Our 2021 Symposium, which took place August 7th, was a wonderful chance to meet virtually!
Below is the recording from our day and, further down, some of the notes and links relevant to the conversation.
Below is the recording from our day and, further down, some of the notes and links relevant to the conversation.
WaNPA is an all-volunteer collaborative and we provide free events with the help of leaders in the field who have donated their time and expertise. WaNPA believes in paying Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, and other People of Color, so we ask that you please donate according to your sense of responsibility - you will find Venmo info below. Thank you!
Watch the video to see...
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Our opening speaker, Dr. Pooja Tandon, is a general pediatrician and researcher at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Associate Professor at the University of Washington. In addition to clinical work, her research interests include reducing disparities and promoting healthy behaviors (such as physical activity), as well as intervening on social and environmental determinants of children’s health, in particular childhood obesity. Her current projects focus on studying the connection between outdoor play, physical activity and various health and development outcomes for children and caregivers.
Dr. Tandon has asked that in lieu of donations to her personally, she would like donations to be made to Islandwood. |
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Our Panel Moderator, Mike Browne, serves as the Senior Community Engagement Manager at Hilltop Children’s Center and Educator Institute where he organizes culturally responsive professional development workshops and opportunities for leaders working with young children. Here in Seattle, Mike has been building bridges between communities to help create a city where the voices of the marginalized are heard, inclusive policies are created, and citizens unite to form a vibrant urban center. While over the years, his job titles may have changed, and the cities he lives in may look different, one thing has remained the same – his ability to create and implement purposeful desired community change, form effective relationships and sustain community vitality. Feel free to contact him
* via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/msbrowne/ * via email msbrowne12@gmail.com or on * twitter @miguelitobrownie |
Please pay Mike for his valuable service
to our community through this event: Venmo handle @msbrowne12 |
This was an incredible training! If you want to participate in it (and others) for STARS hours, click the image above to learn more about what Norhtwest Center Kids IMPACT offers, or email: eyuen@nwcenter.org | impact@nwcenter.org
Links & Important info from the 'chat'
We had WaNPA members and friends join us from:
Duwamish and Coast Salish lands. Traditional lands of the Puyallup Tribe. The ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the Yakama Nation in Kittitas County. Cowlitz Tribal lands. Occupied lands of the Muckleshoot and Snoqualmie Tribes. Lenape Matinecock land, out on the east coast. Occupied land of Umatilla, Palouse, Coleville, and Wanapum native Tribes. Lands of the Sklallam people of the North East corner of the Olympic Peninsula. Representing Cayuse. Umatilla and Walla Walla land. The lands and waters of the Coast Salish, Samish, Lummi, Songhees, Lekwungen, Klallam, Tulalip, and WSANEC Tribes, on so-called San Juan Island.
You can find whose land you are on at native-land.ca or text your zip code to (855) 917-5263.
For those on Duwamish land, you can pay real rent: https://www.realrentduwamish.org/
“Nearby nature matters.”
- Dr. Pooja Tandon
When considering how they engaged in nearby nature and what it meant to them as kids, some participants shared this...
~ I went to a few places in my mind. The first being a tree that was outside my window as a child. I thought it made pictures for me in the branches and I ran to the window to see it every morning.
~ In a dysfunctional home, nature gave me peace, safety, grace, private thoughts, time to ponder, explore…
~ My friends and I were always riding bikes, playing basketball in the park, and soccer on the weekends (all the Capri Suns and orange slices!)
