Pan African Children United Program
Pan-Africanism is the attempt to create a sense of brotherhood or sisterhood and collaboration among all people of African descent whether they lived inside or outside of Africa, speak the same language, or practice the same religion.
FSF partnered with Education Explorers to offer the Pan-African Children United Summer Social-Emotional Program. Through the partnership, we aim to increase access to culturally responsive social-emotional learning for African descent and other marginalized community children and families.
Today, Black and African children and their families have limited access to behavioral health support in the education setting. This includes culturally-competent and specialized educators, parent and family education services, and classroom accommodations.
Pan-African children are also disproportionately punished in the school setting and are more likely to experience exclusionary discipline. While Black students make up less than 10% of the Tigard Tualatin School District (TTSD) population, more than half of the children with disabilities expelled from TTSD are Black.
This disadvantage begins in prekindergarten, where African descent children are suspended or expelled at much higher rates than their peers. The rate is even higher for children with high support needs.
Research summarized by the National Academy of Medicine found that suspension and expulsion amongst early education students are linked to adverse reactions to stressors, such as poverty, discrimination, and living in under-resourced communities and households. The health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic hit Black/African/African American households harder and exacerbated many of these existing issues.
Preschool and elementary school suspensions and expulsions also negatively impact socio-emotional and behavioral development, which only increases the likelihood that a child will experience expulsions/suspension in the future.
A 2020 report by Disability Rights Oregon found that inadequate access to specialized services and disproportionate suspension rates are essentially creating a school-to-prison pipeline for Oregon’s Black/African/African American children.
Intended Impact
Our program will connect Black/African/African American children living in Washington County to evidence-based social and emotional education that reduces the likelihood of exclusionary discipline. This will be accomplished by delivering an early education and afterschool program that aligns with the solutions put forward by the Oregon Racial Justice Council:
Address children’s social-emotional development through evidence-based and age-appropriate curriculums
Foster a positive racial identity through interactions with culturally-competent educators, positive representation, and culturally- aligned role models
The project’s parent education component will increase access to behavioral health resources that stabilize families, and reduce the likelihood of adverse childhood experiences such as child abuse or neglect, especially amongst families with multiple risk factors, such as socioeconomic vulnerability and isolation. The parent education program will produce the following outcomes among participants:
Demonstrated increase in knowledge of child development and milestones
Higher quality and more positive parent-child interactions
Reduced child behavioral problems stemming from household stress