STE(A)M Truck's Continued Commitment to Racial & Social Justice
Friends,
As an organization and as a nation, we are grappling with fundamental truths about our world marked by heinous acts of violence and inequitable policies inflicted upon and directed at black, brown, indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and other marginalized people.
Let me be clear: STE(A)M Truck's commitment to racial and social justice has always been, and will continue to be, unrelenting. We vehemently oppose anti-blackness and police brutality. It should not be a controversial or a political statement to declare that Black Lives Matter. For our organization, we can promise you that we are examining, addressing and implementing ways to ensure that every individual in our community feels welcomed, safe, heard and respected. However, this journey is not yet complete.
Given our role in a growing number of communities across Atlanta, I want STE(A)M Truck to not only be a leader in educating kids about the issues they face on a daily basis, but to also lead by example.
We promise to continue to work, as individuals and as an organization, to seek justice and to better support all of our students, staff and educators. We must identify and address all forms of implicit and explicit racism and biases within our communities. We want you to know that we are working on implementing efforts to not only do this, but to also ensure that our communities are a safe and healthy place for students and teachers to learn and thrive together.
Below are some things we have done, and will continue to do, in order to ensure that our organization creates welcoming, inclusive, and empowering spaces – for both employees and members of our community:
Staff Diversity. In less than a year and with intentionality, we have gone from an organization that was 90% white to a majority minority-staffed organization.
Pay equity. The pay difference between the highest paid staff and next highest paid staff is 6%.
Gender equity. The Leadership team is made up of 3 women and 3 men. The five highest paid staff in the organization go from M to F to F to F to M.
Staff training. Our largest investment in training was a CREATE program designed for educators fiercely committed to equity and justice. 100% of all salaried employees have completed this training.
Curriculum. Our Impact programming- which can last up to 20 days- is meant to create agency, empowerment and fulfill our vision that “youth throughout the U.S. will have equitable access to transformative and inspiring learning experiences that open doors for future life opportunities.”
Equity focus. Our programming has and will continue to to take place within communities that have the lowest child well being index.
Reflection. We’ve added Juneteenth as an organization wide official paid holiday.
Below are things we still NEED TO DO, in order to ensure that our organization creates welcoming, inclusive, and empowering spaces – for both employees and members of our community:
Power. Most would agree that power is not widely distributed inside the organization with myself as the founder, visionary and white male basically holding a majority of “power.” Our board of directors is also currently all men. To begin to resolve this, we have hired a consultant to support our board recruitment process with diversity as a central goal. We will find new ways for existing staff to gain leadership responsibilities via accelerators, incubators or fellowships.
Internal practices. Going through diversity and equity training was necessary but not sufficient. We need to ensure that equity work is not an event but a process. We have hired a facilitator to help us go through this work internally.
Programming. We need to ensure that our Builds and curriculum truly empower and reflect the needs of our youth (and teachers). We’ve hired a Director of Teacher Engagement and Director of Curriculum, plus three full time Engagement Managers. The next step iis harnessing and empowering them to create what is needed and then implement new approaches with fidelity.
External messaging. We (I) and the organization have remained virtually silent publicly over the past year about most everything, from our impact, our mission to ensure educational equity and how our work is aligned with BLM. We are part of this community and need to speak up and out more frequently.
During these turbulent times, we also know that many parents are searching for ways to help their children process and understand what they're being exposed to on TV and social media all day, every day. Below are some resources, including a few highlights of each, to help you begin this process of empowering parents, teachers and helping kids better understand what's happening right in their own backyards.
Advocating For Educational Equity
Resources from our community partners to help advocate for vulnerable students and communities impacted during these tumultuous times.
A site dedicated to teaching teachers also helps provide resources to parents.
Teaching about police violence (good resources for grades 6 and older)
The Let’s Talk series contains webinars to give guidance for conversations about Black Lives Matter, Whiteness and Gender Issues
Discussing Abuse of Power using teachers as examples of bullying behavior
Five tips for helping preschoolers understand tolerance
Created and run by parents of color, the space is an educational non-profit to help parents
understand and navigate the dilemmas of race, equity and education.
I want to thank each of you for your continued support of STE(A)M Truck and our mission to close opportunity gaps in local Atlanta communities. If you have any questions, concerns or generally feedback – for me or about the organization – please do not hesitate to reach out.
Sincerely,
Jason Martin Executive Director
Community Guilds and our STE(A)M Truck program
Community Guilds closes opportunity gaps. We ignite a passion for learning and forge collaborative communities by making things together.