As an educator and adovate committed to social change and social justice I wondered where I could turn to for support on continuing goals of sharing the importance of children’s diverse literature with our children, families, peers, and the community which support the goals of diversity, inclusion, and equity. In an attempt to close that gap and promote understanding about why diverse books matter especially now during this global pandemic and in light of the systemic racism, police brutality, and health disparities that our country is currently facing, I want to learn more about recently published youth literature created by and for members of minoritized groups and how others were introducing anti-bias education and literature into their early childhood settings. It was surprising that what I currently found available online reflects the massive gap in books about, for, and by diverse communities and underscores the greater need for more diverse books for children overall. It was also surprising that there are few national and federal orgazinzation that are set up specificially for supporting diverse literature programs. My reseach for national and federal organization that support diverse literature programs was scarce but I did find organization that promote literacy and writers of diverse literature for children.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children footprints can be found worldwide through membership, content and global projects (NAEYC, n.d.). Early childhood is an ideal time to support children in gaining knowledge about the world and about themselves as active participants in it. NAEYC promotes using international picture books has a powerful vehicle for teachers who want to foster children’s development of intercultural knowledge and understanding in meaningful ways (Baldwin, 2018). Using international picture books with young children is a compelling way to help them learn about the stories and experiences of others. NAEYC has several community of practice forums. I took interest in the Diversity and Equity Education for Adults Interest Forum. It invites you to join through logining in with your membership to access resources and contribute to the open forums.
IDELA a community of practice within Save the Children. The IDELA Community of Practice (COP) is a worldwide network of Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) practitioners, researchers, and policymakers centered on the use and dissemination of IDELA evidence. Although it does not deal directly with diverse literature many of their programs involve partnering with global organizations to promote early childhood literacy thorughout the world.
We Need Diverse Books is a non-profit and a grassroots organization of children’s book lovers that advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people. They are focused on supporting and increasing the diversity of books available to young readers. By promoting the inclusion of characters from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, indigenous, LGBTQ, and other minority communities, We Need Diverse Books strives to create a world in which all children can see themselves in the pages of a book with plots and protagonists that they can relate to. To reach this goal, they have created programs to celebrate diverse books, to mentor diverse writers and illustrators, to support diverse publishing professionals, and to provide books to classrooms nationwide (We Need Diverse Books, 2021). There was no opportunites for jobs, but they were asking for blog volunteeers and donations.
The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation celebrated authors internationally that write children books about diversity. It is devoted to bringing the multicultural, creative spirit to children’s lives and literature and to promoting public education through grants and lesson plans
(Long, 2016).
Inclusive MInds is a collective for people who are passionate about inclusion, diversity, equality and accessibility in children's literature, and are committed to changing the face of children's books. This organization has several ways to join:
Inclusion ambassbor: The Inclusion Ambassadors are a network of young people (and some parents, teachers and youth workers) who share a real interest in seeing better representation of one or more facets of diversity.
Everybody In: Is a charter to help all those involved in the book world to move forward in making books more inclusive. The charter represents a way for organisations to demonstrate how ‘inclusively minded’ they are, and offers practical and achievable ways of ensuring real change. The charter has been developed in close liaison with publishers, booksellers, libraries, authors, illustrators, teachers, and organisations such as The Publishers Association, The Booksellers Association and ASCEL. Everyone working with children and books must play a part in ensuring that all children can find authentic representations of themselves in books, as well as seeing those who are different from them. To this end, the charter is open to all audiences so that they can take collective responsibility. It also offers signing up for their newletter and trainings. I find this group intesting because of their specific mission towards diversity in books.
Biracial Bookworms aims to teach children how to read, but also what to read. This organization provides books and resources to celebrate all genders, ethnicities, cultures, languages to educators and families. Biracial Bookworms works with brands, authors, companies, and non-profits that impact their mission of literacy, literature, and diversity. Their goal is to allow families to have access to books that are culturally responsive, multicultural, and multiracial (Edwards, 2021). I partiuarly like this organization because each week they feature award winning diverse, best new children’s books teaching reading strategies, biracial girls, book enthusiasts, cultural holidays around the world, culturally responsive library, diverse authors, diverse bookshelves, diverse picture books, mixed kids, multicultural classroom library, refugee picture books, social justice picture books and interviews with their authors that they share with educator and families.
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature is among the leading educational research centers in the field of multicultural literature. Our mission is to preserve the richness of the many cultures in the field of children’s and young adult literature. Their mission is to provide children, teachers, parents, educators, students, and librarians access to multicultural children’s books with high literary and artistic standards.Their primary objectives include: a) to foster an interest in multicultural children’s literature for young people; b) to promote awareness of the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature (CSMCL); and c) to generate excitement in the study of multicultural literature. The primary objectives include: a) to foster an interest in multicultural children’s literature for young people; b) to promote awareness of the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature (CSMCL); and c) to generate excitement in the study of multicultural literature.seeks to sponsor activities for libraries and other committee services across the country to engage in the utilization of multicultural literature with children and young adults. CSMCL also seeks to fulfill this mission through programs and the collecting of multicultural books and materials which affirm the lives of the multicultural community (Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature, 2021).
Sherman Center Diverse Books Project (DBP) which is a diverse books campaign to celebrate and raise awareness of the critical need for children’s books about “different cultures, races, languages, and traditions.”Their goal is is to ensure that early childhood educators at our partner schools have access to high-quality diverse children’s books, and opportunities to share ideas and insights about their use (Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities. n.d.)
These orgaizations interest me because I feel that they believe that through reading quality, culturally enriched, and engaging diverse literature children can become globally minded individuals. Books have the power to bring people together who are otherwise so different.
I was not able to find employment opportunites but they all offered ways to contribute or join their organizations.
Everyone has an idea of what they world needs. I wnated to share this video on a kid's thought.
References
Baldwin, K. (2018 May). The Power of using international picture books with young children. Young Children, 73 (2). https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/may2018/international-picture-books
Ewards, B. (2021). The anatomy of a diverse bookshelf.
Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature. (2021). Celebrating ten years of the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature 2011-2021. https://www.csmcl.org/
Long, C. (2016 March 28). Celebrating diverse books author with educator grants. https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/celebrating-diverse-books-author-educator-grants
National Association for the Education of Young Children. (n.d.). Engage with early childhood education globally. https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/global/overview
Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban. (n.d.). Diverse Books Project (DBP)Communities.https://shermancenter.umbc.edu/diverse-books-project/
We Need Diverse Books. (2021). Who we are. https://diversebooks.org/about-wndb/