Umoja- Student Development Corporation was founded in 1997
by Lila Leff. Umoja means "unity" in Swahili. Umoja- Student
Development Corporation (https://www.umojacorporation.org/) is an
organization that teaches educators how to better support students through
social emotional learning (SEL) and restorative justice. Umoja believes
that by teaching and training educators on ways to support and better develop
students, students will have a better chance of success in their futures. On
the Umoja website it states, "We build deep social-emotional learning
(SEL) skills in educators to transform the ways young people experience school
and the ways schools exist to serve society." Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion are at the center of Umoja’s work.
One of the deans at my internship
went to a professional development workshop at Umoja to learn more about SEL and
restorative justice (because learning from the school social workers was
apparently not enough). The information that was learned from Umoja was then presented
at an all staff institute day. Even though social workers have been teaching
and implementing SEL, other educational professionals are only starting to realize
the importance and the ways in which SEL can improve other areas within the educational
environment. Additionally at my internship, fighting has been a big issue this
year. One of social work’s best practices for when there is conflict is through
implementing a restorative justice process. At the all staff institute day, information
from Umoja about restorative justice was also presented. Below is one of the information
sheets that was presented when talking about restorative justice but is also
just a good self-check in general when working with any student.
References
Umoja-Student
Development Corporatin. Retrieved October 22, 2019, from
https://www.umojacorporation.org/.
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