In the News Archives - BELONG Partners

The Crisis of Loneliness, and How Schools Help Build Connection and Community

We are excited to announce that we will be curating and synthesizing research relating to our vision of creating equitable communities that center the voices of young people, and where everyone thrives because they know that they matter and belong. This month we are sharing the first article produced by our team at BELONG Partners. We envision that these articles will serve two purposes – share relevant information within our organization that will inform and improve our services and approach, and create accessible articles that provide valuable insights for our education and organizational partners. Relationships Matter: Loneliness is a Public [...]

mary2023-08-17T21:36:23+00:00August 16, 2023|

Growing Through the Changes

Just like in nature, community groups, school systems, and school communities grow in response to the environments around them. Sometimes schools are able to forecast changing needs and intentionally create new systems, and sometimes the environment forces change. School systems and communities have grown and changed based on new research, the experience of educators, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, and Sound Discipline has too. Over the years we have grown and changed to be responsive to the communities we serve. We started out in our co-founder, Dr. Jody McVittie’s living room, and now we’re serving [...]

pase2023-05-25T22:29:44+00:00May 25, 2023|

Staff Interviews – Mary Stillwell Power, Communications and Marketing Manager

March is Women’s History Month as well as National Working Mom’s Day. We asked several of our Sound Discipline colleagues to share the stories of their experiences as working moms. Thank you Mary, for sharing your story! Why do you work in education? And/or supporting educators? I’ve had several positions teaching adults or running support groups for adults. When I had my daughter and realized how challenging being a parent was, and how important teachers were in our lives, it inspired me to want to support the people who play such a critical role in our society. Originally I [...]

belongpartners2023-05-17T18:59:29+00:00March 23, 2023|

Staff Interviews – Roxana Amaral, District Partnerships Manager

March is Women's History Month as well as National Working Mom's Day. We asked several of our Sound Discipline colleagues to share the stories of their experiences as working moms. Thank you Roxana for sharing your story! Why do you work in education and supporting educators? Being an educator before being a mom has been a gift because of all the early childhood development wisdom I learned that helped prepare me to be a parent. I can’t imagine being a parent and not an educator because it’s so much to come at you, and being an educator is professional [...]

belongpartners2023-05-17T18:59:29+00:00March 14, 2023|

Staff Interviews – Stacy Lappin, Director of Program

Stacy and her kids (from the left) Sam, Stacy, Olivia, and Raymond. March is Women's History Month as well as National Working Mom's Day. We asked several of our Sound Discipline colleagues to share the stories of their experiences as working moms. Thank you Stacy for sharing your story! Why do you work in education and in supporting educators? I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher, ever since third grade when I had an incredible teacher who helped me believe in myself. She inspired me to become a teacher so that I could [...]

belongpartners2023-05-17T18:59:30+00:00March 13, 2023|

Staff Interviews – Roxana Amaral, District Partnerships Manager

Latinx Heritage Month or Hispanic Heritage month (official government designation), recognizes and honors the enduring contributions and importance of Latinx Americans to the U.S. and celebrates the many heritages and cultures of Americans from or with ancestors from Mexico, the Caribbean, Spain, and Central and South America. To celebrate Latinx Heritage Month we asked our colleague, District Partnerships Manager Roxana Amaral, to tell us a bit about her heritage, work in the community, and her role working in education. What is your heritage? I was born in Mexico and identify as Mexican and Latino. I am from the Tepic, [...]

belongpartners2023-05-17T18:59:29+00:00October 13, 2022|

Changing the World, A Classroom at a Time

We've been head down, all of us, chipping away at the tough stuff in front of us for the last few years. At Sound Discipline's board retreat last week, we stepped back and took a look around at the world that is the context for all of our work in schools: The pandemic Division and suspicion of "the other" Climate impacts like wildfires, storms, and floods Racism Gun violence All of this big stuff is overwhelming and bigger than any one of us. But every day, when students show up in classrooms, the moments matter. Subtle changes make profound differences. [...]

belongpartners2023-05-01T22:08:22+00:00September 30, 2022|

Centered in Belonging: In-Person & Online Professional Development for Teachers

Sound Discipline launched our hybrid professional development program for educators in August, with a pretty cool piece of tech that enables a great hybrid experience - we call it Rooty Hooty. Our 'Rooty Hooty' webcam What is Rooty Hooty? Rooty got its name from the first workshop where it was used -- Rooted Relationships: Growing Equitable Classroom Communities. It’s a Meeting Owl, aka a fancy web cam made by Owl Labs. With a swivel-head, 360-degree camera and microphone, participants can see, hear, and engage easily with one another, even in group discussion. Making community and connection [...]

belongpartners2022-08-19T13:28:56+00:00August 19, 2022|

Staff Interviews – Lex Gavin, Facilitator

June is Pride month and we asked several of our BELONG Partners colleagues in the LGBTQIA+ communities to share the stories of their experience as educators and what it means to them to be a queer role model in schools. Lex (in green) at FIERCE's (https://fierce.nyc/) queer youth organizing summit in Chicago, 2013. Thank you Lex Gavin for sharing this inspiring story of your work and journey! Why do you work in education? For me, it’s all about service to young people. Even when working with adult educators, it’s in service of young people. Education at its best [...]

belongpartners2023-06-21T20:50:46+00:00June 30, 2022|

Staff Interviews – Reid Kuennen, Facilitator & Instructional Designer

Reid and their partner, Liz, at Long Beach, WA. June is Pride month and we asked several of our Sound Discipline colleagues in the LGBTQIA+ communities to share the stories of their experience as educators and what it means to them to be a queer role model in schools. Thank you Reid Kuennen, Sound Discipline Facilitator & Instructional Designer, for sharing this inspiring story of your work and journey! Why do you work in education? For me, youth work began with having not had the best experience with traditional school. I got to be a part of after [...]

belongpartners2023-05-17T18:59:30+00:00June 29, 2022|

Sound Discipline is now BELONG Partners

In the News

In the News

Title

Sound Discipline is now BELONG Partners.

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