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May/June 2004
Article (Word)
January
2004
Diversity
Taskforce Expands To Include Web Presence
The PSCA Diversity Taskforce is pleased to announce the addition
of a Diversity site on the PSCA Homepage.
We expect that the site will be introduced in early April.
Included on the site will be the Diversity Clearinghouse
featuring a myriad of resources. Also
included will be reprints of all of the articles appearing in the PA
Counselor as well as information on upcoming events.
Diversity
Taskforce to Offer Conference Workshop
Diversity
Resources
Our taskforce members continue to
gather resources to be included as a part of the PSCA Diversity
Clearinghouse. In this
issue we are pleased to introduce you the organization Common Roads:
Serving Gay Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning, and Allied
Youth of Central Pennsylvania …
The mission of Common Roads is to “support and enhance the
self-esteem of sexual minority youth and to increase public awareness
and understanding of their issue by:
q Providing a safe, confidential, non-judgmental place for youth to obtain support and understanding;
q
Combating homophobia
through training and education which provide accurate information on
sexual minorities;
q
And encouraging and
promoting research and advocacy on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgendered youth.”
According to Dr. Carol Reisinger, Executive Director, “Common
Roads is coordinated by a team of adults who have expertise in working
with young people. Common
Roads offers a safe environment where young adults can ask questions,
get information, and simply be themselves.”
Common Roads services include:
support groups, educational resources, diversity workshops,
speakers bureau, advocacy and social programs for teens and young
adults.
Did you know? “Lesbian, gay, transgendered, bisexual,
questioning, and even allied adolescents face tremendous challenges to
growing up physically and mentally healthy in a culture that is almost
uniformly homophobic. Often
these youth face an increased risk of medical and psychological
problems, caused not by their gender identity or sexual orientation, but
by society’s hostile and negative reaction to it.
These individuals face rejection, isolation, verbal harassment
and physical violence at home, in school, and their community.”
The facts …
q
Half of sexual minority
youth report rejection by parents due to their sexual orientation or
gender expression.
q
Gay youth are 2 to 3 times
more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers.
q
Over
89% of lesbian and gay youth report verbal and physical violence from
their families, peers, and from strangers.
q
Nearly all sexual minority
youth experience verbal or physical assaults in high school.
Common Roads is located at 1300 A. North Third Street,
Harrisburg, PA 17102. Common
Roads meets every Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. and has been serving
Central Pennsylvania since 1993. For
more information call (717) 920-9534 or visit the Common Roads web page www.commonroads.org
or email info@commonroads.org.
Common Roads receives financial support from:
The Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, The Greater Harrisburg
Foundation, The Kline Foundation, and The Wellspring Advisors.
Diversity
Information Clearinghouse
The PSCA
Diversity Taskforce will continue to gather information for inclusion in
a Diversity Information Clearinghouse.
It is our hope that the Diversity Clearinghouse will include:
speakers, publications, curriculums, websites, and other
resources addressing the multi-faceted issue of diversity. Suggestions from the PSCA membership are most welcome in this
endeavor. Please contact: Anne
Morris, Diversity Taskforce Chairperson at: amorris@aol.com.
December
2003
Diversity
Taskforce To Sponsor Workshop
During Special Saturday Conference Presentation
The PSCA Diversity Taskforce will sponsor a special panel
discussion on Saturday morning May 1, 2004. The Diversity Panel will be
one of five workshops offered during this new conference offering.
The Taskforce is beginning to solidify our program, however two
of the specific issues to be addressed by a panel of educators will be:
Incorporating Multiculturalism into the Curriculum and Issues
Facing Gay Students and Educators. Resources including bibliographies
will be provided to those in attendance.
We hope that you will be able to join us for this special
conference event.
We continue to gather resources to be included as a part of the
PSCA Diversity Clearinghouse. For
your consideration:
1.
Gender
Matters, The ASCA
School Counselor, May / June 2003:
The entire magazine is dedicated to the issue of gender. For more information contact ASCA – The American School
Counselor Association. www.schoolcounselor.org
2.
Talking
With Kids About Choosing Tolerance over Prejudice:
Helpful Guidance and Support … For Parents, For Teachers, For
All Caring Adults, One
Caring Place, Abbey Press, St. Meinrad, IN 47577 1-800-325-2511.
3.
GLSN
– Gay Lesbian, Straight Education Network
– A national group who has worked to develop programs for sensitivity
training, acceptances, and issues affecting gay students and educators.