Panel Discussion:
Facilitated by Mike Browne (he/him): https://hilltopcc.com/institute/
Study Tour for ECE professionals to New Zealand. Learn more at: http://hilltopcc.com/institute/nzstudytour
STAY IN TOUCH:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/msbrowne/
msbrowne12@gmail.com
twitter @miguelitobrownie
Venmo: @msbrowne12
Our Panelists:
Vanessa D'Aquilante (she/her): https://ourkaleidoscopekids.com/
Khavin Debs (he/him): https://tinytrees.org/rdto/
@shaolinthebaptist @kelevrahart
Venmo: @khavin-joseph
Lori Eide (she/her): https://www.columbiabasin.edu/
Jane Boldrey (she/her): https://allianceforchildwelfare.org/
Venmo: @Jane-Boldrey
Jane Tesner Kleiner (she/her): https://www.natureplaydesigns.com/about-npd
Panel questions asked by Mike...consider them for yourself:
"My mind races to COVID and how it has affected communities of color and most notably the Native community. The loss of life with our Native brothers, sisters, and two-spirits, means we are losing their wisdom, stories, and ideas as well. What tools, traditions, stories from your culture that are fading or were lost but could be revived?"
"We talk a lot about indigenizing curriculum or our schools. But first we need to actively work to decolonize our minds around this work. What does that look like specifically for you on an everyday basis?"
"When we think of the barriers to connecting children to nature, we often think of the cultural aspect and rightfully so. The United States has a long and ugly history when it comes to anyone who isn’t white, cis, heterosexual, male, Christian, and able-bodied. But my mind goes to children whose barriers are due to crime rates, or poor quality of the built environment, or legal restrictions. Can you speak to some of the new approaches that are emerging, who they are, and where they are, that are tackling this issue with us?"
"We tend to say overarching statements like “nature is good for everyone.” But what happens when a traumatic experience happens to a child on your watch. Or you receive this child who already experienced toxic stress or social trauma when it comes to being outdoors. How do you work to reengage them with nature?"
"I’m not sure who the famous scholars are when it comes to outdoor, wilderness, or forest school education, but if it’s anything like ECE, a lot of the books are written by white males. This question is for all of you, do you have a favorite author, researcher, theory person etc. that you would like to share with the audience and try and get some more culturally responsive frameworks into our lives?"
"You can't skip steps...you have to meet people where they're at."
- Khavin Debbs
Resources & Recomendations shared in the chat:
Jane Boldrey also offers workshops on Indigenizing practice with children and families in early learning/school based settings. fusion of historical and present context regarding Indigenous relationships with learning environments as well as practical application/adaptation of indigenous practice. Reach out to her!
Highly Recommended: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
*Dr. Kimmerer will be the Keynote speaker at this year's E3 Washington Conference*
REGISTER HERE!
Learn more about E3 Washington: http://www.e3washington.org/
And Natural Start: naturalstart.org
More books:
Bryan Brown's Science in the City
Ijeoma Oluo- author So You Want to Talk about Race
Native Science by Gregory Cajete
Dr. Debra Sullivan- Cultivating the Genius of Black Children
ta nahesi coates- Between the world and Me
Other recommendations:
* Find great children's books! http://hereweeread.com/
* Sheila Williams Ridge: https://www.redleafpress.org/cw_contributorinfo.aspx?ContribID=91920&Name=Sheila+Williams+Ridge
* For Nature Journaling:
https://johnmuirlaws.com/johnmuirlaws.com/
and also Nature Connection Workbook
* Maori work— Te Whariki Family Group Conferencing Model
* Organizations (https://acesactionalliance.org/) and consultants who can train on Adverse Childhood Experiences, https://www.way-enough.com/.
* From Lori: Debra Sullivan was my thesis committee chair while I was working on my first graduate degree. Love her!! While working on my PhD I read a lot of Dr Sonia Nieto, a professor at U of Mass. she writes a lot about culturally relevant education practices. Anything by Gloria Ladson- Billings my fav is Just Good Teaching. Also a must see recent film https://www.antibiasleadersece.com/the-film-reflecting-on-anti-bias-education-in-action/.
Instagram accounts to follow:
@latinooutdoors
@wilddiversity
@melaninbasecamp
@outdoorafro
@intersectionalenvironmentalist
@outdoorasian
@sankofaoutdoors
@blackpeoplehike
@sheexplores
@blackforager
@unlikelyhikers
