DEIB

Role: Assistant for Library Operations & Professional Development Program

The theme of this year’s POCIS 2026 Conference was “Roots to Resilience.” POCIS is a foundation committed to helping schools develop programming that supports faculty, staff, students and families of color.

I attended Elena Aguilar’s Keynote Presentation, “How to Cultivate Resilience in Yourself and Your Communities,” and two additional workshops. After Aguilar’s Keynote, I walked away inspired and equipped with concrete strategies on how to build resilience in myself and others that I plan to incorporate into my personal and professional spheres: 1) Recognize, accept, and feel emotions; 2) Take care of yourself; 3) Be kind to yourself; 4) Connect to people; 5) Look for the (little) bright spots; and 6) Focus on your sphere of control. 

My biggest takeaway from Workshop 1, “Community Cultural Wealth: Toward Belonging & Transformation” with Ester Sihit and Omar Brown, is that POC individuals tend to be perceived through a deficit lens, and CCW can provide an alternate framework that centers POC lived experiences. We learned about six different CCW capitals: navigational, social, familial, linguistic, aspirational, and resistance. In the context of myself and our school community, I reflected on how: A) I have received support from colleagues to achieve my goals (social / navigational / aspirational), and I strive to pay it back to others; and B) I connect with students and faculty over shared identity attributes and cultural backgrounds (social / linguistic), and I can continue to do so in intentional ways. 

During Workshop 2, “Access without Support is Not Opportunity,” Roxy Nielsen and Yancie Davis discussed the importance of belonging and specifically how the organization Private School Village (PSV)--which Burke’s partners with!--can support families of color with this. My key takeaways center around how to create a sense of belonging, which I will bring to my work in the library and school community: film/media exposure, history lessons, encouragement to be yourself, relationship building/bridging, and interpersonal connections. I am curious what the collaboration between Burke’s and PSV looks like, and how we can continue to foster a sense of belonging with their support.

Perhaps the best part of this conference was getting to connect and network with other local educators of color. There was even the chance to take free professional headshots! Both within the workshop sessions and during the breaks, transitions, and social hour, there were plentiful opportunities for moments of connection and learning from one another. For example, one attendee whom I met at lunch shared a digital business card and taught me how to make my own. Through the app Blinq, you can download a QR code to your phone or add it to your apple wallet and have others scan it to download your contact information. I’d highly recommend doing so for quick/easy networking at conferences! Here’s what mine looks like as an example: