Family Engagement

Building African-American Communities Matters

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Have you ever heard of Dr. Asa Hilliard III? He was a highly esteemed teacher, psychologist, and historian of color. He chose to dedicate his life’s work to the betterment and enlightenment of our community. This incredible man’s work serves as a testament to the struggle that our people have had to endure throughout the centuries.

The Village Method is a community-based grassroots organization that draws its inspiration from scholars such as Dr. Asa Hilliard. We find ourselves resonating with his view on pushing an Afrocentric curriculum in schools. The Critical Race Theory is also fundamental in our eyes.

To put it shortly, Dr. Hilliard made it his mission to point out the intentional and therefore calculated alienation of our people. He believed that all people of African descent have been forced to accept European superiority through the deeply flawed educational system. 

In this article, we’re going to take you through some of the main reasons why African-American communities should be built and nurtured. Are you ready to dig deeper in the topic?

 

Uncovering The Underrated Importance of Family Engagement 

The curriculum in schools continues to underwhelm our youth. They are unaware of the historical achievements that we, as people of color, should be credited with. How do we counteract the lack of African education and tradition in schools? By fully embracing family engagement activities. 

Because family engagement in schools is practically unheard of, we find ourselves in a position where we must actively seek out solutions for our children’s wellbeing. By signing up our young ones to wholesome, culturally empowering after-school activities, we’ll begin to notice plenty of positive changes. Our children’s behaviors and outlooks on their academic journeys will improve significantly.

It’s been proven that family engagement activities can help dismantle educational inequities. However, it’s important to mention that this is made possible only when they’re aimed at providing our children with historically accurate information. Too long have our people suffered at the hands of their oppressors. It’s time for a definitive reform. 

Parental engagement should aim to bring our youth closer to the richness of our ancestral African culture. Since family engagement in schools is still an underrated concept, we highly encourage you to look into Black-owned after-school programs that aim for this type of collective awakening. The greater the fear and ignorance, the longer the battle with systemic racism.

 

Supporting Family Engagement Activities Based on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) 

African family spending time together Free Photo
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Social and Emotional Learning is one of the best educational frameworks currently available. It enables equity and excellence for all students, regardless of their economic backgrounds. Its main aim is to help bridge the gap between schools and families by creating a sense of community between the two.

Family engagement activities are largely based upon the Social and Emotional Learning framework. By nurturing healthy relationships between educators and parents, we’ll be able to finally face the rampant, systemic racism in schools. Our children deserve to be fully equipped with the tools that will enable them to pursue academic excellence.

The families’ expertise and cultural capital are hard to overlook. Every single parent is an expert when it comes to their children. Educators should be eager to understand and assimilate the parent’s expertise. Sadly, this is rarely the case. However, parental engagement activities based on Social and Emotional Learning manage to counteract this unfortunate reality.

 

Studying the Critical Race Theory (CRT)

The Critical Race Theory has been under attack in many states of our country. Why, you might wonder? Because silencing us is much more convenient than coming to terms with the irreparable damage caused by a consistently racist curriculum.

An academic concept that has been formulated nearly four decades ago, the Critical Race Theory aims to affirm the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of our people. Imagine a world where CRT is taught during one’s K-12 years. We like to think that racism would become endemic at that point.

The unabridged history of America is not a heroic one, as the curriculum might have us believe. In fact, it is imperious that we bring forth the truth with the help of the school curriculum. The earlier our children know the truth, the better it will be for people of color everywhere. 

 

The Conclusion Is…

African-American communities can only be built and nurtured through equity-based activities. Family engagement is a crucial component, along with culturally affirming after-school activities that bring forth the real history of our people. The Critical Race Theory alongside Social and Emotional Learning will set the foundations for strong, indestructible communities.

 

The Village Method has always emphasized the vital importance of creating communities with like-minded individuals who are eager to give our incredibly rich cultural heritage its rightful credit. We invite you to explore our cause by visiting our website, volunteering, or simply making a donation. We thank you for your ongoing support and invite you to stay tuned for our next blog post!

