KICKED OUT, our virtual town hall event will bookend Black Maternal Health Week on Thursday, April 18, 2024. 6:30 until 8 p.m EDT. This event will be held online on the Zoom platform. Limited space is available. The event is free and open to the public with pre-registration required at kickedoutvirtualtownhall.eventbrite.com.
Hosted by BEE Collective, including BEE’s co-founder and Community Leader, Dr. Kim Nesta Archung, along with BEE’s Community Champion, Stephanie McFadden, this town hall event will be moderated by community advocate Shantell Scott Twumasi and will feature three experts on the panel to discuss and address the KICKED OUT report findings and how the research impacts the community-at-large.
Expert panelists include: Dr. Melodie Baker – KICKED OUT Report Lead, ImpactSTATS, Inc.; Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D. – Founding Director, Equity Research Action Coalition and Research Professor, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (UNC-Chapel Hill); and parent, Mavis G. Huger, Senior Corporate Counsel at Ingevity Corporation. “Perhaps, if we could correct our suspension mistakes with our preschool kids, it might lead to correcting our mistakes in other areas. But we first have to be willing to admit the presence of our personal bias and be willing to take the steps to address our bias,” says Campaign Manager Treva Williams.
This event is part of a larger initiative aimed at coalition building to specifically address the harming of Black children in South Carolina and beyond, and to provide resources to promote greater awareness, better education, and more meaningful advocacy for the community’s most impressionable population.
Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D., is an award-winning Research Professor in the Department of Public Policy and the Founding Director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill. She will begin as tenured Professor of Maternal Child Health at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in the Fall of 2024.
Dr. Iruka is leading projects and initiatives focused on ensuring that minoritized children and children from low-income households thrive through the intersection of anti-bias, anti-racist, and culturally grounded research, program, and policy.
Dr. Iruka has authored over 90 books and papers and has given over 300 talks addressing systemic inequities and advancing research and action on the well-being of children and families. She serves on numerous national and local boards and committees, including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs, the National Science Foundation, and the Lancet Commission on Racism and Child Health.
In addition to being on the National Advisory Committee for the U.S. Census Bureau and a Census Advisor for the National Urban League, Dr. Iruka is the recipient of the 2022 American Psychological Association Mid-Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Benefit Children, Youth, and Families and the 2023 Association of University Centers on Disabilities Leadership for All award-winner.
She was recently named a 2023 American Psychological Association (APA) Fellow.
Dr. Kim Nesta Archung is a co-founder and abolitionist educator/storyteller for the BEE Collective. She is also the Senior Vice President of Global Student Affairs for the African Diaspora Consortium (ADC), which positively impacts the educational, economic, and artistic outcomes and opportunities of Black populations across the African Diaspora.
As a Co-founder of Paige Academy, an African-centered nursery and elementary school in her hometown of Roxbury, Massachusetts, Dr. Archung served for many years as Educational Director, Head Teacher, and Board Member.
Dr. Archung received her Ph. D. in Educational Studies from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, conducted post-doctoral research at Dillard University, in New Orleans, LA and the University of Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
She has been a tenure track university professor, an invited lecturer at American University of Nigeria, and a visiting lecturer at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill in Barbados.
Mavis G. Huger is Senior Corporate Counsel at Ingevity Corporation (NYSE: NGVT), an international specialty chemicals company that provides products and technologies that purify, protect, and enhance the world around us.
At Ingevity, Ms. Huger is responsible for corporate governance and securities compliance, among other things. Prior to joining Ingevity, Mavis served as Deputy General Counsel of Polypore International, Inc., a publicly traded filtration technology company with operations in the U.S., Europe and Asia. She has also worked in the New York office of Morgan Lewis & Bockius, an international law firm, and in other in-house positions.
Mavis enjoys volunteering and serves on the boards of the Charleston School of Law Foundation and Catholic Charities of South Carolina. She also volunteers with the Charleston (SC) Chapter of The Links Incorporated and the Charleston Area Justice Ministry.
