Seeing The Constellation: Our 2020 Annual Report

In Ruth King's book, Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out, she frames systemic racism, and the inability for some people to see it, as the difference between seeing stars and constellations. When you are looking at one moment, one star, you miss how those moments and the decisions that lead to them are interacting together and developing into an oppressive system. It is when you look at the macro level - of how different events have occurred until this moment - that you see the constellation - the pattern of oppression that must be changed by rebuilding our systems to be equitable and just. 

We have been inspired by this analogy to take a broader look at the last year of our work. When we zoom out and frame our efforts alongside the work of our institutional partners and our community, we see the constellation. We see how all of these moments in time - these singular data points, programs, policies, and events - create a pattern of working together that pushes Racine towards systemic change. We see where we have transformed our efforts, and where we still have work to do. We are excited to share our year with you in this new, digital format:

Thank you to our community

It goes without saying that this has been a uniquely challenging year. We are proud of our community showing, once again, that we can have a greater impact when we work together to create change in our community. Despite the crisis we found ourselves in in 2020, our partners stayed committed to the long term work of creating systemic change. For that, we are both grateful for the support of our collective impact efforts, and encouraged to continue working to improve education and employment outcomes for students and their families. Together with Racine families, our partnership can create the conditions for equitable and just change that our community needs.

Thank you to our Leadership table

245 Individuals and Organizations Supported by the Community Cares Fund

• Learn more about Community Cares Fund

62 Families Receive Rent Relief

• More information on CARES Rent Relief

• See CDC Eviction Moratorium

18,110 Students started remote learning

• See parent surveys

• Learn more about RUSD Smart Start Plan , or here.

200 Families have utilized the Here to Help Line each week

• Learn more about the Here to Help Line

961 Families Access Internet Through RUSD, Community Comes Together to Increase WiFi Access

• Learn more about the City of Racine’s expansion of public wifi

307 People Trained by Racial Equity Institute

• Learn more about the Racial Equity Institute

Raising money to compensate community

• See our Request for Proposals

4 Amazon Pallets donated

• Learn more about this donation

135 Parents & Caregivers receiving helpful texts

• Learn more about Bright By Text

• Learn more about our other Early Childhood Education Efforts

3 Parents learning advocacy

• Learn more about the Wisconsin Partnership

480 people learned more about the importance of Early Childhood Education

• Learn more about No Small Matters

11 mothers start Two-Generation pilot with Ascension

• Learn more about the pilot here

280 Racine residents received their HSED or RUSD High School Diploma through expanded HSED program

• Learn more about the expansion of the HSED program

3 Key supports for Post-Secondary Success identified by our HERA partners

• Learn more about HERA

• Learn more about Moonshot for Equity

14 Special Education teachers graduated from STAR and earn placements at RUSD

• Learn more about the STAR program

• Watch testimonials from STAR Program teachers

100 Teachers have received Continuous Improvement training

• See the final results of a similar training in Spartanburg, NC

76.2% Racine County residents self-responded t0 the 2020 Census

• See more information about 2020 Census response rates