3 Reasons Why Our Youth Needs After-School Activities

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The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a sense of uncertainty to all of us, especially to our young ones. They’re the ones who were and still are affected the most by these unmerciful times. Among many other issues, they can no longer interact with their peers and educators like they used to.

The systemic racism that runs so rampant throughout the K-12 years shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, it’s been shown that the phenomenon of unfinished learning has managed to exacerbate the historical inequity that our people have always fought so hard against. This heartbreaking fact is difficult, if not impossible, to ignore.

We can be absolutely certain of one thing — it’s most likely that after-school activities have become vital throughout the last two years. 

The Village Method has always been responsible for pushing forward-thinking, culturally affirming after-school programs that help enrich the lives of our children and help them  discover their ancestors’ true history.

In this article, we’d like to show you some of the reasons why our youth is in need of after-school activities. Read on!

 

The Benefits of After-School Activities

It’s a well-documented fact that after school programs help young people in a variety of ways. 

For example, the Afterschool Alliance has shown that after-school activities help kids become more self-confident, develop great social skills, learn how to build healthy relationships with both their peers and adults and even help reduce the possibility of risky behaviors ever occurring. 

By keeping the children out of trouble, engaged, and motivated, we’ll have greater chances of helping them get into their desired colleges. We’ll watch them build successful lives that will enable them to give back to the communities that once nurtured them.

For that to happen, we must be adamant about making after-school activities accessible. It comes as no surprise that 88% of Californian parents support public funding for after-schools. This speaks volumes about the importance of after-school activities and the solid relevance of their long-term benefits. 

 

Improving Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

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Family engagement is crucial. Without it, our youth ends up frustrated, confused, and with a lack of proper academic motivation. Although family engagement in schools is still rare, this gap can easily be bridged with the help of qualitative after-school programs. 

Great after-school programs use Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) as a way to promote educational equity and nurture the home-school relationship. Family engagement activities are prioritized and seen as the perfect way to increase the levels of safety, health, and justness within communities.

With the help of Social Emotional Learning, our youth will be encouraged to pursue academic excellence while maintaining a constructive bond with all adults they come into contact with. It’s important to understand that family engagement activities are crucial to one’s mental and emotional wellbeing.

Parental engagement motivates our childrens’ educators to step up and provide them with qualitative, culturally affirming information. Because family engagement in schools is so seldom heard of, we’d like to invite you to read the book Families and Educators Together: Building Great Relationships that Support Young Children. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has started an educational ruckus. We were once again faced with the inequities of the educational system. It’s up to us to nurture our youth’s social and emotional wellbeing from now on. After-school family engagement activities are the perfect start.

 

Prioritizing Culturally Affirming Family Engagement Activities

Think about it. The Critical Race Theory (CRT) is still largely unknown, thanks to our politicians. Their endeavor to silence our people and censor our history has turned out to be a success for centuries. However, the Critical Race Theory is easy to understand, if one only makes time to listen.

Basically, it questions the perpetuation of the racial caste system and how the prevalence of institutionalized racism continues to affect our people, including our youth. Now, think of how great it would be to find an after-school program that focuses on the teachings of the Critical Race Theory. 

If we want systemic racism to end in America, we’ll have to seek parental engagement activities that bring us together as families rather than as separate individuals. Both children and parents should become accustomed to the real history of our people and take pride in the richness of our culture.

The curriculum is currently void of our people’s real history. This needs to change. After-school activities that focus on the growth and awareness of our children will one day result in the gradual dismantling of racial inequality. 

 

The Conclusion Is…

After-school activities help our youth become more attuned to the rich history and culture of our ancestors. They are encouraged to form strong bonds with their parents through family engagement activities, form invaluable skills with the help of Social and Emotional Learning, and will one day end up blossoming into healthy and empowered adults who will have plenty to give back to their communities.

The Village Method has always been a trusted ally for both children and their families when it comes to culturally accurate after-school activities. We are adamant about providing our youth with the sustainable tools that will enable them to become the powerful adults of tomorrow.

