How Do We Ensure Education Equity During COVID-19?
“In the past days, I saw many ups and downs but I never lose my hope towards my goals. I would like to join college and I would try my best to focus on study as like high school. My dreams and my goals is to be a dental nurse. I will struggle no matters what. I will achieve my goals and make my parents feel proud.”
Our newest neighbors’ path to higher education is often paved with barriers that make celebrating their achievements even more rewarding. Congratulations to Alika and Alisha Pradhan for graduating from high school during an especially challenging year!
The coming school semester will present its own challenges for newcomers. Our work in the community allows us to have candid conversations with our newest neighbors. Recently these conversations have included concerns about their main barriers to distance learning: access to technology and the internet, digital literacy, and childcare.
So how do we ensure equity in our Richmond area schools during COVID-19?
At ReEstablish Richmond, we believe that connections are one way we can close the gap in education equity. Here’s what we’ve been doing…
We conducted a survey with a random sample of our clients to understand their biggest concerns during COVID-19. In every response, employment and education for their children were at the top of the list. These two concerns are connected because if parents are worried about paying rent, then educational support at home will have a lesser priority.
We have been in close communication with HCPS leaders since COVID-19, and we regularly invite our client communities to participate in these conversations. Two members of our team recently joined a resources meeting led by the Chief Equity Officer at HCPS, Monica Manns, in order to relay our clients’ concerns along with what kind of support students and parents will need in the virtual first 9 weeks of school.
Thanks to our close ties and trust in the community, ReEstablish Richmond is equipped to help close the connectivity gaps. Our volunteers and partners remain a powerful source of support in connecting our newest neighbors to resources. We are working to create a volunteer support team that will focus on making sure students have access to virtual learning.
We continue to provide language access to important public information, too. By translating key documents and sharing them through the COVID-19 Resources page on our website and through regular contact with resettled community liaisons, we are working to ensure that families can access this information in a language they understand.
Together with our volunteers and community partners, ReEstablish Richmond will continue to advocate for and work toward ensuring equity in education for all Richmonders.
“My mom and dad always want me to graduate from high school and be a good and humble person in life.”