The Courage to Live in DEI: GVP’s Journey
The work of diversity, equity and inclusion is not for the faint of heart. You cannot approach DEI strictly from a procedural perspective, thinking that it is solely about structures, policies, and practices. It is not enough to craft a model and hope that all will adhere to it (or even to require that they…
Read MoreGVP Students and Families Regain Footing During Pandemic
The refugee students and families at Global Village Project are persevering through the COVID-19 crisis one day at a time. While the pandemic’s far-reaching implications continue to take their toll, GVP School Support Specialist Crispin Wilondja remarked, “In general, [GVP families] are recovering,” and they are moving forward with the resolve and support they need…
Read MoreGVP Alumnae: Empowered Young Women of Color
This month marked a major milestone for a group of remarkable young leaders at Global Village Project (GVP): the one-year anniversary of the founding of the Alumnae Advisory Council (AAC), GVP’s first alumnae leadership organization. Over the course of the past year, the inaugural cohort of the AAC has worked hard hard to collectively build…
Read MoreGVP Teachers Bring Black Lives Matter to the Classroom
As the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Rayshard Brooks have sparked national outrage and weeks of protest, conversations about race are more critical than ever – among friends, in the workplace, and in the classroom. As Jamilah Pitts of Teaching Tolerance contends in her article “Don’t Say Nothing”, silence on the…
Read MoreGVP Honors Graduates With Car Parade Through Clarkston
Above: GVP staff wave to families from inside their cars. Photo by Dean Hesse of Decaturish. Like many schools across the country, Global Village Project was not able to hold our traditional ceremony for students transitioning to high school this year – but that didn’t mean they graduated without a celebration! On the afternoon of…
Read MoreGVP stands with Black lives
Global Village Project stands in solidarity with the Black community and all those protesting and fighting for a more just society. The incidents of deadly racial violence that we have witnessed over the past few weeks have put on full display the realities that Black people in this country face daily. All of us at…
Read MoreDay by Day
Yesterday, I spent the afternoon at school. It felt really good to be there but very strange, too. I sat in my office with a mask on, signing student transcripts and recommendation letters for high school, paying bills for GVP, and preparing for the June Board of Directors’ meeting. My tasks were all pretty typical…
Read MoreChange is Coming
I wrote my last blog one week ago, not imagining all that might happen in one week’s time. I am still trying to process all that is going on and can’t seem to put all that I am seeing, reading, experiencing, and feeling into the right words. There have been protests all around the country…
Read MoreBook Clubs and DEI at GVP
Last Thursday, we completed our final day of post-planning for teachers. We ended the day with an all staff Zoom session where we checked in and shared our superhero powers and names and welcomed a new staff member to our team. We also had an update on our DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiative from…
Read MoreLiteracies in Action
This morning in our team huddle, Ms. Danielle, our STEAM Coordinator, shared a story with us. It included chat messages between two students. She wanted us to see how one of our newest and youngest students, an 11-year old girl who arrived in the US in January 2019, had been exchanging chat messages with another…
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