We invite you to lend us your helping hand. We cannot change the deeply ingrained, racially hostile educational system without your help. You can either donate, spread the word about our organization, or volunteer! The choice is yours and please know that we are deeply thankful for your ongoing support.

How Remote Learning Affects Working Families

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It’s safe to say that education will never be the same again. The pandemic has achieved the impossible. More specifically, it has managed to efficiently bridge the gap between home and school.

This rare event will go down in history as the pivotal moment that brought educators and parents together. They put all their differences aside and joined forces for the sake of the children.

However, this metaphorical bridge that we speak of can only stand the test of time with the help of parental engagement and after school activities. Without them, it’s bound to crumble.

The Village Method has emphasized the vital importance of family engagement for the longest time. We believe that any child can achieve academic excellence as long as the parents are involved in various educational activities.

This certainly explains why we’re so thrilled to watch the current implementation of family engagement in schools. 

In this article, we’ll take a look at distance learning and how it’s starting to affect working families throughout the nation. Read on!

 

How Social Emotional Learning Can Help Working Families

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In a perfect world, parents are always there to support their children’s academic journeys.  Family engagement activities are a daily occurrence, positive learning habits are built upon and sustained, and the parent-educator relationship is nothing short of perfect. 

In the real world, things are not as simple as they might seem at first glance.

Working families have to juggle it all. Their daily efforts are immense and we’re certain that most children who grow up in such families will one day be grateful for mom and dad’s resilience. 

However, while they’re still young, they need to feel prioritized, even though they’re currently a part of the distance learning system.

Social Emotional Learning has become a critical component of today’s multicultural schooling system. By adopting this type of learning for both family engagement in schools and after school activities, parents will start noticing important improvements in their children’s ways of adapting to the world.

Positive social behaviors such as generosity and kindness are always prioritized by the Social Emotional Learning framework. 

Our youth needs to develop the self-awareness and confidence necessary to excel during school, college, and ultimately, in life. 

Working families require peace of mind. They need to know that their children’s cultural, emotional, social, and academic needs are all met during distance learning. 

However, after school activities that include strong parental engagement frameworks will continue to play a crucial part in the healthy development of a child’s life skills.

 

After School Activities and Working Families

According to the Afterschool Alliance, parents in California whose children benefit from various after school activities have noticed colossal improvements. Their children are kept out of trouble and consistently encouraged to build sustainable life skills. 

Most parents have agreed that after school activities provide them with peace of mind. This is especially relevant for working parents. While they may not always be able to constantly be there for their children, they’re still enjoying the benefits of culturally responsive education. 

African-American students require a different approach. More specifically, this culturally accurate approach must focus predominantly on offering them a realistic picture of their history. 

As we’ve discussed in our earlier articles, the rich heritage of our ancestors has been not only silenced but erased from the curriculum. This is unacceptable at the very least. If schools refuse to nourish our youth, we’ll have to seek help elsewhere. 

The Village Method provides working families with not just regular after school activities, but with a complex, all-encompassing experience that aims to echo the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child”. The village might be missing at school, but it can surely be found if one looks for other empowering alternatives. 

Because we’re inspired by the Critical Race Theory, we strongly believe that a truthful account of African-American history could go a long way for everyone involved. The longer we choose to negate the truth, the longer systemic racism will continue to thrive in our country. 

 

The Conclusion for all Working Families Is…

Our youth needs to evolve in an environment that is safe, culturally affirming and nurturing. However, the plague of systemic racism continues to spread because of the massive gaps in our curriculum. 

We must compensate by prioritizing family engagement and getting involved in after school activities that provide our youth with the right tools to dismantle systemic racism once and for all. 

The Village Method has been a trusted ally of working families way before the COVID-19 pandemic. We rely on you to continue our noble mission. All you have to do is either share our organization with your friends and family, donate, or volunteer. The choice is yours. 

It takes a village to raise a child, according to our African ancestors. However, what do we do when the village is not there? What do we do when it’s systematically being destroyed? We build it from scratch. Join our cause today!

The Dismantling of Systemic Racism Starts at Home

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Systemic racism is not going anywhere. In fact, we still have to confront it in our day-to-day lives. It’s a deep-rooted problem that has been lingering on for far too long. Although we might expect our children to become immune to several acts of injustice, this cannot happen overnight. 

