We pledge to uphold the vision of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and to support all of our members, volunteers, and staff as well as the infants, toddlers, and students with exceptionalities and their families we serve, especially those differentially impacted by systemic racism.
Read more about CEC's Commitment to Diversity HERE. Your contribution to CEC's Diversity Fund will provide support for initiatives to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the field of special education. Contributions to the endowment can be made here: https://exceptionalchildren.org/give/about-cec-endowments
What is project20/20?
This project is a three-year, outcomes-based project driven by all of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), from individual members to our various components (Divisions, Units, chapters, and caucuses). Through the project, we will reaffirm our commitment to social justice and equity while striving to create deliverables that each CEC group can begin to apply over the next three years to help their groups reach the goals of the project.
What are the project goals?
The three main goals of project20/20 are to:
- Create a more diverse membership AND programs to support a more diverse membership (Diversity Leadership Program, Mentoring, Caucuses, etc)
- Promote equity and engagement (volunteers, leaders, and participants in CEC professionally and scholarly activities, etc) by identifying and eliminating barriers that exist
- Provide education and programming to support special educators in serving diverse communities (Webinars, Synchronous Courses, Resources/Tools, Sessions at Conferences, etc)
How to Participate
Individual members can pledge their commitment to the project below. Taking the pledge means you will support CEC in implementing, when you can, the goals of the project and being a grassroots leader in helping CEC strive for a more equitable community.
CEC’s various components (Divisions, Units, chapters, and caucuses) can pledge their commitment to the project, as well. Divisions, Units, and caucuses will also be given the opportunity to provide a volunteer to join a subgroup to work on deliverables towards one of the three goals above.
We, the undersigned, pledge to uphold the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and to support all of our members, volunteers, staff, and the students with exceptionalities we serve.
We pledge our commitment to ensuring that all of CEC is a welcoming place for members from underrepresented backgrounds. We pledge to work toward outreach to members who need the support CEC provides. And we pledge to create and support programs at all levels of CEC that support all members.
We pledge our commitment to identifying and eliminating systemic barriers that prevent all members from equitably engaging with CEC. We pledge to ensure that all volunteer and leadership positions within all areas of CEC are representative of a diverse membership.
We pledge to provide education and programming that support special educators in serving diverse communities. We pledge to provide support and training to address social justice, racism, and cultural competence.
We pledge to hold each other accountable as we strive toward these diversity, equity and inclusion goals. We pledge that each of us individually and as groups will make these goals our priority.
Timeline
As a three-year project, the key benchmarks of the project are identified below:
| Fall 2020 | Pledge launched, volunteer subgroups formed |
|---|---|
| 2020-2021 | Subgroups (one for each of the project goals) identify deliverables and timelines |
| 2021 | Subgroups create deliverable resources to assist CEC and its components in making progress toward goals |
| Quarterly 2022 | Each pledged group to provide updates on progress toward each goal |
| 2023+ | CEC and groups strive toward a unified DEI Strategic Plan to ensure continued progress |
More Information
Hello CEC,
As we take on year 2 of project 20/20, the project 20/20 team wanted to provide an update on some of our committees’ actions to date and steps to come in efforts to uphold the project’s call for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and to support all in our community, especially those differentially impacted by systemic racism. We look forward to sharing more with you at the CEC Convention in Orlando.
Project Chair
Dr. Endia J. Lindo
e.lindo@tcu.edu
This page will be updated as resources are created and will be the hub for tracking our progress. For more information on project20/20 and how you can be involved, please contact:
Endia Lindo, Project Chair, e.lindo@tcu.edu
Chad Rummel, Executive Director, crummel@exceptionalchildren.org