Perhaps the greatest struggle I have in explaining SEED is accounting for why SEED works. Our current SEED staff are not nationally known personalities with the most news headlines, academic publications, or social media followers. Often times when we present one-off sessions at conferences or share what writing we do have, people respond with “That’s nice.” This is a striking contrast to what participants share with us during our seven-day New Leaders Week.

What makes a nest a nest and a cage a cage? Both are constructed realities. Yet one of them is self-determined and the other is segregated. Both can be a home. Yet one allows for near infinite future possibilities and the other represents only a monotonous and controlled existence. In seeking to be our whole selves and in just relationship with others, we at SEED see our identities, our cultures, and our communities as our nests. These are those aspects of ourselves that shape us as we develop.As we develop, we also have increasing agency in building and shaping them for ourselves and for others who share the nest with us.

By Jondou Chase Chen with Gail Cruise-Roberson and Emmy Howe 

What does it mean to seek educational justice?