Role: Writer
This post was published on the Region 16 Comprehensive Center blog.
The 2023-2024 Co-designing with Families and Communities Fellowship is a unique opportunity to re-design our education system alongside youth, families, and communities. Region 16 Comprehensive Center is proud to offer this capacity-building resource to system-focused educators who engage with local partners to center community voice in educational re-design.
This fellowship offers an exciting avenue to talk about what motivates us to take on the work that we do at Region 16. The Co-design Fellowship embodies the four themes of our work:
- Thinking Systemically: We can truly impact our region by focusing our work on the educational system itself. The Co-design Fellowship empowers teams to uncover how power operates within our system in order to transform educational injustices.
- Centering Community, Families, and Students: Public education should be a resource that benefits every student, rather than just some. The Co-design Fellowship places community voices at the center of its work to empower local partners in advocating for their communities.
- Sharing Focus and Understanding: Everyone who participates in our education system, including families and students, offers their own expertise in educational justice. The Co-design Fellowship holds space for local partners and systems leaders to exchange knowledge and ideas for creating solidarity-driven change.
- Convening and Gathering: Educational transformation succeeds when we involve everyone who participates in our system. The Co-design Fellowship fosters ongoing opportunities for educational systems leaders, schools, and districts to learn from youth and families to create better systems.
The Co-design Fellowship encapsulates the values that motivate Region 16’s work. Join us as we support teams in centering family and community voice to build more equitable education systems.
“Educators and leaders cannot change systems alone. When youth, families, and communities collaborate with systems leaders, we can move beyond cookie-cutter reforms to better address the challenges facing students, especially those who have been underserved by our systems. This work inspires me to support educators and families collaborating to create environments where every young person can thrive.”
Dr. Ann Ishimaru, Co-design Fellowship facilitator