Mavis lives in North Charleston with her husband Kelvin, sons Elijah and Ethan, and dog Remi. She received a B.A. from the University of Miami and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center
Dr. Melodie Baker is a distinguished and esteemed professional in the field of mathematics, research, and evaluation. She is currently the president and founder of ImpactSTATS Inc., an organization specializing in enhancing the social and environmental impact of organizations, through the lens of diversity equity and inclusion. She also serves as the National Policy Director at Just Equations, where she works to advance math education policy through national partnerships, policy initiatives, and research.
Recognized nationally as an education leader and advocate, Melodie leverages her expertise to drive substantial and meaningful change. Her contributions to the field are evident through numerous authored articles, op-eds, and reports on math education and policy in higher education. Her research illuminates critical issues and offers valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners alike.
Beyond her day-day work, Melodie actively participates in various national and state-wide councils, including Raising New York and The Equity Coalition for the Education Trust New York. She also holds positions on the SUNY Erie Board of Trustees (Vice Chair), First Hand Learning, Launch New York, and was recently appointed to serve on Governor Hochul’s Early Childhood Advisory Council.
Melodie earned her PhD in Educational Psychology and Quantitative Methods from the University at Buffalo in May 2023. Additionally, she holds an advanced graduate certificate in Applied Statistical Analysis, a Master’s in Executive Leadership and Change from Daemen University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from Buffalo State University.
Shantell Scott-Twumasi is a passionate community member aiming to be a part of the change she wants to see.
She was one of the first Team Leaders with the Charleston Area Justice Ministry and went on to become the Lead Organizer for More Justice in Columbia for a year. She has also served as a delegate at United Nations conferences in an attempt to help African youth lead their countries towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
Shantell has a background in public speaking, having delivered keynote addresses at the Charleston County Girls’ Summit, Charleston Days of Grace, and the 2023 Women’s Symposium at Stall High School. She reimagines a future where Black and brown girls and boys (like her son) experience a more just and equitable society.
Stephanie was born in Charleston and raised between N. Charleston SC and Wilmington NC. She’s a graduate of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
Influenced by her mother, who was an educator, advocate and mentor for well over 30 years, Stephanie’s advocacy and outreach in North Charleston began with youth engagement at Fresh Future Farm and continues with The Bee Collective as a postpartum doula and community Champion.
Passionate about the importance of community creating a solid foundation and support system for children in the very early years and stages of childhood. Stephanie is dedicated to championing for and supporting youth and families in Charleston and surrounding areas.
Treva Williams began her professional career as a Youth Director, where she not only oversaw child and youth programs, but she also designed city-wide initiatives that targeted some of the most common difficulties experienced by the poor and elderly — access to food, community, childcare and safe housing.
Through that work, Treva recognized that the key to transforming cities into equitable spaces where everyone has what they need, begins first with “doing justice” by holding officials accountable through the power of the people. Treva left her role as a Youth Director to become a community organizer and start the Charleston Area Justice Ministry (CAJM).
In ten years, Treva helped CAJM grow to become the largest organization in their national network with significant policy wins addressing racial bias in policing, school suspensions, access to medical care, lack of preschool education, wage theft and juvenile incarceration. Following her role as Lead Organizer of CAJM, Treva started her own consulting business, Morgan Drake Consulting, to assist non-profits in building their capacity, provide direction in policy work and give support to community organizers.
Currently Treva is establishing a non-profit with dear friends, called Transformative Organizational Consulting, to build on the need to support the liberation of community organizers so they can help liberate their communities. Treva has two children, ages 25 and 22 who continue to teach her how to be a better human and help her envision a more loving and inclusive world.
BEE Collective (Beloved Early Education and Care Collective) is a community-rooted arts and literacy organization committed to cultivating creativity, cultural storytelling, and equitable access to arts experiences across the Tri-County region. Through artist residencies, youth programming, and community partnerships, BEE Collective nurtures spaces where imagination, identity, and belonging thrive.
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