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BE THE CHANGE
A bite sized monthly practice you can do to make a huge impact on your child and your community.
The Equity, Diversity, and Belonging Committee is encouraging Horizons community members to take this call to action as an inspiration for all of us to make a bigger impact on our world. We all have the ability to create positive ripple effects. Let's create a better world!
Suggestions-email hk8edb@gmail.com
Check out our monthly offerings!
Be the change
A bite sized monthly practice you can do to make a huge impact on your kid and your community.
Let's Celebrate Diversity!
Celebrating diversity means recognizing and valuing the unique qualities, backgrounds, and perspectives of individuals, fostering understanding, and creating inclusive environments where everyone feels respected and valued.
Here's a deeper look at why and how to celebrate diversity:
Why Celebrate Diversity?
Promotes Understanding and Empathy:
By learning about different cultures, religions, and perspectives, we can better understand and empathize with others, leading to a more harmonious and tolerant society.Enriches Our Lives:
Diversity enriches our experiences, expands our knowledge, and exposes us to new ideas and perspectives.Fosters Creativity and Innovation:
Diverse teams and communities often lead to more creative and innovative solutions because they bring a wider range of perspectives to the table.Builds Stronger Communities:
When people feel valued and respected for who they are, they are more likely to participate in and contribute to their communities.Promotes Inclusivity:
Celebrating diversity is about creating a world where everyone feels welcome and belongs, regardless of their background or identity.
How to Celebrate Diversity:
Educate Yourself: Learn about different cultures, religions, and perspectives through books, movies, documentaries, and conversations with people from different backgrounds.
Engage in Cultural Activities: Attend cultural events, try different cuisines, and listen to music from different cultures.
Promote Inclusivity: Create a safe and welcoming environment for everyone, where people feel comfortable expressing themselves and sharing their ideas.
Challenge Stereotypes: Be mindful of your own biases and stereotypes, and actively challenge them when you encounter them.
Speak Out Against Discrimination: Stand up against discrimination and prejudice in all its forms.
Celebrate Diversity Month: April is Celebrate Diversity Month, a time to recognize and honor the diversity of the world around us.
Embrace Differences: Appreciate the unique qualities and contributions of individuals from different backgrounds.
Listen to Others: Actively listen to and learn from people with different perspectives.
Be an Ally: Support and advocate for marginalized groups.
Create a Sense of Belonging: Make sure everyone feels welcome and valued in your community or workplace.
Model Inclusive Behavior: Be a role model for others by demonstrating respect and understanding for diversity.
Be the change
Let’s talk about Power, Privilege and Social Justice.
Per Dartmouth’s Office of Pluralism and Leadership:
Power is the ability to influence and make decisions that impact others.
Privilege is the advantages and benefits that individuals receive because of social groups they are perceived to be a part of. Privilege is often a result of systematic targeting and/or marginalization of another social group.
Social justice is the practice of allyship and coalition work in order to promote equality, equity, respect, and the assurance of rights within and between communities and social groups.
Here are some additional resources:
The Wheel of Privilege and Power - this diagram shows all the categories that affect privilege and power and how people may fall on the spectrum.
Taking Action - University of Michigan
Be the change
Let’s Raise a Generation of Children Who Are Thoughtful, Informed, and Brave About Race.
The EmbraceRace podcast brings you the best and latest advice on how to guide kids around race through informative conversations with researchers, practitioners and community members. In this inaugural season, we counter long-standing myths about race and kids and talk about How Kids ACTUALLY Learn About Race. The podcast is an extension of the work of EmbraceRace and is hosted by EmbraceRace cofounders, Melissa Giraud and Andrew Grant-Thomas. Thanks to the EmbraceRace staff and to our podcast production team (more on them below) for their contributions and magic making!
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/60ad7cde-2bdd-4534-a53c-7eb58ee85b50
Be the change
Mental Health Stigma creates an environment in which someone might feel shame, isolation and reluctance to seek help. This results in a reduction/delay in accessing treatment and potentially causes people who are struggling with mental health to withdraw from their support system.
So what is stigma?
Stigma refers to negative attitudes, beliefs, and stereotypes people may hold towards those who experience mental health conditions.
Stigma can prevent or delay people from seeking care or cause them to discontinue treatment.
We can all play a part in helping to reduce mental health stigma.
The best thing you can do to help change this is to educate yourself. According to the Lancet Commission, the best way to reduce stigma is through social contact – prejudice-reducing interactions between people living with mental health conditions and people without a condition. Having open conversations around mental health. This includes using non-stigmatizing language when talking about mental health. Opinion leaders and those with wide platforms can also use their influence and reach to talk about their own mental health struggles and experiences.
Mental health struggles can be experienced by children as well. It's important to remember that diagnosed conditions do not tell the whole story about mental distress in children. This is because children can also experience some symptoms without meeting criteria for a condition, or they can meet criteria for diagnosis but remain undiagnosed.
Here is some additional information to help you learn more and help support your friends and family.
Be the change
Share-A-Gift
One of the Horizons long-standing traditions is the 3/4 classes taking a community volunteering trip to the Share-A-Gift warehouse/donation center to help sort and organize toys that are available to Boulder families in need during the holiday season.
The school community is invited to add new or gently used toys, books, puzzles, games, and stuffed animals to the collection boxes placed in the entryway of our school. Please consider donating. Donation boxes can be found outside of the ¾ classrooms and near the front vestibule.
More information about Share-A-Gift can be found here.
Share-A-Gift is a great family friendly volunteering option. Sign-up here.
In need of some gifts for the holidays, Share-A-Gift hosts their toy shop on a Saturday in December (stay tuned) . For more information use this Toy Shop link.
Be the change
Let’s celebrate Native American Heritage Month! November is designated as National Native American Heritage Month. This observance commemorates the history, heritage, and culture of Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians. It is during this month we acknowledge the vast achievements of America’s original indigenous people. Please take a moment to check out these resources to better understand the indigenous peoples of the land we call The United States of America.
Library of Congress Native American Heritage Month
National Native American Heritage Month
Native Land Map - know who were the original stewards of the land you occupy
Learn about all the tribes in the United States with age guides for education
Right Relationship Boulder Native American Resources
Native American Experiences in Denver
48 books by Indigenous writers to read to understand residential school.
Be the change
Banned Book Week
Here are some statistics from the American Library Association: ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom documented 1,247 demands to censor library books and resources in 2023. The number of titles targeted for censorship surged 65% in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching the highest levels ever documented by OIF in more than 20 years of tracking: 4,240 unique book titles were targeted for removal from schools and libraries.
Want to learn more:
American Library Association Banned Book
EDB has created a Link to EDB Banned Book Padlet for all of us to share our thoughts and insights as we read these amazing books. You can find all the books from last year and the new books for this year.
EDB has created a Link to EDB Banned Book Padlet for all of us to share our thoughts and insights as we read these amazing books. You can find all the books from last year and the new books for this year.
Be the change
Let's get some carpooling happening! We can help each other AND help our planet. Sign up for SchoolPool!!
Have you ever thought about how you would like to contribute but didn't have much time? SchoolPool is one way in which you can make a difference. By opting in, another Horizons family that is struggling to make the daily commute can find you to set up carpooling to school.
One little step can make a big difference for someone, click on your Horizon's link to get started: Horizons K8
WayToGo - SchoolPool, which is a program of the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG), is once again providing BVSD with its own Transportation Network. Each of BVSD’s 53 sites has its own secure network. It’s free and there is no obligation to participate.
For more information on SchoolPool, please click on this link or email SafeRoutes@bvsd.org.
What other ways can YOU Be the change?
We welcome your energy and your ideas and participation.
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