TeenSHARP recently announced a new program called The Proximity Project (TPP).
The Wilmington based nonprofit was founded over a decade ago to prepare talented, low-income, African American and Latino students to attend college.
TeenSHARP co-founder Atnre Alleyne says The Proximity Project builds on that mission by seeking to help education leaders and others make schools more inclusive.
“We’ve seen a lot of the inclination is to talk about diversity. Or let’s get a firm in here that can do a training on diversity; and that’s important, but what we wanted to say is - diversity by itself is not going to move the needle for students; it’s not going to make the racial progress that we need," said Alleyne. "You really have to be proximate to students of color and to communities of color.”
Proximity Project participants will meet for two-and-a-half hours every week for eight weeks starting in mid-September.
“We devised The Proximity Project [to be] where they can really think about proximity. They can do readings where they are going to wrestle with a lot of the issues that are in the communities. And they can hear directly from the folks on the ground - the students and the families - about their perspective and about their desires and needs,” said Alleyne.
The program blends assigned readings, organizational and leadership assessments, and guest speakers with opportunities to connect with others working toward equity and racial justice.
Alleyne says program topics include racism in education and society, eurocentric culture and assumptions in institutions, and valuing Black and Latino excellence.
Sign up is available here; the deadline is Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020. And Alleyne says participants must be leaders in education institutions or philanthropy.
