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A Summer Like No Other

Written by Katie Guerin, Director of Development and Communications of City Kids Wilderness Project

When the COVID pandemic closed City Kids Wilderness Project’s offices and postponed our programming in March, as an organization, we, like the rest of the world, had no idea how long we would remain in a state of isolation. However, we knew we needed to start communicating with our youth, families and external stakeholders fast to assure them that we would not only survive this pandemic but thrive in it to support our youth.

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Internal communications with youth and families was key for our programmatic continuation and evolution. We began surveying our youth and families at the onset of the pandemic to ensure that our virtual programming supported them while we were not able to all be outdoors together. Families asked that we stay connected with youth as they navigated a spring separated from friends and began virtual learning.

Then came the May murder of George Floyd and the rise of the broader social justice movement. Following the first weekend of protests after Mr. Floyd’s death, City Kids put part of our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement of Beliefs out in a public post on Instagram. Externally, City Kids is increasingly seen as a leader in the outdoor social justice movement, receiving mentions on social media and increasing our Instagram audience by 25% in the month of June alone.

By virtue of the programming we do, City Kids is an organization founded on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) principles, and as such, these core tenets have historically been at the forefront of our internal communications among staff, participants and families. We have been careful and intentional to let our youth voice drive our communications, and this present moment has pushed us to share these efforts publicly and put a call to action to our CK community about allyship and solidarity and provide resources that help educate.

In an effort to respond to inquiries and share the story of City Kids and the impact of the dual pandemic on CK youth and families, we worked with DC production company In My Shoes on a video A Summer Like No Other that has been widely distributed to our stakeholders. Additionally, a group of our high school youth designed and created JET Talks, a new podcast for the City Kids community. So far, two episodes have been released, with more to come focused on exploring meaningful themes about their City Kids experiences.

Our efforts continue to evolve during COVID to meet our youth and families’ needs, and communication is essential to ensuring that we all feel supported during this time. Between March and July, the organization conducted 400+ virtual engagements with many more rolling out this fall. Thanks to emergency grants from several D.C.-based foundations in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, we were able to implement The New York Times’ 1619 Project as a central element of our summer curriculum.

After completing the lessons, a City Kids youth reflected: “One thing that I have learned was the ultimate power of narrative and how beneficial it is to take a deep dive into the true narrative, and be able to take great pride in it.”

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Find out more about City Kids’ work by visiting citykidsdc.org.

Making Virtual School Work with Peace of Mind: Kindness and Inclusion

Written by Linda Ryden, Founder of Peace of Mind

As the full time Peace Teacher at Washington DC’s largest public school, I get to work with all of our students in my weekly “Peace Class.” In Peace Class, kids learn about mindfulness and brain science and practice kindness, inclusion and peaceful conflict resolution. One important part of the program is Mindful Mentors. When my students get to 5th grade, they can volunteer to be a Mindful Mentor. My Mindful Mentors visit younger grade classrooms and lead Mindful Moments. Mindful Mentors is a very popular leadership program that younger students aspire to be part of and it has always been a lot of fun.
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Now that we are having virtual school, I’ve been struggling to figure out how to make Mindful Mentors work. After sorting out the complicated logistics of having my 5th grade students visit other virtual classrooms, I called the first Mindful Mentors meeting. I was a little bit surprised when DeAndre showed up.

DeAndre has cerebral palsy. He uses a wheelchair and it is challenging for most of us to understand him when he talks, although he talks a lot. DeAndre has been my student for over 5 years and has always seemed to enjoy Peace Class. Now here he was with his Dad by his side helping him out and his younger sister curiously looking on. I suddenly realized that I didn’t know how to handle the logistics at all.

I made a quick decision to see if any of the kids would feel more comfortable working with a partner and a few kids raised their hands, including DeAndre. So I paired him up with a student named Kayla. If we had been in the building I would have been able to pull her aside and talk to her about how she could handle working with DeAndre given how hard it is to understand his speech. They would have had to take turns leading the mindfulness practice. But in an online classroom talking with her privately wasn’t an option. So I just had to have faith in both of them as I sent them together into a virtual 4th grade classroom.

I heard later from the teacher who hosted them that they did a beautiful job. DeAndre was able to lead a mindfulness practice from his living room with his family looking on. Because we have been creating the ritual of the Mindful Moment for many years in Peace Class, all of the children know how it starts. “Let’s get into our mindful bodies. Let’s close our eyes or look down. Let’s take three deep breaths.” So even though they might not have been able to understand DeAndre when it was his turn, they knew what he was saying and were able to follow his directions. All of the kids treated him with kindness and patience, and his partner acted with grace and generosity. This is one of so many beautiful stories that I hold on to during this very difficult time.

DeAndre’s partner is a very thoughtful child, but I think that all of the kids at our school treat DeAndre, and all of the other students with challenges, with kindness because that is part of our culture. In Peace Class we use a curriculum I developed called “Peace of Mind.” Students begin weekly Peace of Mind lessons in early childhood and carry on through Grade 5. Peace of Mind teaches children how to notice and manage emotions such as uncertainty and worry and to understand how their brains work when they feel these emotions and when they use mindfulness to calm them down. Equipped with mindfulness skills and brain knowledge, children learn and practice inclusion, kindness, patience, acceptance, and love. Most of our students do this weekly (or more often) for 7 years in the company of their classmates. These practices are all pillars of the Peace of Mind program and over time they have become an integral part of our school culture.

After 15 years of developing the Peace of Mind Program in my classroom in Washington DC’s largest public elementary school, we formed our nonprofit organization, Peace of Mind Inc., to develop, publish and share the Peace of Mind program with other educators. Peace of Mind is now used by teachers, counselors, and social workers in public, public charter and independent schools to reach over 3,500 students a year in the DC area.
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As our schools prepare for an uncertain return to in-person learning, focusing on students’ social and emotional well-being has never been more important. In the year ahead, we will continue to develop transformative mindfulness and brain-science based resources, support our Peace of Mind educators personally and professionally, and facilitate and encourage the application of mindfulness and social emotional skills to the most pressing social justice issues of our time.

Though we can’t know exactly what challenges are ahead for our children, we can help to equip them with the tools to meet them with skill and compassion. We hope that the Catalogue for Philanthropy community will join us!

Interested in knowing more? We’d love to talk with you!

TeachPeaceofMind@gmail.com