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Allies for Antiracism

As we pursue opportunity for each and every child in each and every state, we know we must center racial equity and antiracism in our early childhood policy advocacy.

The Alliance for Early Success Allies for Antiracism

Over the past four centuries, racist policies in our country have been central to the creation of pervasive systems, practices, and perceptions that rob and constrain children of color from birth—generation after generation.

So we at the Alliance for Early Success believe the only way we’ll achieve our vision is through policy changes that dismantle the structural racism that causes disparity from the beginning. As we work toward our mission of creating an early childhood policy advocacy community that secures the policies and investments essential for every young child to thrive, we know we must center racial equity.

Allies for Antiracism is our commitment to centering racial equity in our strategic planning and in the community building that is central to our work.

 

Our Allies for Antiracism initiative has three pillars:

NAMING

We will continually name the racism that permeates all aspects of the opportunities to succeed for many of our nation’s children and families.

JOURNEYING

We will continually learn and self-assess as professionals and as an organization. 

COLLABORATING

We will continually collaborate with state allies and the national organizations that support their work to hear where they are and what they need, and will follow through with technical efforts to help them pursue policies that dismantle racism and undo racial disparities. 

The Alliance began this journey in 2015 when we convened a racial equity advisory group to guide the revision of our policy framework, and we are continuing the learning, conversation, and practice that will help us — and the early childhood allies in our national community — get increasingly effective in centering racial equity. 

Additional components of the work currently include: 

We know this work takes “wild patience” — the urgent pursuit of structural change that comes more gradually than we want —  so we will both act now and make plans to continue to act until our vision for each and every child in each and every state is realized. 

Zeroing in on Skeptics with Jonathan Metzl: Why Early Childhood Advocates Must Upend Zero-Sum Perceptions of Government Solutions

WEBINAR The Alliance is joined by Jonathan Metzl, author of the best-selling Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland. He has done extensive research on voters who oppose health policies that would benefit them, and his presentation to early childhood advocates encourages them to understand “zero-sum” solution perceptions.

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