AGENCY DISCUSSES THE “COLOR OF EDUCATION”

Ariel and Johnathan Szablewski with their two-year-old son Lucas, who was adopted through the Cradle Adoption agency. The Cradle sponsors Our Children initiative, which is a multi-year series of programs and events aimed at educating families about the realities and injustices that Black children may experience in societal interactions, and provides support to those families.
Ariel and Johnathan Szablewski with their two-year-old son Lucas, who was adopted through the Cradle Adoption agency. The Cradle sponsors Our Children initiative, which is a multi-year series of programs and events aimed at educating families about the realities and injustices that Black children may experience in societal interactions, and provides support to those families.

AGENCY DISCUSSES THE “COLOR OF EDUCATION”

By Safiyyah P. Muhammad

The Cradle Adoption agency recently joined an esteemed panel of educators in a straightforward discussion dealing with race and education during the “Color of Education” Roundtable Discussion, at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, 25 E. Pearson. The "Color of Education" was the third program in the agency's multi-event series.

Black children often encounter situations in school that their white counterparts may not encounter. The "Color of Education" roundtable discussion was held to discuss what challenges Black children face and how parents can address those challenges, said Nijole Yutkowitz, vice president of Inclusion and Development for the Cradle Adoption agency.

According to a press release, the expert panel sought to help both parents and educators understand the complexities of racial challenges. The need to close achievement gaps and the necessity of imparting more diversity and cultural competency in the teaching workforce was also discussed. According to an "Our Children" press release, thirty-five to forty percent of the Cradle’s annual domestic placements are African-American or multiracial babies, 52% of those babies were adopted by white families in 2015.

The Cradle Adoption agency also recently launched "Our Children," an educational and empowerment series designed to educate parents on how to raise African-American children who live in a society plagued by racial inequalities.

According to the Cradle Adoption website, "The Our Children” program contains a range of educational tools such as webcasts, roundtable discussions, keynote speakers and movie screenings to address issues that impact African-American boys and girls.

“We launched our raising Black Boys Round table discussion in February of this year with more than 200 people in attendance and in May 2016, our Raising Black Boys webcast attracted more than 620 people nationwide. The Cradle is committed to continuing this initiative well into 2018,” Yutkowitz said.

The round-table discussion titled “Color of Education consisted of expert teachers, administrators and parents who addressed academic concerns, particularly for African- American children. Among the panelists were Heather Freer-Kurut, Principal of Morgan Park Academy; Dr. Evisha Ford-Sills, Assistant Superintendent for the Posen-Robbins School District, and Miranda Johnson, Associate Director of the Education Law and Policy Institute at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. For more information regarding the Cradle Adoption agency, log onto www.cradle. org/colorofeducation.

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