To Our Community,
It has been a while since we connected with you and we appreciate your patience as we sort out our next steps. We wanted to reach out and let you know what we have been doing and what we are planning for the coming months. At the end of 2019, Parents for Diversity incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation, which gives us more credibility applying for grants and in our advocacy work. We now have a Board of Directors (you can meet them at www.parentsfordiversity.com/board) and have been working on our internal processes to build a solid foundation on which to continue our work. We apologize for not being in touch while we’ve been in this time of transition (and COVID-19 and global movement to end anti-Black racism). While the recent months have presented many challenges, we have rose to that challenge in a number of ways:
• Workshop for parents/caregivers on fostering our Black children’s well-being and resilience amidst mental health challenges presented by anti-Black racism
• Multi-lingual resources for parents/caregivers to advocate for their children and navigate the distance-learning resources offered by school boards
• Regular blog posts on a range of timely subjects including updates on school board actions, ways to support our community, and anti-racism education resources in English and French.
• Advocacy work on institutional responses to COVID-19 including policing, enforcement, and the effect on Black children
• Growing our network of allied organizations both locally, intra-provincially, and nationally. As we create new bonds and friendships in the Ottawa-Gatineau region and further, we gain the ability to share resources and knowledge.
As we grow, we hope to create a space where our local community can give their time, talent, and treasure in ways that benefit our mission: to ensure every child’s legal right to an education free from discrimination where they can thrive to their full potential.
Our immediate needs include volunteers in the following areas:
- Administrative/Recruitment volunteer coordinator: The ideal candidates would have experience in recruiting volunteers that align with our mission, superb organizational skills that allow us to translate volunteer interests into action within the organization, and a fulsome commitment to equity in all spaces.
- Webinar presenter: While previously we hosted in-person workshops, the COVID-19 pandemic has facilitated a transition to webinar-based workshops. We are looking for a variety of presenters to develop and deliver online-based workshops for parents/caregivers and educators.
- Translation resources: We have recognized a need for French language anti-racism resources. We have an abundance of English language resources ready to translate for someone with translation skills.
- Fundraising/grant writing: As a small, grass-roots organization, we know grant funds will enable us to accomplish our goals of achieving equity in education. Volunteers with experience in fundraising, grant preparation, and grant stewardship will help further our mission.
- Resource Developer: We have a substantial digital footprint relative to our geographic location and organizational size. We want to continue to develop resources for parents/caregivers in advocating for their children while also working for change in our community.
- Web design: Our existing website is relatively current but not optimized and needs regular updating. A volunteer with expertise in web development and design could help provide the polished presence we need, in addition to building in functional tools such as enhanced SEO and improved navigation.
- Diversity Library Coordinator: We have a substantial online diversity library with book recommendations across a wide-range of identities and experiences with the goal of ensuring all children can see themselves represented in the books they read and to facilitate parent/caregiver access to finding books for their children. We are looking for a volunteer to manage a small team of people who will identify books and then manually add them to the diversity library on our website. We are also looking for people to be part of the team that identifies books.
If you are interested in volunteering in one of these positions, please email info[at]parentsfordiversity{dot}com with the subject line VOLUNTEER and share with us what position you are interested in and a little bit about yourself including your skills, experience and interests.
Thank you again for your support! We appreciate our community so very much.
