We are trying to change the way we talk to young children about race--from a "color blind" framework to a "race conscious" framework. By shifting the language we use to talk about race with young children, we self-empower them to have healthy racial identities as individuals --as well as empower them to become agents of change and work towards racial and economic justice throughout their lives.
Raising Race Conscious Children
What if all parents, teachers, and caregivers used pro-active "race conscious" language to help young children work towards racial justice?
Written by Sachi Feris
Founding Story: Share a story about a key experience or spark that helps the network understand why this project got started or a story about how you became inspired about the potential for this project to succeed.
As teachers, we created and facilitated curriculum that prompted conversations about issues of race, equity, and justice. As parents, we realized that one has to a "choice" to be race conscious and diverge from our nation's legacy of color-blindness. Research widely supports race conscious language as a way to help children challenge racism--but few models of what this language sounded like on a daily basis existed. Thus Raising Race Conscious Children's workshops and blog community was born.Which categories describe you? (the answer will not be public)
- Self-identify race, ethnicity, or origin
If you chose to self-identify your race, ethnicity, or origin, please share here: (the answer will not be public)
Sachi Feris identifies as White/Jewish. Lori Taliaferro Riddick identifies as Black/biracial.Website
www.raceconscious.orgLocation: Where is your organization headquartered? [State]
- New York
Location: Where is your organization headquartered? [City]
BrooklynLocation: Where is your project primarily creating impact? [State]
- New York
Location: Where is your project primarily creating impact? [City]
New York City, NY and tri-state area as primary location--but through our webinar-based workshops and blog, we are working all across the country with a majority of participants on the East coast (NY, MA, DC, PA, ME) or the West Coast (CA, OR, WA).Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?
While the goal of color blindness may be well intentioned (that race shouldn’t matter), the reality (from Michael Brown to Jasmine Richards) is that race does matter. If we commit to shifting the way we talk about race with young children, by being pro-actively and explicitly "race conscious," we can empower them to actively challenge racism each and every day.
Raising Race Conscious Children's logo
Is your model focused on any of the following traditionally underserved communities?
- Communities of color
- Other
Does your model work within any of the following sectors?
- Childcare
- Education
Year Founded
2014Project Stage
- Growth (the pilot has already launched and is starting to expand)
Example: Walk the network through a specific example of what happens when a person or group engages with your solution.
In Raising Race Conscious Children’s workshops, it has been overwhelming how common it is for participants to comments that it felt “strange” or “awkward,” at first, to explicitly name race during our practice prompts—and almost simultaneously, how practicing this skill made them aware that this was something they could be, and should be, doing with their children. The shift in becoming race conscious is about changing the way we think and speak about race--and our workshops tell us that adults can “try on” this skill and commit to practicing it…in an hour and a half. Furthermore, our blog has similarly provided models for talking about race that readers have used to inform their own practice with the children in their lives.Impact: What was the impact of your work last year? Please also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.
In the last year, we have conducted over a dozen workshops for over 500 participants. Again, based on informal evaluation (that is part of our workshop curriculum) indicates participants' ability to successfully use "race conscious" practice after only an hour+ of "practice." In addition, we have built a blog that has published 100 posts, drawing on a community of almost 40 guest bloggers. The blog has had an average of almost 10,000 unique visitors per month over the six past months, with over 300 individuals subscribed directly to our publication list, and almost 4,500 "likes" on Facebook.Organization Type
- for-profit
Annual Budget
- $10k - $50k
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CommentDoug Gould