Diversity, Equity, and Belonging

The Co-op School is actively working to be an anti-racist school. We are based in Brooklyn’s historically Black Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, and we celebrate our community’s diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, family structure, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, and physical ability. We create safe, affirming environments in which students and families can share their whole selves. We encourage our students to listen and learn from each other’s individual stories and to honor both our differences and our commonalities.

Our Community Initiatives

We are committed to evolving and creating programming and initiatives that help our school community evolve and have adopted Anti-Racism as a core value:

We value and nurture the courage and heart it requires to be anti-racist in our speech and actions, and exemplify this through the conversations we have and the work we do in and out of our classrooms.

To nurture this value, we conduct holding town halls; support local nonprofits, charities, and businesses that are mission-aligned; work with Unifying Solutions to bring in support for our faculty and staff.

Some programming is our 6 part Unpacking Racism series, which includes but is not limited to the following:

  • Systemic Racism
  • Implicit Bias
  • Microaggressions
  • White Fragility
  • Accountability through Allyship

We are committed to creating affinity spaces for our faculty and staff, in the following areas:

  • Race/Ethnic Groups
  • LGBTI+
  • Family Structure
  • Learning Differences
  • Etc.

Our Events

We include all stakeholders in our events. Our parents will have an opportunity to engage in Unpacking Systemic Racism and Keeping the Work Alive at Home: Three-Part Series. We have additional programming with the EDT group to support our faculty, staff, and students throughout the school year.

We have annual celebrations for Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month.

Our Students & Families

We recognize and celebrate our students and families who come from diverse backgrounds and experiences. So, we celebrate our community’s diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, family structure, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, and physical ability. We create safe, affirming environments in which students and families can share their whole selves. We encourage our students to listen and learn from each other’s individual stories, and to honor both our differences and our commonalities.

We are committed to creating spaces where our students can excel throughout the year.