Out of School Time Resources for Promoting Racial Equity and Deconstructing Prejudice

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The Alaska Afterschool Network, a program of the Alaska Children’s Trust, stands in solidarity with black, indigenous, and people of color in Alaska and around the world. You can read The Alaska Children’s Trust Statement of Solidarity here:

Today, our nation faces difficult conversations surrounding racial equity and challenges in deconstructing prejudice to stop and change the culture of brutality chronically experienced in black communities. We have the privilege to stand and act in solidarity with communities that experience inequities based on race, age, ability, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. To carry out our values, we invite inclusive conversations during out-of-school time programs. 

Afterschool is a powerful tool to promote the health and wellness of Alaskan youths, providing safe spaces where conversations about race and prejudice can be facilitated, and for connecting youth with mentors that support and guide them. Dismantling institutionalized racism is an urgent and essential part of ensuring Alaskan youth thrive.  

Below are resources gathered for promoting racial equity and deconstructing prejudice in out-of-school-time settings. This living compilation includes Lesson Plans, Curricula, Activities, Webinars, Health and Wellness Resources, Articles, Children’s Books on race and the history of the Civil Rights Movement, and more. We encourage out-of-school-time professionals to use these resources to bring critical discussions about race and prejudice to out-of-school-time settings, and to provide Alaskan youths the support they need to process and heal from institutionalized racial violence and discrimination. This work must be done now, and it must be applied across the continuum of out-of-school programming. 

We acknowledge the limitations of our own perspective and ability. While we are unaware of intentional error, we know we will make mistakes and are not experts on race and anti-racism. We welcome feedback on how we as, aNetwork and a profession can learn, grow, act, and lead with greater equity. While we are not the final authority on deconstructing prejudice, we hope these resources will provide you with further avenues to explore and connect with those who are. 

If you have any feedback or resources you’d like to share, please email Thomas Azzarella at tazzarella@alaskachildrenstrust.org. 

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Equity And Inclusion Framework

This initiative will benefit all students, improving the quality of all afterschool STEM opportunities and lifting up both boys and girls as they become future innovators. As STEM system builders we work to increase access to STEM learning opportunities in afterschool and summer learning programs.  Additionally, we need to explore how to support programs to engage and nurture all young people’s interest in STEM learning.  We need to address how programs are designing and implementing programming to broaden participation in STEM for learners in poverty, learners of color, learners in rural areas, and girls in STEM. Working with national experts, STEM Next has developed an Equity and Inclusion Framework that will be a useful guide for supporting programs in this transformation.

A framework is a way to illustrate the particular concepts and variables that are connected to a specific issue (e.g. Equity and Inclusion). It can serve as a map, illustrating connections, and a way of identifying strategies and actions for addressing the specific issue(s).