Rejecting Resources and Shallow Diversity: Preschool Leaders Working With Local Racially and Culturally Reflective Organizations

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Four
  In Roundtable Session: Whole Families, Whole Strategies, Whole Communities (Table 13)

Abstract

Drawing on literature around social justice leadership in early childhood, this paper focuses on the unique role of preschool leaders, specifically the creative and transformative work of Lisa, an African American preschool director at an early childhood center in the U.S. Midwest. While Lisa repeatedly sought out opportunities for partnerships and funding, she went a step beyond in protecting the center from organizations she did not believe acted in the best interest of the community. Utilizing ethnographic data collection and analysis, this paper highlights the story of a “girl’s empowerment group” that Lisa rejected because she felt they misrepresented themselves through universalist ideas of “empowerment” and care that might be harmful to the children and families at her center.

Author

• Anne Valauri, Georgia Southern University
  Presenting Author