At the end of this calendar year, I will be leaving RE-Center to begin another phase of my professional life. The opportunity to lead the Discovery Center and help it become RE-Center Race & Equity in Education has been enormously fulfilling, challenging, and transformative for me.
Along the way, I have been inspired by colleagues on the RE-Center staff, board, educators, and in community organizations, parents, and students. Together we’ve had the opportunity to partner with organizations such as Newman’s Own Foundation, the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and many others that have been deeply supportive and engaged in the mission and goals that we share.
Over the last five years, RE-Center has worked to align its mission around accountability to the Black and brown youth and community members who are most adversely impacted by the current education system. RE-Center has worked to build the capacity to change the invisible structures that hold our current educational systems in place. The confluence of a deadly viral pandemic and the increased mainstream awareness of institutional and interpersonal racial violence against Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) provide an opening and opportunity for change.
RE-Center is at an inflection point in its growth as an organization. It is the right time for a new leader to bring the formidable talents of RE-Center’s staff and board to the next phase of our mission and collective goals.
I am thrilled to welcome Andréa Hawkins, the incoming Interim Executive Director, who, together with the talented staff and committed Board will provide a smooth transition, insights, and progress to the organization and its work.
Many thanks to the two Board Chairs, Diane Clare-Kearney and Joelle Murchison, visionary partners in this work.
I will miss RE-Center staff, board, and community members whom I deeply respect, and will look forward with anticipation to the evolution of RE-Center under the next Executive Director.
