Weekly News from WECAN - June 26, 2020
Dear WECAN Members and Friends,
 
Summer has begun! The solstice has taken place, and we are entering a season when many of us can take a step back from the intensity and busyness of recent months, and engage in processing the events of the past year, finding opportunities for renewal and rejuvenation, and opening ourselves to new impulses for our lives and work in the coming year.

We are so grateful to all of you who have been participating in the WECAN Community Hub and in various zoom calls. We hope that the collaborative colleagueship established in the midst of the pa ndemic can be further developed as we go forward. We invite you to continue to post messages and job postings and course offerings on the Hub this summer. If you have not yet joined the Hub and would like to participate, please write to   WECANCommunity+subscribe@wecan.groups.io .

This is our final Weekly News from WECAN as the school year ends, although we may send occasional messages during the summer as needs arise. Some of the regional and thematic groups plan to continue their zoom calls - please check the Community Hub for announcements.

Many thanks to each of you who has become a WECAN Member for the coming year, and to those of you who so generously donated to our WECAN Spring Appeal.


With warm wishes,
Susan Howard
WECAN Coordinator  
 
Looking Ahead: A Healing Mood for Us All

We are grateful for the recent zoom call presentations and written contributions by members of our WECAN Early Childhood Research Group. If you have not yet read the articles the research group members have written, you can find them on the Community Hub. We look forward to continuing our work with them on the question of healing in our work with children and families, with our colleagues, and with ourselves, and hope that you will join us.

We also look forward to next steps in our growing collaboration with the Association of Waldorf Schools and the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education in the coming year. At a meeting this week among members of leadership groups of the three associations, the focus of our discussions in large and small groups was the question,  How can we work together to address the systemic inequities that disproportionately impact Black, Brown and other marginalized communities and have been especially highlighted during the global pandemic and the recent incidents of police brutality? The discussions were enlivening and forward-looking and highlighted the need for further work. Our collaborative activity in the coming year, although not yet formally determined, will most likely have to do with working on these questions.

WECAN's IDEA work on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access is intensifying. This work will be the focus of our conference activity in the coming year, and also has to do with healing. In closing, as a parting gift before the summer break, I would like to share with you a video sent this morning from a colleague in the International Association, where early childhood educators on several continents are also taking up Diversity questions. The speaker is Ruby Sayles, and her TED talk is called How we can start to heal the pain of racial division? You can view it here. I hope it is a source of inspiration for you.

Susan Howard

Join WECAN as an Individual Member! Click here for more information.

Click here for the IASWECE Annual Report
The Corona pandemic affects us all in different ways, but for some it has become a matter of survival or shutting down. In many places all over the world Waldorf Kindergartens are working without any state subsidies and only can function further through additional donations from parents and educators. The current Corona Pandemic has led some of them into an existential crisis through which they are now threatened with closure.

IASWECE is participating with the Friends of Waldorf Education and other partners in an emergency fund to ensure their survival. Help us to help these kindergartens by donating!
IASWECE: IBAN: DE83 6012 0500 0007 7076 00 - BIC: BFSWDE33STG - Memo: Corona Support
For more information or to donate via PayPal:  https://iaswece.org/how-you-can-help/

Click Here for Updated information on Summer 2020
Teacher Education, Courses, and Workshops
for Waldorf Early Childhood Educators


Upcoming Zoom Calls and Events

FRIDAY, JUNE 26

Great Lakes Region I - Ontario and Northern New York (Weekly at 1 pm ET)
Hosted by WECAN
with Laurie Harper Burgess and Heather Church
1 pm ET
Meeting ID: 893 0974 2662
Password: GreatLakes

WEDNESDAY, JULY 1

People of Color Forum
Hosted by AWSNA
with Magally Luna and Anna Rodriguez
People of color are invited to join to support one another in working to further and strengthen diversity and inclusion in Waldorf education. 
11:30 am HI, 2:30 pm PT, 3:30 pm MT, 4:30 pm CT, 5:30 pm ET
Registration required.

TUESDAY, JULY 21

DEI/Truth and Reconciliation
Hosted by AWSNA
with Melanie Reiser
8:30 am HI, 11:30 am PT, 12:30 pm MT, 1:30 pm CT, 2:30 pm ET
Registration required.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22

LGBTQ+ Networking Forum 
Hosted by AWSNA
This is a LGBTQ+ networking forum for colleagues who identify as LGBTQ+. Our hope is for this to be a space where we share our lived experiences, resources and support each other in creating more LGBTQ+ inclusive school communities. This group will stand in solidarity and work in concert with other marginalized communities to inform DEI work and policy in Waldorf schools across North America. This group strives to be anti-bias, anti-racist, and intersectionality-centered in its working. 
12 pm HI, 3 pm PT, 4 pm MT, 5 pm CT, 6 pm ET
Registration required.

LATE JULY - DATES AND TIMES WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON THE WECAN HUB

Drop off Time for Little Ones Birth to Three - How can we do better?
Hosted by WECAN
with Kimberley Lewis
Sharing Research from a Waldorf 100 Innovation Summit Conference research project

Living Questions in Birth to Three out of the Parent Child Work
Hosted by WECAN
with WECAN Birth to Three Task Force members