Join fellow parents, educators and child development and trauma experts for an important conversation about how you can talk with young children about racial injustice and violence against Black people. Together, we’ll explore questions such as: How can parents of Black children continue to instill confidence and pride in young kids while also explaining the racial inequity and barriers that continue today? And, how can parents of non-Black children help young kids understand their role in confronting anti-Black racism? We’ll also answer questions from parents and share tips and resources you can use to continue to have these meaningful conversations now and into the future.

This live conversation was recorded. Watch the recording below.

Panelists Include:

Will Tolliver Jr., Moderator
Will Tolliver Jr. is a Pittsburgh-based leader, innovator, and change-maker recognized throughout the education community as an early learning expert. Will is a PBS KIDS Early Learning Champion and is a member of the City of Pittsburgh’s Commission on Human Relations. Will’s goal is to share his passion for the environment, education, and social justice with everyone he encounters and to share stories of those who have been denied a voice.

Jamal Berry
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men,” wrote Frederick Douglas. As the director of Educare Washington, DC—an early childhood education school and community center—Jamal Berry has dedicated his professional career to doing just that: building strong children..

Dr. Renée Wilson-Simmons
Renée Wilson-Simmons, DrPH, is executive director of the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) Awareness Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee, which was established in 2015 to support the healthy development of children and their families through policy and practice in order to prevent ACEs and mitigate their negative effects. She joined the foundation in 2018 after six years as director of the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP), a nonpartisan public policy research center at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, where she also taught in the Department of Health Policy and Management.

Dr. Dana Winters
As the Director of Simple Interactions and Faculty Director of Academic Programs at the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media, Dr. Dana Winters seeks to apply and advance the legacy of Fred Rogers in serving children and their helpers. Through the Center, she supports and partners with families, educators, trainers, advocates, and researchers across many diverse settings, including childcare, early education, school systems, community programs, residential care, and children’s hospitals.