Publication

In a national moment of political tumult and violence directed at immigrants, people of color, and other marginalized groups, our education systems need new strategies to mean- ingfully engage families and communities in ensuring equitable learning for our youth. Not only do families and communities bring historical and lived knowledge about how to persist through these challenges, they can also bring critical expertise in how to advance educational justice and community well-being. In these difficult times, or perhaps because of them, we have found evidence of justice-based approaches to family engagement that position parents and families, particularly from com- munities of color, as fellow leaders in transforming schools and educational systems to bet- ter serve all children, families, and communities. Our project, the Family Leadership Design Collaborative (FLDC), is a national network of scholars, educators, and family and communi- ty leaders who work to center racial equity in family engagement. We do this by reimagining how families and communities can create more equitable schools and educational systems.