Race Resilience: Achieving Equity Through Self and Systems Transformation

Review, rethink, and redesign racial support systems NOW

As schools engage in courageous conversations about how racialization and racial positioning influences thinking, behaviors, and expectations, many educators still lack the resources to start this challenging and personally transformative work. Race Resilience offers guidance to educators who are ready to rethink, review, and redesign their support systems and foster the building blocks of resiliency for staff.

Readers will learn how to:

• Model ethical, professional, and social-emotional sensitivity

• Develop, advocate, and enact on a collective culture

• Maintain a continuously evaluative process for self and school wellness

• Engage meaningfully with students and their families

• Improve academic and behavioral outcomes

Race resilient educators work continuously to grow their awareness of how their racial identity impacts their practice. When educators feel they are cared for, have trusting relationships, and are autonomous, they are in a better position to teach and model resilience to their students.

Victoria Romero is an educator with over 42 years of experience working as a classroom teacher, principal, and leadership coach. She continues to coach administrators, directors, principals, vice principals, and school leadership teams for equity and sustainable school improvement in three school districts in Washington. Victoria is a certified consultant and lead author of two Corwin Press books, "Building Resilience in Students Impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Whole Staff Approach" (2018) and "Race Resilience: Achieving Equity Through Self and Systems Transformation" (2021). Both books focus on the impact of traumatization as it relates to social-emotional needs of students as well as how to create school cultures that foster resilience. In her more recent work, Victoria provides guidance to school staff in engaging in authentic dialogue about how racialization and racial positioning influences perceptions, behaviors, expectations, and decisions. Her guiding framework emphasizes that systems will change when the people working in them change.

Amber N. Warner is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, with over 20 years of experience. She has had the privilege of serving as a community outreach case manager (4 years), school social worker (8 years), medical social worker (5 years) , and behavioral health therapist (3 years). As a School Social Worker, in addition to her work with children and their families, she was part of the school wide Modern Red School House Leadership Team and the Positive Behavior Interventions and Systems Team. She facilitated K-6 monthly classroom discussions utilizing Second Step and Character Counts curriculums. Amber is also a co-author of Building Resilience in Students Impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Whole Staff Approach.

In 2011 Amber worked in healthcare and part of the organization’s leadership team, she was introduced to the work of Dr. Bryan Sexton on healthcare providers’ staggering burnout rates and the healing proponents of Positive Psychology. A new passion and interest developed for her. She became a Certified Duke Patient Safety Officer in 2013 at Duke University’s Patient Safety Center. 
Amber has also studied under the direction of Dr. David Burns, leading Psychiatrist, and adjunct professor at Stanford University and the developer of TEAM a new form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the treatment of depression and anxiety. She has achieved Level 2 TEAM certification from the Feeling Good Institute. 
She has a certification from the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth in Trauma-Informed Care.

Most of all, Amber has a passion for people, their wellness, and quality of life. She currently resides in California. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, hiking, Inferno Pilates, learning new things, traveling, community service, attending church, and an occasional new pair of shoes.

Justin Hendrickson is a longtime Seattle resident who is currently serving as a PreK-8^th grade public school principal. The zip code where his school is located is described as the city’s most ethnically diverse. Ninety percent are students of color. Sixty-five percent participate in the free or reduced lunch program and 21% are English Language Learners. Eight percent of the students are homeless. Justin brings almost 20 years of experience in urban education as a teacher and instructional coach. As a leader in a community-based school, he is focused on implementing a trauma informed school environment where staff practice culturally responsive pedagogy and use strategies that foster resiliency.