Founded in 2016, Kindred builds trusting relationships between families of diverse socioeconomic and racial backgrounds within early childcare centers and elementary schools to create an environment and resources that support all students’ success. Kindred seeks to eliminate educational inequity that limits poor children, especially those of color, from fulfilling their potential. Kindred’s vision is communities that will care for all children, across lines of difference, as if they were their own.
In 2017, Sustained Dialogue Institute partnered with Kindred to help them build their dialogue curriculum for elementary school parents. Kindred parent dialogue groups meet twice per month over the course of the school year to discuss identity, race, equity, and aspirations for their children. Parents are encouraged to move through the five stages of dialogue, culminating in an action plan to improve their school. Kindred’s dialogue groups are forming a network of diverse parents fighting for equity.