Dear Friends of FLI,
We hope that this message finds you safe and staying sane while socially distancing. The Future Leaders Incubator team has been working to make sure that even while things feel crazy in the world, we are doing all that we can to bring normalcy to our team, our Fellows, school partners, and the thousands of students and families that our organization impacts through our work.
We are reaching out today with an update, and a message of hope. We are resilient, just like each of you. We will survive this outbreak (#alonetogether) and work to make schools more inclusive and equitable while doing it. In order to ensure that we are strengthening our foundation and commitment to our mission, and our Fellows (aspiring and new-to-the profession teachers of color working in Title 1 schools in NYC), we have narrowed our focus on the following two key areas:
Transitioning the Educator Project Fellowship to an online platform — Creating more opportunity for unemployed in the US, at this critical time, by increasing the size of our fellowship cohorts, offering both synchronous and asynchronous training and development, and targeted job supports. This additional flexibility not only supports our nation with the stay-at-home orders that help to protect our community, but broadens the base of NY-ers that we can support. The national effort to keep the economy alive and well must be addressed, and FLI’s commitment to continued high-quality job-placements, supports, and coaching is paramount in fighting both the pandemic, and the inequity that schools are facing more than ever during this outbreak.
Ongoing Support of Placed Fellows through the Educator Project Fellows — Not only have we shifted our current work and the way that we support partner schools, but in the coming weeks we will continue to adjust even more to intensify supports for our currently-teaching Fellows. By providing more capacity to support teachers, we are ensuring job security and comfort during this unsure time, while also meeting our mission of providing an inclusive school environment with equitable practices, even in remote learning environments.
This is a challenging time for all of us, but our Fellows have committed to their students and school communities, and we are committed to them. We have also committed to mindsets that allow not only the FLI team, but all of our FLI Friends to persevere. For these reasons, your engagement in our mission is more important than ever. We have been taking the time to ask our school partners, our Fellows, and educators everywhere what we can do to help. And what we hear, regardless of their role, is that the thing people need most right now is connectedness and community.
Please join us as we continue to do this work. If you are able, make a donation to support our efforts. Join us on a webinar, or online discussion. Join our mailing list. Tell an aspiring teacher about our work. We need more people that understand that even amidst a pandemic, the need for high-quality teachers who represent our students remain, and FLI is here to answer that call!
Sincerely,
Jill Glassbrook and the FLI Team
Co-Founder and Executive Director
