Culturally Responsive Schools and Communities

For two decades, Dr. Fletcher (“Fletch”) has been teaching in Los Angeles urban schools where she is now a Director for Racial Equity Programs.  In her keynote, she will focus on the learning and life-needs of children of color especially, providing frameworks by which communities and schools can build culturally and racially sensitive classrooms and environments.  Emboldened by her work with GI in the Greater Phoenix Urban League’s Head Start Pilots in Phoenix, Arizona, Fletch will integrate early childhood strategies with K – 12 strategies.  Overall in her professional work, Fletch is masterful at supporting students at building resiliency.  A testimony to the power of relationships and neuroplasticity, Fletch will share part of her own personal story in this inspiring and powerful keynote.  To learn more about Dr. Fletcher, please visit Dr. Fletcher’s Gurian Institute Trainer page.

Educating Boys of Color: What We Know Works with Dr. Daryl Howard, Equity Initiatives Specialist, Montgomery County Public Schools (This Keynote is Available Online only)

Many of our boys, especially those of color, are falling behind academically and socially.  With training and commitment, dedicated educators can make a difference by utilizing instructional strategies and methods that fit the developmental and learning needs of these youngsters.  Come prepared to learn strategies and discuss how to best meet this challenge in your classroom and your school.  Because Dr. Howard has worked with a widely diverse group of boys from all races and socio-economic origins, he has both culturally sensitive and universally applicable wisdom on masculine and male development.  This workshop will include strategies, anecdotes, stories, and action plans you can use right away.  Dr. Howard, a Gurian Certified Trainer will share the genesis of Maryland’s Excellence and Equity for Black Boys Initiative, and the successes the Pilot schools are having after one year of focusing on this work.  The Gurian Institute is honored to have trained cadres and trainers in the Pilot Schools.