They urgently need our assistance.

Our children deserve all the support and information they can get. They have to  become familiar with our people’s plight, traditions, and enormously rich cultural heritage. We, at The Village Method, have made it our main mission to empower and enlighten numerous families by implementing intensive family engagement activities.

In fact, every single African-American deserves to study and take pride in their own people’s history. The struggle to form an identity starts at a very young age and it needs to be properly tackled by both parents and educators. The dismantling of systemic racism can definitely commence at home. We’re here to show you how.

In this article, we’d like to uncover the immense importance of parental engagement and how the implementation of family engagement in schools can help us fight against the systemic racism that has been plaguing our nation for centuries. 

 

How Can We Teach Children Our Real History?

It should come as no surprise that the current curriculum does not include the unabridged history of African-Americans. 

There is no mention of the impressive history of educational self-help, neither of the fact that separation does not entail equality, nor of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education landmark. In fact, our youth is purposefully kept in the dark by a schooling system that simply refuses to acknowledge our ancestors’ fight for equity. 

As responsible parents, we must tend to our children’s gaps in knowledge directly at home, or by encouraging them to join culturally affirming after school activities. Family engagement activities are some of the most effective tools when trying to dismantle centuries of systemic racism. After school activities are also an excellent way to connect our children to the consciousness of truth. 

By engaging with our children in a fun and historically accurate manner, we’ll offer them the chance to finally break free of the predetermined agenda that the schooling system continuously enforces. The white schooling system’s main goal was to subjugate us and make us oblivious to the noble fight of our ancestors. This has in turn kept many first generation college students from achieving academic excellence. This has got to stop.

The self-aware adults of tomorrow need someone to guide their steps. The parents and educators must join forces and stand together against the adversity of systemic racism. It’s never too late to learn about one’s honorable ancestors.

 

Why Is Family Engagement Important?

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As the Carnegie Corporation of New York so eloquently puts it, the invisible gap between home and school has been bridged in a way that is unprecedented. Suddenly, parents and educators have had to come together and help our youth overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve had to collaborate in a newfound way that enabled children to achieve better academic results.

By doing this, the parents got to notice the way in which their children usually interact with their educators and peers. They’ve also had the rare chance of watching the educators’ manners of teaching. It’s needless to say that family engagement activities have become a necessity nowadays. 

The relationship between parents and teachers is gradually strengthening, all thanks to this unexpected reset that the pandemic has imposed. This will also have a positive effect on first generation college students’ ability to finish their academic journeys with stellar achievements.

It’s important to mention that development programs had adopted parental engagement activities long before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. A wonderful example of such an initiative appears in the book titled Families and Educators Together: Building Great Relationships that Support Young Children. 

The executive director of such a development program had implemented a weekly event called Parent Coffee Hour. Basically, parents were invited to enjoy a cup of coffee, along with a selection of yummy donuts and pastries that could be found in the lobby. As soon as they were done dropping off the children, they were kindly invited to sit down and savor a cup of hot coffee while discussing significant matters with the staff members.

The importance of family engagement in schools is tremendous. It’s the only way to stop the pandemic of systemic racism. Educators should be encouraged to embrace each family without biases and acknowledge their cultural backgrounds. 

Our youth deserves to be celebrated and in no way belittled. Our first generation college students need to be constantly empowered. The elders have fought for our emancipation relentlessly and we can’t afford to lose our hard-earned privileges in this day and age.

 

The Conclusion Is…

Systemic racism can become endemic only if we take education seriously enough. The undeniable richness of our culture needs to become a part of the curriculum. Until we achieve this, we must implement family engagement in schools to bridge several gaps. After school activities are also a great alternative with proven benefits.

The Village Method provides culturally responsive youth development, family engagement, and community outreach programming. Pastor George M. Gaskins Jr. of Bethel Baptist Church in Union City, California has made it his life’s mission to empower our youth and provide them with the necessary tools so that they can one day give back to the communities that nurtured them. 

