Our Approach.
We believe that the biggest problem facing schools today is the rampant systemic oppression that creates deep opportunity gaps across American classrooms. Districts and schools have been tackling “equity” in order to address the persistent inequities they see. In doing so, “equity” has come to mean both everything, and nothing at all.
Working to radically shift culture, mindsets, practices, and structures that have been intentionally designed to oppress Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) communities is complex and adaptive work. It is work that can’t be done overnight. Yet, we must start taking steps and implementing small changes to create the momentum we seek and to truly work towards transformation.
Our approach is grounded in a model that prioritizes the need to work both from the “inside out” and from the “outside in”. Systems are made up of people and thus, only through shifts in our individual dispositions, cultures, practices, and biases can we begin to make changes that will have an impact across people, communities, and systems.
Amplify Equity’s Approach to Transformation
Approach to Transformation
Our work takes participants through unpacking each layer of the inside out work - starting with ourselves and the role we play in our interpersonal relationships, community, and society. This approach ensures that we don’t get “stuck” at the individual level, with self-awareness and awakening - but rather are constantly considering our personal role within a broader system. The entry point for engaging in this work, is to engage in “unlearning and relearning”. We ask that our partners enter this space open and willing to learn about how we (as a nation) have come to this point and to interrogate what we think we know to be true. This unlearning & relearning is foundational in being able to effectively engage in the inside out work which will eventually lead to shift in structures, cultures, practices, and mindsets.