December 31, 2019
Dear SRI Community,
As 2019 comes to a close, I want to end it by thanking you for your commitment to students, to teaching and learning, and for your ongoing support of SRI. Our system of education has many challenges, and in several ways, is designed to keep certain students and communities from ever realizing a future of hope and promise. However, I am encouraged by educators, like you, who are actively working against those systems, in any way they can. Our message is unchanging – we care about students and communities, and even though the world often feels like it is working against us, the message and mission of our work never changes.
SRI affiliates genuinely care about the students and communities we serve and recognize that schools as they currently exist need to improve so that all students have the chance to succeed. Our affiliates are passionate about making such change. Loving and caring about all students is at the center of where we start. Our goal for 2020 is to help educators remember why they became educators, and to do whatever we can to not only help them to ‘feel’ supported, but to actually ‘be’ supported, and work together to create the schools our students deserve. I hope you will join me and continue to support SRI!
We have much to celebrate as we close out 2019. With your help and generosity, we were able to:
- Sell out our Fall Meeting in Boston with educators from around the country where we celebrated our 10th anniversary.
- Provide over 40 scholarships for educators to attend SRI Fall Meeting.
- More than double our affiliate base from dozens of states and around the world, Affiliate with SRI.
- Increase our social media presence, update our website and grow its readership to over 11,000 each month.
- Host several online learning events including ‘Culturally-Relevant Recruitment, Retention, and Responsibility,’ and ‘Facilitating Virtual Learning Communities.’
- Launch our first academy as part of our cohort learning initiative, the inaugural SRI Leadership Academy.
- Launch SRI national offerings including the SRI Equity First Institutes, and SRI Reflective Learning Communities Institutes– held in Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Antonio.
- Directly support districts, schools, and non-profit organizations to achieve their equity goals.
- Increase the number of SRI partnerships with organizations that shared our fierce commitment to educational equity and excellence.
2020 brings even more opportunity for SRI’s growth through affiliate engagement and education. We have amazing affiliate volunteers in our community who are helping SRI board and staff by joining us in our many ongoing and upcoming initiatives including:
- Celebrating ten years and beyond with an #IAMSRI campaign that will lead up to our Annual Fall Meeting in Memphis, TN November 5-7, 2020.
- Continue our national offerings: Intro to SRI Reflective Learning Communities Institutes, Leading Reflective Learning Communities Institutes, and Equity First Institutes, to engage more affiliates regionally – held in Houston, Tampa, Chicago, and Burlington.
- Expand our affiliate base – can you help us add more people in your state?
- Continue to refine the SRI website, adding new tools and resources including videos.
- Additional national institutes designed to continue to support the growth of facilitators, particularly around educational equity and excellence.
- An unending commitment to supporting educators, particularly classroom teachers, to empower them and help them change the system of education to serve all students!
A new year brings hope and possibility. When we collaborate and work together, phenomenal things can happen! I invite you to support SRI so that together we can continue to do good work in service of students. There are several ways to help us grow:
- Donate a tax-deductible financial gift. As a nonprofit, we are primarily supported through grants and individual donations. Your financial gift provides the funding that we need to implement and support our multiple initiatives. A financial gift of any size is extremely importing in helping us sustain ourselves as an organization.
- Become an affiliate. Affiliating is a yearly process, and demonstrates your commitment to SRI and the work we do to support educators throughout the world.
- Share SRI with your friends, families and colleagues. Help us expand our circle of supporters by sharing the work of SRI and explaining how this work has made an impact on your life. Ask your friends and families to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and enter into the conversation about school transformation – this is a conversation for everyone, not just educators.
- Keep working in ways that lead towards the creation of a culture of collaborative and reflective practice. Have challenging conversations, hold one another accountable, be brave by deprivatizing your practice, and work daily to reflect and collaborate in service of students.
I am filled with hope for 2020, and a renewed commitment to stand for children even in the face of overwhelming odds. SRI is fiercely committed to educational equity and excellence, and we cannot do this work without your support!
Thank you for your commitment to students, families and communities!
With gratitude,
Dr. Deirdre S. Williams, Executive Director
P.S. Please give and post your giving to other SRI affiliates and friends on social media.
