| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 59.20 |
| Liaison | Elaine Durr |
| Submission Date | Feb. 27, 2024 |
Elon University
IN-50: Innovation D
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.50 / 0.50 |
Elaine
Durr Senior Director of Sustainability Office of Sustainability |
Name or title of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome that outlines how credit criteria are met and any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation:
Welcome New Neighbor is a collaboration between the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education and community partners that resettle and support people with refugee backgrounds in Burlington and nearby communities. It connects teacher candidates with multilingual children, youth, and their families in the families' homes.
The mission is to foster and sustain care in out-of-school contexts, such as families’ homes and culturally and linguistically diverse communities, as well as tap into and expand upon empathy, through reading and responding to children’s literature, providing help with homework, and engaging in play and outdoor activities such as hiking and horseback riding. The motto is Learning With and From.
The five beliefs of the initiative are:
-It is essential to care deeply for the communities and people that we serve. Specifically, we draw on Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz’s notion of critical love.
-In creating and sustaining relationships of care and dignity in out-of-school contexts, such as families’ homes and culturally and linguistically diverse communities, we can extend and reinvigorate languages, cultures, and stories with children, youth, and families.
-It is necessary to acknowledge and honor the broad range of language and literacy practices that occur in homes and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
-Reading and responding to children’s literature is equitable when the learning goals or pursuits of these shared reading sessions foreground identity development, skill and intellectual development, criticality, and joy. Specifically, we draw on Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s equity framework for culturally and historically responsive literacy.
-In their everyday lives, multilingual people engage in translanguaging as they use language varieties and navigate social boundaries.
In the fall of 2023, 23 Elon education teacher candidates were working with five families that recently settled in Burlington - three from Afghanistan, one from Guatemala, and one from the Central African Republic.
A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise or a press release or publication featuring the innovation :
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.