Voices and Choices for Children Share Their Equity Summit Experience
Cross-posted from Think Small Blog and written by May Esperanza Losloso, Senior Organizer, Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota
From April 11-13, 2018, eight members of the Voices and Choices for Children Steering Committee attended the PolicyLink 2018 Equity Summit in Chicago, IL. The theme of the Summit was “Our Power, Our Future, Our Nation”.
The Equity Summit was an opportunity for members to experience the seven elements of racial equity in action, which we discussed in our first blog post. Although the Equity Summit did not focus specifically on early childhood education, all seven policy components were present throughout the summit. These 7 elements of racially equitable public policy are to:
- Prioritize the needs of low-income children, children of color and American Indian children
- Ensure services and programs are provided in a holistic and high quality manner
- Address the full needs of a family
- Invest in families and communities over time
- Allow for flexibility, portability
- Build on family and community assets
- Hold cultural relevance and specificity as central to how services are provided
