“Community programming” is used here as an umbrella term for projects that promote relationships between individuals and institutions, support collaborative learning, and celebrate and serve the communities I belong to. Some of these projects overlap or intersect with my research.

Current and past Projects

Imagining more just futures (IMJF) is a social justice education initiative for elementary school-aged children and their families. IMJF draws on the tools of critical inquiry, storytelling, and art-making to engage children and families in a co-constructed process of recognizing, and then challenging, systems of oppression in our own communities. Past programing has included multi-week, critical participatory action research (CPAR) summer camps; educational workshops; and book clubs in collaboration with the Harvard Graduate Commons Program. We also create and share educational resources for families. Imagining is co-founded and co-facilitated by myself and Hania Mariën and has been funded by the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Read more about IMJF on our website.

In my previous work with the Harvard University Graduate Commons Program (GCP), I researched, developed, and facilitated social and educational programming for families in the Harvard University community. This included facilitating the Mind Matters: Families Make a Difference series in partnership with the Harvard Ed Portal; designing a new, three-part series to support parents and caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic; and implementing a a family book-club focused on race, identity, and justice (in collaboration with Hania Mariën and Imagining More Just Futures, see above). Read more about my work designing the Parenting in Challenging Times series and the GCP Family Book Club: Exploring Race and Identity.

Community Kids is a flexible participatory action research (PAR) framework intended to be used with 1st-2nd grade students. It focuses on the skill of perspective-taking as a developmentally-appropriate entry point to participating in the research process and engaging with the idea of equity in the context of students’ own communities. I designed and piloted the program during a research project at a New England elementary school in the summer of 2019 and subsequently created this shareable curriculum guide for educators.

No Other Place was a pop-up exhibition of community-generated artwork, music, stories, and ideas, which I organized and curated in collaboration with Chelsea Coleman and the ’62 Center for Theater and Dance at Williams College. Individuals and groups from the North Berkshires, ranging from K-12 students, to college students, to adult professional and amateur artists, were invited to create pieces of art responding to a shared prompt: “What does it mean to belong to this place?” Works included tangible objects, performance pieces, and large installations, and the day-long exhibition also included “story times” with community members and opportunities for moments of communal creation.  

Ephs Out Loud (EOL) is an initiative I developed and directed in the Williams College music department to promote music education and community collaboration through the arts. EOL has produced annual, collaborative events engaging students from four local schools and hundreds of community members; provided private lessons, chamber music coaching, and jazz combo coaching at a local high school; organized regular performances and workshops at community venues including nursing homes, schools, and housing communities; and provided training to Williams students interested in music education and service. EOL has also worked closely with the North Berkshire El Sistema-inspired music education program Kids 4 Harmony.