S1 EP7: The power of schools with Caine Lowery, Anthony Shoecraft and David Bley

In this podcast we hear from three guests who share an affinity around education from different perspectives.

Anthony Shoecraft leads Our Best, which is the City of Seattle's inaugural effort aimed at expanding opportunity and improving life outcomes of young Black men and boys. He is a native son of Seattle and a proud graduate of Garfield High School, Hampton University, and the University of Washington.

Caine Lowery is the Principal of Seattle's Aki Kurose Middle School. He grew up in Oregon and came to Seattle after teaching in Atlanta. He's worked at Aki Kurose Middle School and Cleveland High School.

David Bley oversees strategies focused on stable families, great schools and strong communities in Washington State, and high-quality early learning both nationally and in Washington State, for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He grew up outside of Chicago and has served the Seattle region for several decades in many capacities.

Our guests share stories around their roots and have a powerfully honest conversations around education and belonging. Much of this conversation is wrapped around leading with a racial lens as we consider trauma, re-imagined possibilities, representation, and the power of schools in creating futures for young people. 

All three share personal and professional projects towards the end. Caine Lowery and his partner are expecting their first child in September! He also will be utilizing racial affinity groups with his schools staff and is open to any expertise in this work.

David Bley talked about the important work around family homelessness that he's championed at the foundation and he shouted-out the great work of Schoolhouse Washington, which improves housing stability and advances educational success for students experiencing homelessness. We both discussed the great work that Treehouse has done for youth in the foster care system.

Anthony Shoecraft discussed the importance of the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy at the City of Seattle. He also plugged the work of the MoHundred Scholarship. They are currently working to build the state's very first endowment fund for Black males and any support would be appreciated. 

Responses for any of these endeavors can be sent to us at f.nam@civic-commons.org. We'll happily forward along any notes to our guests.

0:55 - Caine Lowery introduction
2:30 - David Bley introduction
4:18 - Anthony Shoecraft introduction
7:20 - Anthony discusses alienation and belonging growing up in the Seattle area
14:56 - David discusses othering and education opportunities
23:11 - Caine discusses white liberalism in Seattle and the power of educational systems
31:00 - David and Caine talk about intuitional barriers to belonging
38:40 - Anthony talks about history of Supreme Court cases where people sued to be seen as white
46:00 - Group discusses the power of radical imagination
50:00 - Group discusses the future, raising families, and homelessness in the region 

Special thanks to Big Phony for providing music for the We Belong Here podcast.