Recasting Families and Communities as Co-Designers of Education in Tumultuous Times

System, school, community and foundation leaders committed to racial equity and family co-design work should: 3 of 28 Build and Set the Co-Design Table • Support initiatives that tap into and develop the collective leadership of families and communities of color in improving schools,. [...] For example, research from the community organizing literature high- lights the power and agency of families and communities to improve schools in the pursuit of educational equity.20 Organizing with these goals focuses on school reform and enables families and community members to exert influence from outside of schools by bringing together diverse individuals, organizations, and agencies.21 Comp. [...] The aim of this approach is to make policy decisions and design educational practices, tools and organizations in ways that build solidarities in the moment as well as over time.27 We take the idea of “walking our talk” to heart as we work to enact the relational changes we wish to see in the world in the process itself. [...] We systematically gathered, analyzed and used data to guide the next steps in the research, build new knowledge, and improve both practice and theory.31 In the first phase of the FLDC, we engaged 10 family and community design collaboratives in a series of in-depth reciprocal work groups called design circles with 6-35 individuals. [...] System, school, community and foundation leaders committed to racial equity and family co-design work should: Build and Set the Co-Design Table • Support initiatives that tap into and develop the collective leadership of families and communities of color in improving schools, communities, and broader systems, rather than programs that seek to change parent behaviors to better support schools’ agen.