Pennsylvania chapters are: GLSEN
Greater Lehigh Valley, 17 West Washington Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18018
(610) 867-6641; GLSEN Philadelphia, P.O. Box 2118, Philadelphia, PA
10103 glsenphl@critipath.org, and GLSEN Pittsburgh, P.O. Box 110288,
Pittsburgh, PA 15232. The national website is http://www.glsen.org/templates/index.html.
4.
O.T:
Our Town – An
independent documentary film which profoundly explores issues of
diversity while exposing commonalities in the human experience. This
film has been called “thought provoking, seed planting, and life
altering!” The director /
producer and distributor of the film (Film Movement) will provide the
movie free of charge to educational organizations in DVD or video
format. Their website is: www.filmmovement.com
5.
Responding
to Hate At School: A Guide
For Teachers, Counselors, And Administrators –
Published by Teaching Tolerance, 400 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, AL
36104 www.teachingtolerance.org
6.
WCU
For All Of Us – Diversity Lecture Series – Please do not overlook your local institutions of higher education.
For example, the West Chester University Office of Social Equity,
West Chester, PA 19383, sponsors an annual Diversity Lecture Series.
Members of the WCU community are invited to attend as the
University “continues to build an inclusive community.
The lecture series responds to the University’s “changing
community by providing a series of lectures intended to enlighten and
empower” West Chester as a community.
To learn more about these events in particular contact the WCU
Office of Social Equity at (610) 436-2433
7.
Project REACH – We highlighted Project REACH in the November issue of the Pennsylvania
Counselor, but did not include the website.
Please contact Project REACH at
www.reachctr.org
Throughout
the year, the PSCA Diversity Taskforce will continue to gather
information for inclusion in a Diversity Information Clearinghouse.
It is our hope that the Diversity Clearinghouse will include:
speakers, publications, curriculums, websites, and other
resources addressing the multi-faceted issue of diversity.
Suggestions from the PSCA membership are most welcome in this
endeavor. Please contact: Anne
Morris, Diversity Taskforce Chairperson at: amorris@aol.com.
October
2003
Diversity
Taskforce Responds To
Membership Feedback
Anne S.
Morris, Taskforce Chairperson
In the spring of 2003, then president-elect Bruce Barner created
the PSCA Diversity Task Force. The first order of business was to
develop a needs assessment which would drive the Taskforce in 2003 -
2004.
During the PSCA Leadership Development Academy in August 2003, a
goal statement and objectives were developed.
The goal of the Diversity Taskforce is: In
keeping with the mission of the Pennsylvania School Counselors
Association, to promote excellence in professional school counseling,
the goal of the PSCA Diversity Taskforce is to address the current needs
of school counselors as they relate to students, community, and to
society.
Taskforce objectives for 2003-04 include: To
create a mission statement and vision for the Taskforce; to disseminate
the Diversity Taskforce Needs Assessment; to facilitate an online
Taskforce; to develop a plan of action based upon stated membership
need; to establish a Diversity Clearing House / Online Clearing House
for the PSCA membership.
Thanks to the following PSCA members for their willingness to
serve on the Diversity Taskforce during its inaugural year:
Maxine Coker, PSCA Governing Board; Ruth Garcia, PSCA Governing
Board; Judi Schmitz, PSCA Governing Board; Jay D. Cannon, Pennsylvania
Department of Education; Dr. Margaret A. Herrick, Kutztown University;
Latinia McKinney Shell, School District of Lancaster; Becky Meyer,
Millersville University; and Chip Harvey, Great Valley School District.
The committee sincerely appreciates the response of the PSCA
membership to the Taskforce Needs Assessment.
The following responses are representative of membership
concerns:
-
What areas of diversity should be addressed by the PSCA Diversity Task Force?
q
Concern that counselors
have not examined their own personal racial identity process –
therefore they have not a world view of their own that is accurate and
could not begin to understand the world view of their clients.
q
All areas related to
domains: career, social/personal, and academic for students, for staff
professional development areas – ethnicity, religion, gender, culture,
etc.
-
What are the needs of PSCA members as they relate to diversity?
q
Everything imaginable
beginning with the definition of diversity – broad or narrow – how
to include which populations.
q
Ability to develop lesson
plans to address groups of gay students to classroom diversity lessons.
q
How to provide for diverse
students and family members as well as providing professional
development to staff members.
q
Information relating to
sexual orientation issues.
q
Disability awareness
q
Socio-economic awareness
q
Disability, gender, sexual
preference, socio-economic status, language, religion, culture, race.
