This Week @ NewComm: “Claiming a Seat at the Periodic Table”

Dear Readers,

This was another strong week for us. We sent our acceptances for our FELLOWS program, and?100% of the students confirmed their attendance.?Cohort 1 is a thoughtful, creative, active, and curious bunch, and we are so incredibly excited to work with them this summer. We also did our kickoff meeting with Fordham University, and they have been nothing but generous to us! We also brought our travel program FUTURES on the road with us, and we were overjoyed by the level of enthusiasm we received from both students and parents. We can’t wait to bring this program to market in 2024. Last but not least, our professional development program PARTNERS is up and running as well! We will do our first Saturday workshop in The Bronx this spring! If you have been following along with us on this journey, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.?

As a reminder, this newsletter is brought to you by NewComm PROJECT,?a non-profit organization that creates dynamic learning environments that inspire and empower BIPOC learners to be the chief architects of their lives.?In this newsletter, we invite you into the internal discussions that help us define what we mean by “dynamic learning environments” especially for those who have been historically minoritized. As we launch?our first program here in The Bronx, we hope to share the work that inspires, challenges, and excites us as we bring what was once an idea to life.?

Happy Black History Month!

Best,

Chidi

RESOURCES THAT HAVE INFORMED OUR WORK THIS WEEK:

'CLAIMING A SIT AT THE PERIODIC TABLE' AS A BLACK WOMAN

• In 2010, Clarice Phelps joined an international mission to do something unprecedented: Create Element 117. She recounts, “For the first 18 years of my career, I was the only Black woman in my field. When I was in the Navy, I was the only Black girl in my division. Afterwards in my lab, I was the only Black woman in the whole facility – and initially they thought I was the janitor,” recalling requests to grab the trash. [...] “It’s isolating,” said Phelps, who also served as an engineering laboratory technician?aboard the USS Ronald Reagan. “You feel like you have to represent your entire race and descend the racial stereotypes […] especially in nuclear and radiochemistry.” /?CNN

NAVIGATING IDENTITIES FROM THE MARGINS: AN ARTISTIC REFLECTION

• “The concept of the Marginal Man illustrates the blending of multiple cultures and backgrounds, and the need to navigate and balance these different aspects of identity. It also highlights society's pressure to conform to a single identity, rather than embracing the complexities of individual experiences. This can lead to oversimplification of issues and a lack of recognition for the unique strengths and perspectives that come from being part of multiple worlds […]”?| Voices From The Margins

TARGETED UNIVERSALISM: EQUITY 2.0. HOW DOES IT ADDRESS INEQUALITY?

• OBI Director John A. Powell explains the concept of?Targeted Universalism: “[...] Targeted universalism says the goal is universal, is something we all want—what Gary [Cunningham] just laid out beautifully—and the strategy to get us there has to be targeted, because we’re situated differently. So, we’re not all in the same situation, but we are all trying to get to the universal goal. So that’s the difference between targeted universalism and equity. Targeted universalism is Equity 2.0. It’s basically saying, we’re trying to get everybody what they need to thrive and prosper in our country.” / Webinar?Excerpt, University of California, Berkeley

"RADICAL IMAGINATION" AS A CELEBRATION OF BLACK ENTREPRENEURS, CREATORS, EDUCATORS & ARTISTS

• Author, activist and business owner Marc Lamont Hill, speaks of using and embracing “radical imagination” for thinking of a better, more inclusive world: “We as a nation do not have to be prisoners to slavery, we don’t have to be prisoners to Jim and Jane Crow, we do not have to be prisoners to broken schools, we don’t have to be prisoners to this world,” Hill explains. “We can imagine a world that is not yet, and even if it seems impossible, we can do the work to make it possible.” / Abington Friends School: Featured Stories

FEATURED:?Morgan DeBaun: The Force of Black People Coming Together

Every week, we spotlight a piece of content that inspires us as we build a truly impactful education company that will redefine the vision of "public school." This week, we are highlighting Morgan DeBaun, CEO and co-founder of Blavity Inc, a media and technology company that creates spaces for Black millennials to connect, share ideas, and build community. If you too are desiring to build these kinds of space, stop what you are doing and take a look at this video. There are a lot of incredible gems here!?

INSIDE NEWCOMM:

1. Ana and Lauren attended the?KIPP NYC Summer Fair?to share information about our upcoming travel program NewComm FUTURES, and it was a major success. We received 4 full pages of signatures and a lot of great feedback! We will spend the next several months crafting and refining this program so that it is not only a cool program but one that encourages students to step into a bolder version of themselves. Stay tuned!
2. We started filming Impact Stories from former NewComm students! Ana says our first taping went really well, and we hope to share this work in the next couple weeks.?
3. Uju and Chidi have been hard at work fine-tuning our summer program processes. From summer swag to transportation, to meals, to stipend delivery, they have been working hard to ensure our program runs incredibly smooth this summer.?
4. We are working on an exciting fellowship for teachers who want to work together to reimagine ELA/English instruction. We hope to share more about this in the next few weeks.?

HOW YOU CAN JOIN IN?:

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Thank you for reading! Feel free to reach out to us?HERE?if you have any questions. We would love to hear from you. We’ll see you again next week!

The New Community Project, Inc, 63 Wells Ave, Yonkers, NY 10701, United States