Find out more about us and our mission by visiting our website and learning how you can help our community-based organization thrive and change.

Parents and Educators, Come Together!

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If this pandemic has managed to teach us one thing, it’s that family engagement is crucial for our children’s academic success. We, at The Village Method, are passionate advocates for the implementation of family engagement activities both in schools and after-school. Our rich, cultural heritage should be a pivotal part of our children’s curriculum. 

The problem is complex and requires tactful tackling. Parents and educators often have strained relationships. The educational system is flawed and built on faulty foundations. This is caused by several misunderstandings regarding our culture and African traditions. Unfortunately, this ends up affecting our children’s academic journeys, to say the very least.

In this article, we’d like to invite you to take a closer look at the complex and ever-changing dynamic between parents and their children’s educators. Read on!

 

Why Is Family Engagement Important?

According to the Carnegie Corporation of New York, family engagement is one of the most important factors when it comes to the educational outcomes of our children. It dismantles centuries of educational inequity and brings forth a new reality based on mutual consideration and respect for one’s cultural background.

Things can change drastically the moment we connect with educators in an efficient manner. More so, educators should make the conscious decision to stop perceiving African-American parents through a deficit-based lens. Instead, they should decide to engage with them openly and honestly through attractive family engagement activities. 

Most parents meet their children’s educators a couple of times a year. Given the context brought forth by the COVID-19 epidemic, things have changed to an unprecedented extent. We have had the remarkable opportunity to get a glimpse into our children’s way of learning. 

We’ve also connected with their teachers and we are finally able to witness their way of educating our children. We also intervened when we felt it was necessary and helped our children tackle various projects, as well as their homework.

Family engagement in schools is of the utmost importance because it motivates children to do a better job at school and therefore has higher chances of getting into their desired colleges along the way. First generation college students will also notice great benefits from the implementation of family engagement in schools. 

 

Parental Engagement As a Culturally Responsive Tool 

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All parents have busy schedules. However, when parents and educators join forces and come together as a team, the benefits are hard to ignore. We highly recommend that you read the book Families and Educators Together: Building Great Relationships that Support Young Children. It emphasizes the vital importance of building a so-called bridge between the home and school. 

When educators aim to adopt a culturally responsive and respectful framework in regard to family engagement activities, the children will become more in tune with their culture, traditions, and history. As we all know, the real history of our people has been downplayed and erased almost entirely from the current curriculum.

When educators make it their mission to research our people’s history, our children’s self-confidence will increase and they’ll be much more likely to prosper as adults. It’s our duty to let their educators know exactly what it is that we want our children to learn. 

We should be the most valued collaborators of our children’s teachers. After all, we are experts when it comes to understanding their needs and we should always have the final say when it comes to their education. We should always make time during our workday to get in touch with educators and exchange valuable ideas alongside them. This is always well-spent time. 

 

Are After School Activities Truly Necessary?

In 2019, 1,385,680 children would have been enrolled in a summer program if one were available to them. This is highly telling of the need for after school activities. It’s been proven countless times that the implementation of after school activities decrease the chances of children getting in trouble. 

Also, working families need plenty of assistance when it comes to their children. What better way to keep them active and safe than by enrolling them in after school activities? 

The Village Method is also known to provide so much more than regular after school activities. We have made it our mission to provide each child with the necessary programming that will enable first generation college students to get into their dream colleges and end up giving back to the communities that nurtured them early on.

 

Parents and Educators, the Conclusion Is…

Parental engagement is a crucial part of our children’s harmonious mental and emotional development. Without it, our youth would be less motivated to achieve academic excellence and, instead, they might end up prone to delinquency, confusion, low self-esteem, and a lack of direction in life, especially for those who want to become first generation college students.

The Village Method is an innovative, Black-owned community-based organization that specializes in offering culturally responsive youth development, family engagement, and community outreach programming. We are dedicated and relentless. However, we need your help! You can either donate, volunteer, or simply share our cause with as many people as possible. 

Why It Takes a Village to Raise a Child

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When was the last time you made use of our African ancestors’ wisdom? Do you currently use this knowledge whenever you join family engagement activities? If this happened a long time ago or not at all, we invite you to read our article. 

