The Kalamazoo County Racial Equity Cohort was formed in 2020 with funding from the Michigan Department of Education and guidance from School Readiness Consulting (SRC). Our cohort was composed of members from KRESA (Seeds for Success, Head Start & Great Start Collaborative), KC Ready 4's, Southwest Michigan Child Care Resources, and a community advocate. Our mission is to support Early Childhood Education Leaders in providing high-quality services and learning environments for families and children, in order to create equity in Kalamazoo County Early Childhood Education. 

 

In 2020, we collaborated with other cohorts from around the state to become familiar with concepts to support racial equity in Early Childhood. In 2021, we worked closely with our mentor from SRC, Dr. Katina Kearney-Edwards, to continue our learning and planning in order to impact change throughout our local sector. In the fall of 2022, we collaborated with local Early Childhood Education Leaders and decision makers to share our work and learn more about their ideas for how we could support the equity needs within our community. 

 

Based on input from this meeting, we explored current research-based practices and identified an online training module (link to https://greatlakesequity.org/resource/hiring-culturally-responsive-and-diverse-workforce) for ECE leaders. We suggest that everyone explores this document first. We then created a guidance document for equitable and inclusive hiring practices, which included a bank of interview questions with rubrics and additional resources. We shared this deliverable with Early Childhood Education leaders in the spring of 2023. Based on their positive feedback, we look forward to sharing it with more community partners and leaders, including you!