On support squads and feedback on this work
It has been an incredibly busy and exciting month for me and Team Anahsa! In this newsletter, I want to share a few snippets of the incredible work I’ve been doing so far in 2023. Before I share, though, I want to let you know that I couldn’t do any of the work I do without the incredible support of Crystal and Jazné, who are the pillars of Team Anahsa. I have a chronic illness, which is both invisible and extremely painful at times. For the past few weeks, I have been in a lot of pain, and Crystal and Jazné stepped up to support me in big and small ways. They suggested accommodations to my work approach by rescheduling meetings and taking dictation for writing I needed to do, so that I could refrain from using the computer, for example. I was able to slow down a bit, while continuing to meet my obligations to various clients.
In previous newsletters I’ve talked about the need for rest and community care. I am proud that my team embodies the practice of community care, and supports me to rest in whatever ways I can. I do the same for them, too. Humanity first, always. I hope that all of you reading this can think about and honor who’s on your “support squad”, and who you serve that role for. Take a moment and check in with yourself, and with your people after you finish reading this newsletter.
Now, I’m excited to share some highlights and themes I’m seeing as I implement my framework for creating joyful and equitable early childhoods with audiences across the United States.
First of all, we are so proud and excited to announce that our Journey to Nia curriculum (J2N) was selected as a finalist for the Zaentz Early Childhood Innovation Challenge (Harvard)! We plan to create a hybrid course using our J2N curriculum, using a combination of self-paced content and live-facilitation. We want to make sure that as many people as possible can access the content and to immediately begin centering Black joy and eradicating anti-Black racism in early childhood. Takiema (Anahsa CEO) and Crystal (Anahsa Flow Director) will be traveling to Harvard on April 27th to pitch for our project to a panel of judges, as well as a live (in person and virtual) audience who will vote on all the projects. We would love to have you watch the event, and to cast your vote for Journey to Nia. There are some incredible and important other projects being considered, so stay tuned by following the Anasha social media channels (all linked at the end of this newsletter) and Zaentz Early Education Initiative for updates!
In the beginning of March, I (Takiema) traveled to Dayton, Ohio to deliver the keynote for the Preschool Promise readiness summit for an audience of about 550 people. My keynote focused on leadership for equity in early childhood, and the entire event, including the breakout sessions was inspirational and thought-provoking. It is amazing to see how many leaders, professionals and policy-makers all across the country are working to create more equitable early childhoods for all children. People are ready to engage with the hard work of creating equity for children. One of the pieces of feedback I received after the keynote was this, from a person who’s been working and leading in the field of early childhood for over 50 years:
“I was present during Takiema's keynote speech. She was dynamic. I appreciate the meaning behind her words as well as her delivery. Thank you so much for providing food for thought.”
In mid-March, I presented a workshop to almost 50 early childhood educators and leaders in New York City. That workshop was Journey to Justice: Centering equity, anti-racism and joy in early childhood. We honed in on children’s literature as an aspect of how we socialize children into their identities in early childhood. Throughout the session, participants connected with each other, and challenged each other, and they had multiple “a-ha moments” that allowed them to deepen their practice as early education professionals. One person’s feedback stood out to me:
“I am feeling so inspired, hopeful and energized to do the work of creating a more beautiful, inclusive and reflective community together.”
Lastly, I continued to do executive coaching for early childhood leaders throughout March. One team has been doing group executive coaching with me for nearly a year, and I asked them to reflect on what leadership moves they made that allowed their staff to make the dramatic and positive shifts towards becoming anti-racist that are both visible and concrete. At first, the leaders didn’t think they had actually done anything to shift their staff. However, when they reflected, one of the things they realized:
“I presented a model in the administrative team for stepping into the discomfort, trying it out, making mistakes, knowing that it is hard and adjusting for that.”
Good leadership for equity doesn’t happen by accident, or by magic. It is a skill that needs to be learned, honed, and honored.
Despite all this amazing learning that I’ve been honored to facilitate for folks, there is one major theme that keeps popping up for early childhood professionals I work with and present to:
Everybody’s tired y’all. Early educational professionals are exhausted, burnt out, and overworked (and they continue to be underpaid). The covid pandemic exacerbated the already existing challenges ever present in the field, and people are in desperate need of time to connect as a staff in order to build relationships, and to learn together in the service of a big, inspiring goal.
For many, this goal is to learn how to create anti-racist, equitable and joyful early childhoods for all children. Despite the exhaustion, they are hungering for the opportunity to learn how to do right by all children. There needs to be more funding, time and will to provide robust and holistic professional development for these professionals. This is why I created the curriculum and professional development opportunities at Anahsa Consulting. We also implement this curriculum with care and attention to people’s full humanity, and their need to connect, smile and be joyful as they do the incredibly difficult work of dismantling oppressive ideas and systems. We welcome everyone who’s ready to join the movement that we are creating for young children with open arms.
What we are up to!
Supporting Healthy Identity Development in Young Children
Please join us for this in person keynote at the Westport Library, in Westport CT, sponsored by Team Westport and Children’s Community Development Center.
We will be exploring how to support young children’s identity development in an interactive and reflective way. Come be a part of this community learning experience.
Use the QR code to register at Eventbrite or click here.
Journey to Nia:
Power and Purpose in Black Caregiving of Children
Journey to Nia is a program to support the development of healthy racial, cultural and playful identities of Black children in their earliest years. In this four-part series, Black caregivers & early childhood educators will learn how to identify ways to care for and educate Black children so they can thrive at home and in school. Additionally, participants will learn self-care and community care within the context of racism and racial trauma.
We are inviting individuals from the worldwide African Diaspora and Global Community whose role is parent, etc., to join us on this journey.
Click here to register.
Journey to Nia Summer Retreat 2023: If you’re interested in joining us in person (Brooklyn, NY) or virtually, please fill out this very short interest form.
Resource Corner!
If you haven’t already, please check out the First Conversations series, with books about race, gender, love, consent and bodies. These books are incredible resources for adults to educate themselves, and to begin conversations with the youngest of children. We are so proud to be in community with Megan Madison and her co-authors!
Important opportunity: If you are, or know of a school with K, 1st or 2nd grades interested in adopting a groundbreaking, full-day (literacy, math, science, social studies, SEL), OER, research-aligned, standards-aligned, culturally responsive, and social justice-focused birth-to-age-eight curriculum, please email GreatFirstEight@stand.org .
Schools must serve metropolitan areas with a number of children from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.
*The Great First Eight was developed by a team led by renowned researchers Dr. Nell Duke, Dr. Marisha Humphries, and Dr. Claire Vallotton.
The Schomburg Center 's 11th Annual Black Comic Book Festival Registration, New York | Eventbrite
Thank you for reading our newsletter! Please share it with your networks.
Towards joy and liberation,
Takiema and Team Anahsa
Creating joyful and liberated lives in early childhood, and in organizations.™
