Thank you for celebrating bhm with us!
This work continues beyond a month and we hope that you will keep doing the work, keep learning, keep growing and keep celebrating. Here’s a look back at CHFS A&L BHM 2021!
Check out the recap video below to see a look back at the incredible events, student activities and staff development work we did to honor Black History Month!
Celebrating Black Figures and moments in history
Staff and students learned about James Van Der Zee, a portrait photographer from the Harlem Renaissance and created portraits and self-portraits inspired by his work. Van Der Zee's portraiture work highlighted the dignity, glamour and respectability of his subjects.
Staff and students learned about James Van Der Zee, a portrait photographer from the Harlem Renaissance and created portraits and self-portraits inspired by his work. Van Der Zee's portraiture work highlighted the dignity, glamour and respectability of his subjects.
Staff and students learned about James Van Der Zee, a portrait photographer from the Harlem Renaissance and created portraits and self-portraits inspired by his work. Van Der Zee's portraiture work highlighted the dignity, glamour and respectability of his subjects.
Staff and students learned about James Van Der Zee, a portrait photographer from the Harlem Renaissance and created portraits and self-portraits inspired by his work. Van Der Zee's portraiture work highlighted the dignity, glamour and respectability of his subjects.
Staff and students learned about James Van Der Zee, a portrait photographer from the Harlem Renaissance and created portraits and self-portraits inspired by his work. Van Der Zee's portraiture work highlighted the dignity, glamour and respectability of his subjects.
A Seat At The Table Project
We kicked off our celebrations with a special staff and curriculum development event around the A Seat At The Table Project which looks at the life and importance of New York local hero-Shirley Chisholm.
Staff and students gathered to learn about Shirley’s historic life and accomplishments and her famous phrase “if they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
Collectively our small groups designed a chair that would represent Shirley and then each individual including students created a chair that represents what they bring to the table!
Verzuz:Black Love songs
Our Brooklyn and Queens sites went head to head creating the ultimate playlist of Black Love Songs. Each side picking songs for the following 10 categories: Top Love Songs by Black Artists Categories
Heartache
Dance
Friendship
Family
New Yorker
70's
80's
90's
2000's
2010's/Now
Brooklyn Playlist
queens Playlist
It was a tough battle but in the end…OUR BROOKLYN TEAM WON!! CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR BROOKLYN SQUAD. This fun event was to raise awareness around the Momnibus 21 Bill which helps bridge the gap in maternal mortality amongst Black and WOC communities. Please take a moment to see more about this important bill and work and champion it!
Black moms in the US are 3-4x as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications, and Hispanic, Native American, & AAPI people experience disproportionate mortality and morbidity rates as well. The #Momnibus includes 12 bills to address the drivers of this crisis and #SaveMoms
The Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act is composed of 12 individual bills. The legislation will:
Make critical investments in social determinants of health that influence maternal health outcomes, like housing, transportation, and nutrition.
Provide funding to community-based organizations that are working to improve maternal health outcomes and promote equity.
Comprehensively study the unique maternal health risks facing pregnant veterans and support VA maternity care coordination.
Grow and diversify the perinatal workforce to ensure every mom in America receives maternity care and support from people they can trust.
Improve data collection processes and quality measures to better understand the causes of the maternal health crisis in the United States and inform solutions to address it.
Invest in programs to expand access to treatments and support for maternal mental health conditions and substance use disorders.
Improve maternal health care and support for incarcerated moms.
Invest in digital tools like telehealth to improve maternal health outcomes in underserved areas.
Promote innovative payment models to incentivize high-quality maternity care and continuity of health insurance coverage from pregnancy through labor and delivery and up to 1 year postpartum.
Strengthen programs to improve maternal health during COVID-19 and future public health emergencies.
Invest in community-based initiatives to reduce levels of and exposure to climate change-related risks for moms and babies.
Promote maternal vaccinations to protect the health and safety of moms and babies.
To learn more about Momnibus 21 please click below:
https://blackmaternalhealthcaucus-underwood.house.gov/Momnibus
DEI Lesson Plan Library Initiative
Our incredible out of school educators teamed up to create a lesson plan for each day of February that celebrates the accomplishments, works and history of Black people. This was the first ‘shelf’ in our ongoing work to build a easily accessible lesson plan library for out of school educators that focuses on building diversity, equity, inclusion and access in the out of school classroom.
A few of our educators who worked on this shelf of the DEI Lesson Plan Library!
History Portraits by Amberrose Venus Gordon
For BHM we created graphics that incorporated this year’s theme “Lean In, Lift Up, Love On.” Visual Arts Teaching Artist Amberrose Venus-Gordon created original portraits of influential Black history makers to be featured in our BHM theme, logo and graphics. Portraits below are: Mary Mcleod Bethune, Gordon Parks and Cicely Tyson.
Black Facts
Bringing quick bite history bits to expand our look at the contributions of those from the African Diaspora. Check Out Black Facts below. Featuring original animation from Junior Teaching Artist Elizabeth Diaz and voice over work from PS 92Q student Edwin Echavarria