Welcoming Schools offers tools, lessons and resources to help educators embrace family diversity, avoid gender stereotypes, and end bullying and name-calling in elementary schools. The organization also offers resources for school administrators and educators to support students who don't conform to gender norms. It was initiated by a group of parents and educators to meet the needs of students whose family structures are not well represented or included in school environments.
Fakhra, a San Francisco Bay Area native and high school teacher, teaches courses through the San Francisco Peer Resources Program at Mission High School. Shah works to educate and empower youth of diverse backgrounds to become critical thinkers who challenge systems of oppression and who take steps to create lasting institutional change. Over the past few years, Shah has developed curricula that challenge Islamophobia, racism and hate speech, seeking to further support marginalized students in her classes.
Loretta J. Ross is a Visiting Professor of Practice in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University teaching "Reproductive Justice Theory and Practice" and "Race and Culture in the U.S." for the 2018-2019 academic year. Previously, she was a Visiting Professor at Hampshire College in Women's Studies for the 2017-2018 academic year teaching "White Supremacy in the Age of Trump." She was a co-founder and the National Coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective from 2005-2012, a network founded in 1997 of women of color and allied organizations
Janice Cohn is a psychotherapist and writer. She is the author of The Christmas Menorahs: How a Town Fought Hate (Whitman, 1995), which recounts the true story of events that took place in Billings, Montana, during the 1993 holiday season. For information about her professional background, visit www.drjanicecohn.com.
Tom is the school psychologist at Woodstown Middle School in Woodstown, New Jersey. He has served as a school psychologist in New Jersey for 28 years, working primarily with middle school students.