Listen to fresh voices of reason, credibility and cooperation in a time of chaos and confusion. Help us celebrate and embrace the vision and persistence educators and students that are teaching us all to better understand ourselves and embrace and accept each other. To learn more about our full video, lesson, and resource offerings, please access the contact form here.
Dr. Meria Carstarphen
Founder Uplift!
Co-Founder UNITE
Former Urban Schools Superintendent
Paul Forbes
Founder Leading with Hearts and Minds
Director of Partnerships, Defining US
Former ED of Educational Equity
New York City Department of Education
Dr. James P. Comer
Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry
Yale University School of Medicine’s Child Study Center
Dr. John Dovidio
Carl Iver Hovland Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Public Health
Yale University
Dr. Tyrone C. Howard
Director/Founder
Black Male Institute
University of California Los Angeles
Dr. David Kirkland
Executive Director of NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools
Dr. Fay E. Brown
Director of Child and Adolescent Development, School Development Program
Yale University Child Study Center
Jordan Stockdale
Executive Director of the Young Men’s Initiative (YMI)
for NYC Public Schools
Dr. Ruby Ababio-Fernandez
Senior Executive Director, Office of Equity and Access
New York City Department of Education
Kenyatte Reid
Executive Director, Office of Safety and Youth Development
New York City Department of Education
Lydia Acosta Stephens
Executive Director, Multilingual and Multicultural Education Department
Los Angeles Unified School District
Courtney Winkfield
Senior Strategy & Policy Advisor,
Office of Equity and Access
New York City Department of Education
Art Acevedo
Law Enforcement Analyst for CNN
Former Police Chief
Miami Police Department
Ingrid Chung
Principal
Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science
New York City Department of Education
Bennett Lieberman
Principal
Central Park East HS
New York City Department of Education
Molly Hendricks
Coordinator
School Safety and Risk Prevention
San Mateo County Office of Education
Marybeth Gasman
Distinguished Professor
Assoc. Dean for Research
Graduate School of Education
Rutgers University
Please visit the links below for experts in different content areas who are committed to social change and who have joined our network for collective good. The Defining US team appreciates their expertise and action through their own critical work, as well as lending their voices to our blogs and podcasts. It takes all of us and we are growing! Contact us through the Take Action page to let us know about your own individual interest in joining our network. We would love to hear from you!
Cindy Simpson
Deputy Director of Children and Family Services for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Consultant
Kelly Quindlen
Author of She Drives Me Crazy, Late to the Party, Her Name in the Sky