-
What are the needs of school districts as they relate to diversity?
q
Institutional racism exists
in schools, homophobia, acceptance of white privilege as the norm,
textbook bias, testing bias.
q
Infuse diversity into the
curriculum.
q
Professional development
for staff members, multicultural curriculum, and serving the needs of
diverse students and families.
q
Information / education
regarding best practice, legal issues, and balancing tolerance of
community versus the needs of students.
-
What activities, programs, or services had your school / district implemented to address issues of diversity?
q
Classroom activities
involving celebration of differences.
q
Videos, presenters, books,
games, etc.
q
Diversity Taskforce.
q
Year-long cultural
diversity theme program.
q
Counseling Lessons:
We are the same and Different.
q
“Bandanna Day” based on
“A Class Divided.”
q
Clarity of legal and
ethical issues and best practice of policy and procedure.
-
What resources have you utilized to address issues of diversity in your school / district?
q
ACA Diversity List serve
q
Green Circle
q
Materials developed by
Dyanne Carrere
-
Additional Comments
q
Concern that only a few
people of color attend conference and are on PSCA Committees
Among the needs coming out of the Diversity Taskforce Assessment
was a request for resources. In
an attempt to begin to address this issue, we will begin by introducing
you to the Pennsylvania-based organization Opn.Wyd directed by Mark
Good. According to Good, “Opn.Wyd is an organization specializing
in the topics of diversity awareness training and conflict resolution
training; we are a company consisting of highly qualified specialists
from diverse backgrounds and professions. Opn·Wyd® provides graduate
courses and staff development workshops, relevant resources,
consultation and motivation to create a more peaceful and productive
environment for your school, business, organization or community. We
work from the foundation and belief that individual human potential for
attaining local and global unity is immense. Subsequently, Opn·Wyd®
assists in facilitating, within an organization, the emergence of each
individual’s unique strengths and capabilities for reducing
destructive prejudices and anger that can hinder the ability to work and
live together productively. As a result, our long-term goal is to see
each individual reach a full potential so that the organization and/or
community will benefit. If you wish to help your organization to reach
its goals and to enjoy the process in getting there, feel free to be in
touch with us at anytime.”
Mark
Good is a nationally recognized educational consultant and motivational
speaker specializing in diversity awareness and conflict resolution
training. He has fifteen years experience working within the corporate
sector and as a public school educator at the elementary, middle and
high school levels. Mark is the creator, facilitator and co-facilitator
of each of the innovative trainings, workshops
and programs
offered by Opn·Wyd®. All that Mark produces is specifically designed
to support members of the educational, business, community and
non-profit sectors to attain a genuine comprehension of the immense
personal value of diversity awareness and healthy conflict resolution
skills for each of us within our professional and personal lives.
Through experiential, non-confrontational workshops, Mark strives to
empower each individual to develop lifelong skills to work, learn and
live together peacefully and productively with significant revelation
for every civil freedom. For more information you may contact Mark at:
mark@opnwyd.net or visit the Opn.Wyd website at http://www.opnwyd.net
Phone: 610.892.8778.
A second resource which may be of interest is Project REACH.
Project REACH is program developed through the REACH Center – a
non-profit organization committed to multicultural and global education.
“The central purpose of Project REACH at its inception was to prepare
students in predominantly white school and community settings to live
effectively and positively within a culturally pluralistic world.
Over a decade of experience with the Project REACH curriculum has
demonstrated that the program also works well in culturally diverse
communities. The project
has proven to affect students at two levels; increased multicultural
knowledge and increased attitudinal acceptance of others.
Project REACH has been validated by the Department of Education
and is a part of the National Diffusion Network for effective
educational programs. The Project REACH program is meant to be integrated into
existing curriculum. The
project’s curriculum emphases includes:
Human Relations skills -
“self awareness, interpersonal relations, and group dynamics”;
Cultural Self-Awareness – “understanding and appreciation of
the individuals cultural background”; Multi-Cultural Awareness –
“understanding and respect of cultures different from one’s own /
awareness of diverse cultural perspectives on key events in American
History”; and Cross-Cultural Experience – significant
person-to-person contact with people form diverse ethic communities.” Individuals interested in learning more about Project
REACH may contact the REACH Center, 4464 Fremont Avenue North, Suite
300, Seattle, WA 98103. 206.545.4977.
Throughout the year, the PSCA Diversity Taskforce will continue
to work toward the creation of a Diversity Information Clearinghouse.
It is our hope that the Diversity Clearinghouse will include: speakers, publications, curriculums, websites, and other
resources addressing the multi-faceted issue of diversity.
Suggestions from the PSCA membership are most welcome in this
endeavor. Please contact: Anne
Morris, Diversity Taskforce Chairperson at: amorris@aol.com or any
Taskforce member.
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