As parents and as African-Americans, we have a responsibility to provide our children with the most culturally accurate information. This will ultimately end up serving them during their adulthood. The Village Method is dedicated to this endeavor.

What happens when we, as their parents and educators, stop or fail to be in tune with the very core of our African ancestry? We end up raising culturally unaware children who ignore their history and fail to learn anything from it. Regular after school activities are simply not sufficient. That’s why, we must tend to our children’s needs attentively and continuously through ongoing family engagement.

In this article, we’ll show you the meaning of an old, African proverb and how it continues to apply to our community today. Keep on reading!

 

The Wisdom of Our Ancestors Impacts Modern Family Engagement 

The proverb “It takes a village to raise a child.” is the core of African philosophy when it comes to the education of our youth. Like many other things that belong to our community, this profound, African saying has been appropriated by the culture at large, which fails to acknowledge its initial meaning and context, as well as its impact on our current community outreach efforts. 

Unique African perspectives can only be inculcated through community outreach programs. We, at The Village Method, have identified the need for culturally responsive programs that will enable our youth to get into college and become well-rounded adults. 

The reality is that many organizations, such as The Village Method, are often overlooked. This happens because our people are not fully aware of the importance of building and nurturing communities. Connecting with like-minded individuals who share your history, struggles, and ambitions is an essential component when it comes to raising our children in today’s America.

 

Parents Must Prioritize Family Engagement

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Family engagement is still a sadly overlooked concept. Educators continue to have a deficit-based view of our families and insist on providing our young ones with an education that is in no way empowering and accurate.

Have you ever heard of Dr. Asa G. Hilliard III? He was an African-American scholar who dedicated most of his life to the restoration of historical balance. He was a pioneer of liberation whose main belief was that our rich African heritage should be intensively taught in schools. 

He was also a traveler, visiting Africa countless times in order to study our ancestors’ ways of living. He was also an esteemed Egyptologist who sought the knowledge of Nile Valley civilizations. Dr. Hilliard believed that the real history of African-Americans must become a part of the curriculum. 

People like Dr. Asa Hilliard are the reason why we do what we do. We believe that the only way to stop systemic racism in the classroom is to take a look at the undeniable richness of our culture. Tolerating an agenda that enables our youth to be systematically discredited and belittled is a disgrace to the African pioneers who fought for our emancipation.

We must use parental engagement as a liberatory strategy. With the help of open-minded educators, we can collaborate and create a safe space for equity-based learning. With the help of after school activities, we can encourage our children to become part of a ‘village’ that supports and motivates them to achieve their innermost dreams. 

 

Joining the Collective Efforts of The Village Method

It goes without saying that first-generation college students face many obstacles throughout their academic journeys. It suffices to say that without constant, early-on family engagement activities and empowering after school programs, our youth faces the world without a safety net. Community outreach programs are vital for them.

We are fully responsible for our children’s long-term well-being. We must come together and invest in the building of ‘villages’. This is what The Village Method is all about. We believe that we can build one with your help. According to the Afterschool Alliance, after school programs keep children out of trouble, help them build necessary skills, give working parents peace of mind, and could also ensure that our youth gets into college much more easily.

We’re not just offering regular after school activities. What we do goes beyond the limitations of the curriculum and allows our youth and their parents to soar higher than ever before. We are committed to academic excellence and nurture it from the earliest stages. This is how we raise the strong men and women of tomorrow, by prioritizing parental engagement. We need your help. We cannot do this by ourselves.

 

The Conclusion Is…

The Village Method is a Black-owned, community-based grassroots organization that specializes in providing culturally responsive programs that revolve around parental engagement, youth development, and community outreach programs. We don’t provide after school programs without substance. Instead, we’re all about providing a safe space where our children can evolve.

It is our mission to watch our youth prosper today and years from now. However, we need your help in order to achieve our grand mission. How exactly can you help us? You can do three things — either donate by sponsoring a child, volunteer, or simply share our cause with your friends and family! Support The Village Method now!