Marking the 10 year anniversary of the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition, our 2024 Annual Convening celebrates our community’s work to support, promote, and expand school integration. This year’s gathering will allow members of the Coalition to reflect on our organization’s work as well as their own commitment to the diverse-by-design movement. We will also focus on the importance of equity within advocacy and storytelling in envisioning the next decade of school integration across the country.
We are thrilled to announce the keynote speaker for Convening 2024, Dr. Pedro Noguera. Dr. Noguera is one of the nation’s leading scholars on race, inequality, and education issues. Prior to coming to USC to serve as the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of the Rossier School of Education, he served as a Professor of Education and holder of endowed chairs at UCLA, NYU, Harvard University, and the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Bettina L. Love is an award-winning author and the William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her writing, research, teaching, and educational advocacy work meet at the intersection of disrupting education reform and strengthening public education through abolitionist teaching, Black joy, and anti-racism. The aim of her scholarship is twofold: firstly, to advance how the field of education understands and critiques school reform and the systemic and structural racism of public education within the U.S.; and secondly, to advocate for abolitionist approaches in the field of education that seek new possibilities for educational justice. In the pursuit of making her scholarship a reality, she works with activists, communities, youth, families, and school districts to build communal, civically-engaged schools rooted in the aspirations of abolitionist strategies that love and affirm Black and Brown children. Towards that end, in 2020, Dr. Love co-founded the Abolitionist Teaching Network (ATN). ATN’s mission is to develop and support teachers and parents to fight injustice within their schools and communities. To date, ATN has granted over $160,000 to abolitionists around the country. She is also the creator of the Hip Hop civics curriculum GET FREE.
Dr. Love is also a founding member of the Old 4th Ward Economic Security Task Force with the Atlanta City Council. The goal of the task force is to bring guaranteed income and income stability to Black women residents living in Atlanta. In 2022, the Task Force launched the program In Her Hands , distributing more than $15 million to Black women living in Georgia. In Her Hands is one of the largest guaranteed income pilot programs in the U.S. As part of its 50th anniversary in 2022, the Kennedy Center named Dr. Love one of the Next 50 Leaders who are making the world a more inspired, inclusive, and compassionate place.
She is the author of the books We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom and Hip Hop’s Li’l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South . Her work has appeared in numerous books and journals, including Educational Researcher , Urban Education , The Urban Review , and the Journal of LGBT Youth .
A registrant can receive a 100% refund up to December 31, 2023.
A registrant can receive a 50% refund up to January 12, 2024.
No refunds will be given after January 13, 2024.*
Group discounts are available through the Whova platform “Group Ticket” option for groups of 4 or more.
*If you cannot join us because of a COVID-19-related illness, we will work with you to provide a refund.
Can I register on-site?
No, there will be no on-site registration. The last day to register was January 24, 2022.
Are there sponsorship opportunities?
Yes! Reach out to info@diversecharters.org to learn about how you can support this important work.
Influencers from DCSC member schools and networks, partners from the field and prospective members should attend the DCSC 2022 Convening.
We are intentionally using the term “influencer” to be inclusive to both formal titles (Principal, ED, CEO) and additional key leaders across school sites and network teams who may lead Diversity, Equity and Inclusive (DEI) school and network-wide efforts in your context. We suggest more than one representative from each school (and/or network) because there will be moments in the convening when attendees will be asked to develop next steps to bring back to their schools/orgs and believe this is best done in teams.
True to our name, we aim to welcome a diverse group of participants to our virtual gathering. Thank you for including all dimensions of this term when considering attending.
Arrange your travel to KC. Programming for the convening starts at 12 CT on Thursday Jan 26. (If you are in the UnifiED Explorers or Communities of Practice program you will need to arrive earlier in the week)
Once we release our full agenda, you will be able to pre-register for sessions! Using the same email you registered with sign into our convening platform (web or mobile!), look through the agenda and pre-register for the sessions you would like to attend.
Are there registration discounts?
Yes!
The first 50 people to register get 20% off by using the code: 1st50
CoP Participants recieve 20% off by using the code: dcsc2023-cop
UnifiED Explorers and Fellows receive free registration by using the code: dcscunified
Any group of 3 or more can recieve a 20% discount by using the “Group Ticket” option in Whova.
Reach out to events@diversecharters.org if you have questions.
Is there a discount hotel block available?
Yes! We are pleased to provide a discount room rate at the lovely Intercontinental KC hotel. This hotel is very close to the conference venue and DCSC will be providing a shuttle service back and forth to the convening for attendees during the chilly January mornings and afternoons.
The room block is first come, first served and will be available until Friday, January 6, 2024.
How do I book my hotel with the discount room block?
The room block is first come, first served and will be available until Friday, January 6, 2024.
How do I vote for Member of the Year?
Votes are submitted as part of registration for the 2024 Annual Convening (one can only vote if ‘Member’ is selected during registration). Voting for MoY closes on January 13.
Votes from all DCSC member schools and networks will be weighted so that each member organization has one vote.
Yes! Parking is free of charge and located on the north side of the Kauffman Center building. Please enter through the right-hand set of doors for the Conference Center.
4801 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110
Will there be school visits?
Yes! DCSC member schools will host attendees. Once we release the full convening schedule, you can reserve your slot through the WHOVA app. School visits spots are on a first-come, first-served basis.
Transportation will be provided to the schools from the Kauffman Center. Here are the school options (with grades served in parentheses):
Our 2022 Annual Convening will be as interactive as ever! This year’s programming will offer attendees the opportunity to learn and network with one another through three types of sessions: workshops, dilemma discussions, and school showcases. Read more about each session type for this year’s Annual Convening and submit a proposal by November 12th!
Every year we honor a member school or school network that has embodied our mission. This year, DCSC’s Member of the Year will reflect our commitment to integration, inclusion, and anti-racism through the votes of active members. We are accepting self-nominations for this award until November 12th!
In addition to whole group programming and Affinity Groups, which return by popular demand, our 2022 Annual Convening will feature three types of programming for attendees:
