ScholarPrep Nation

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
Image credit: Freepik

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)

Image Credit: Freepik

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.

3 Common Myths About Looking for Scholarships

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One of the most jarring differences in new school systems compared to old school system was how they prepare students for the future. In new or contemporary school systems, they push very hard on the idea that “college may not be for everyone”, in this, they focus on being career-ready rather than college-ready. In doing so they have left most information regarding college readiness a mystery and up for speculation amongst students.

Here is a list of some of the common misconceptions we hear among students about applying for scholarships.

MYTH #1: 

A friend once told me that she thought you just wait until senior year to start applying. 

Scholarship Application Checklist: 5 Things To Do To Get Started

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We’re halfway through summer and there is no better time than now to begin your scholarship search. Still, getting started could be intimidating, especially if you don’t have a clear scope of what you need to do and when to do it. To help you with the process, here are five things you need to do right now.

1. Create a list of scholarship opportunities. 

Before you embark on any plan, you need to have a clear goal and course of action in mind.

Read more about SMART goals on 5 Tips on Setting Goals to Find Scholarships now live in the ScholarPrep Nation app!

Before you start your first application, have a clear goal in mind for the number of scholarship dollars you would like to receive, but also the organizations that are granting them. Get started by searching online, talking to your counselor, and talking to friends and family to see if they belong to special interest groups that may have a scholarship program. 

Once you have your list, it’s time to go!

2. Choose your school and area of study

Not only will making a decision on your school options and area of study help guide your pathway, but it will also help you to fill out your scholarship application, and can even help you identify opportunities that are related to your college and major. 

3. Start asking for letters of recommendation

Don’t wait until you’re applying for a scholarship to try to get a good letter of recommendation. Now is a good time to reach out to a trusted teacher, boss, volunteer coordinator or another person in a position of authority who is familiar with you, your work ethic, and achievements. By starting early, you give yourself a chance to find the right person and to have your letters of recommendation ready to go when you’re ready to start the scholarship application process.

4. Get several copies of your transcripts

Depending on the process of your particular school or district, obtaining a copy of your transcripts could take some time. To get a few copies of your transcripts to include in all of your scholarship packages, go to your registrar, counselor, or another responsible party to request your transcripts early. 

5. Start reviewing other scholarship requirements

Each scholarship application is different. Whereas is it common to see a request for a cover letter, essay, and financial information, you may be required to provide other information for consideration. We’ve seen requests for entrance exam scores, interviews with scholarship committee members, and proof of belonging to a specific protected class. By having a grasp of what each application requires, you give yourself enough time to prepare that information.

This scholarship application checklist can help you to start early on finding funding for your higher education. Of course, applying for scholarships is only one part of your college entry process. To prepare yourself mentally and academically for your college journey, please join ScholarPrep Nation where we’ve brought together a village of people and resources that will help you along the way.