Association to Benefit Children is committed to fighting for racial equity and creating a world where all our children have the same opportunities
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How ABC IS Fighting for Change
Conversations on Race - Following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, and the many protests and expressions of outrage and sorrow that ensued, ABC held a number of forums to create spaces so that members of our community could connect to each other and share our thoughts and feelings regarding these grave acts of racial injustice, to learn from each other, and to offer each other support. We have also started a book club to continue these discussions.
Working with Third-Party Racial Justice Trainers - ABC has partnered with LCW (Language and Culture Worldwide: Leading in a Culturally Diverse World), an outside organization with expertise and experience providing training and consultation around anti-racist practices. For the annual Staff Development Day this year, LCW conducted a 2-hour long training for the entire staff. This training was mandatory, and 209 of us were in attendance. ABC will continue to partner with LCW to facilitate the work of our newly established Racial Justice Workgroup (see separate item below).
Curricular Design – Throughout our early childhood education centers, teaching teams, together with the educational leadership, are compiling children’s books and other curricular resources to more fully support the infusion of Black history and Black experiences into the early childhood curriculum, including the present experience of racism, in a developmentally appropriate way. Teachers are creating professional development plans to improve their capacity to deliver such curriculum, and to partner with parents in meaningful ways to solidify the school-home continuum, imparting both tools and vocabulary, so that parents are supported to strengthen their own capacity to have these conversations with their children. We hope to compile these various resources and initiatives into one uniform reference guide to facilitate ease of access and ease of use over the long-term.
Trauma-Informed Services - Staff members throughout ABC, and most especially mental health and child welfare/family preservation staff, are enhancing their skills to address trauma – both historical and present-day – as it relates not just to the recent pandemic, but also to the ongoing experience of racism and discrimination at both the individual and institutional levels. Staff is also being trained to incorporate, in a more mindful way, reflections of the impact of race, racism, implicit bias, and privilege, into their assessments, communications, and other interactions with client families.
Racial Justice Workgroup - ABC has established a Racial Justice Workgroup that is tasked with developing recommendations to strengthen ABC’s efforts to combat racism – both at the individual and systemic levels. The task force consists of 11 staff members representing ABC’s many programs and services, which has been meeting with an outside consultant – Language and Culture Worldwide (LCW) – to carry out the first phase of this crucial work, which will entail hearing from ABC parents, staff, youth, volunteers, and independent contractors, to inform ABC’s action plan. Hearing specifically from Black and brown members of ABC’s community will be a priority.
The Dinkins Center for Equity - With full support from ABC’s Board of Directors, ABC has launched the Joyce and David Dinkins Center for Equity. The idea for this center first germinated at a joint meeting of representatives from ABC’s parent leadership and Board of Directors in January of 2020, and has been cooking ever since. This new center will work closely with ABC’s parents and other family members to identify priorities for organizing and collective action, focusing on the institutions, systems, policies, and communities most relevant to the children we serve, most of whom are Black and brown, to change their life trajectory for the better. As one of its many initial projects, the Dinkins Center for Equity will work with ABC’s youth program to recruit and support Black and brown teenagers to apply for a seat on the local community board, to amplify their voices in community-wide matters.
Key findings from ABC’s Racial justice survey
Part of ABC’s Racial Justice Workgroup’s mission was to conduct an in-depth survey with ABC parents, staff, youth, volunteers, and independent contractors. The survey was carried out in November 2021 as an additional section of our annual community needs survey to ensure maximum participation from our families. 66% of survey responders identified as Latino/Hispanic, and 21% of survey responders identified as Black/African American. The full survey results are available here, but some of the highlights include:
95% of respondents feel ABC does a good job of building trust
94% of respondents feel they are treated fairly by ABC
92% of respondents have positive experiences interacting with ABC staff
Although there were many reasons to be proud of these initial results, the survey also highlighted areas of potential growth to make sure all ABC families are aware of everything we have to offer and have a way to actively participate in our programs. Finally, we would not be doing justice to our central mission if we did not include the opinions of our kids. See below for some of our four-year-olds opinions about ABC.
“ABC has been working to assure that the police know our children and our children know the police. As part of this initiative, the NYPD’s 25th precinct has been making regular visits to our sites. Recently, Officers Cosme and An organized a supply and book drive for our preschoolers enrolled at the Graham School, as well as their siblings. We hope that in ten years’ time, the officers in our communities will see ABC’s youth and recognize the same children who they have known since they were toddlers. We know that our communities will only be able to address past traumas when law enforcement works with and for them.”
“Derek Chauvin was convicted for the murder of George Floyd yesterday. Although this verdict reflects a small measure of justice, it cannot restore George Floyd’s life; nor the life of the child, a fifteen year old little black girl who was felled moments before. Nor can it ever repair the grievous inhumanity of centuries of cruelty inflicted as a result of personal and systemic racism.
As you know, we work closely with the police to assure that our children and families are known to them and develop mutually respectful relationships. At the same time, we work together to ensure safety as we endeavor to balance the power between police and the communities, working with our community partners for specific reforms to law enforcement policy. There’s a hard fight ahead. Together we will continue to work for the justice we yearn for.”
Released April 21, 2021
“ABC is deeply saddened by the disturbing nationwide rise in anti-Asian discrimination. Hate has no place in the world. We reaffirm our commitment to our fight for racial equity, and we stand in solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. We will always work to create a more racially responsive and multicultural environment.”
Released March 19, 2021
Children are our moral guideposts - Released JUne 5, 2020
We are grieving. But make no mistake - this is a reckoning.
We have been in anguish, devastated by the persistent anti–Black racism that has resulted in unthinkable pain, terrifying cruelty, and death. The sickening murder of George Floyd last week is only one among the countless manifestations of systemic structural racism that is at the root of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black and brown members of our community. The cumulative effect of these inequities lies all around us. In this darkness, we at ABC look for the light.
“Children have an inherent moral compass, an understanding that helping is morally good, and that harming, hindering, or otherwise thwarting another person is morally bad. They have a sense of justice, a sense of fairness- in particular they know there should be an equal division of resources. Moreover, even the youngest child has moral emotions, including empathy, compassion, and righteous anger.”* In the face of this unfathomable injustice, we at ABC turn to our children as our moral guideposts, as our guiding light.
To our Black colleagues, to the Black children and families who enrich all of ABC’s programs, to our Black neighbors, to our Black community partners, to our Black friends and relatives and heroes - ABC stands with you. Together with all humanity, we must demand change.
We call upon all champions of children to channel your“compassion, empathy and righteous anger;”* to stand with us. We demand change! There MUST be a change!
With sorrow but also hope, in Solidarity and love,
Gretchen and Eri