The Ferguson Commission called for action, and Sherita Love is now taking action through EdHub STL.
In its report, the commission called for the creation of an “innovative education center/hub” that would build “an inclusive, collaborative, and multi-disciplined education environment focused on leading our region into the 21st century from early childhood to post-secondary.”
This hub, according to the report, should engage “a broad and diverse constituency including but not limited to school district leaders representing low-income districts, engaged citizens, innovators/entrepreneurs, youth, low-income parents with school-aged youth, colleges and universities, non-profits, businesses and the philanthropic community.”
Love and EdHub STL, based in the Venture Café at Cortex Innovation community, is working on it, in partnership with SkipNV, another local project focusing on equity in education.
“We are implementing this call to action by leveraging the Venture Café platform of connecting innovators with the systems-thinking strategy of SkipNV to create a physical and intellectual space for everyone – regardless of where you fall in the educational landscape – to experiment, collaborate, and innovate,” Love wrote to announce the launch of EdHub STL on August 30 at one of the Venture Café’s Thursday evening gatherings.
That launch at the Venture Café drew a crowd of more than 720 people from across the region and country. Now Love is planning outreach events to connect with 250 educators around the St. Louis metropolitan area in an effort to “build an inclusive, collaborative, and multi-disciplined community of practice to creatively solve our region’s most entrenched educational challenges.”
Saras Chung, executive director of SkipNV, holds a master’s degree in social work from Washington University’s George Warren Brown School of Social Work. She also has a Ph.D from the Brown School. She works to improve equity in education through what she calls “systems change.” As she wrote in HuffPost, “The beauty about systems is that the same structure that creates undesirable events is the basis for which great ones can be established.” She views EdHub STL as a partner in effecting positive systems change.
“EdHub STL will not be the antidote to educational disparities – people must do that work,” Chung said. “What it will do is give people the place and intellectual space to get people friendly with one another, share good ideas, and create new ones so the work will be deeper, more complete, and easier to get done.”
Love is actively recruiting educators to get involved. She aims for EdHub STL to provide on-site programs with scholarships, transportation stipends, and a meal for each session so that students will have no barriers to entry. There is no application process for schools or educators to become involved. Interested educational institutions and personnel should contact Love, and she will provide all the necessary information to get started.
All you need, she said, is to share her vision: “to find a way to expand innovation into education, all the while promoting diversity and inclusion.”
Love’s commitment to this work goes back further than the Ferguson Commission report to the tragic incident that ultimately generated the report.
“When Michael Brown was killed on August 9, 2014,” she wrote, “I made a commitment to use my voice and platform as an educator to make a difference for students in St Louis. My work in education equity took on a different meaning after that day.”
For more information or to get involved, email Sherita Love at sherita@vencafstl.org.
