BRAVE program provides support and empowerment to early career educators

Barika Davis was looking for community—specifically, fellow teachers that could understand the challenges facing a new public-school educator.

Davis, an early childhood special education teacher in St. Cloud, had worked for years in early childhood care but was new to public education. She had professional learning through her district and support through the African American Educators Forum, but she found herself wanting to talk to others who were also new to the classroom.

“When you go to your professional learning group, often you’re with teachers that have 10,15, 20 years of experience…they might have ideas or suggestions, but sometimes you just need someone who is feeling the same things you’re feeling right now,” Davis said.

Davis saw an advertisement for Education Minnesota’s Building Resilience and Voice with Early Career Educators program that piqued her interest. She showed it to some colleagues, who encouraged her to apply.

The BRAVE program is designed for educators within the first five years of their education career. Participants can be fresh out of college or, like Davis, can be new to the classroom after a career change. The program provides an opportunity to connect with other early career educators while learning how to have brave conversations and implement racial equity and social justice in the classroom.

Using the book “Onward” by Elena Aguilar, BRAVE participants receive support, mentorship and strategies for creating a sustainable teaching approach. Discussion topics include establishing work/life balance, building culturally responsive classrooms, utilizing trauma-informed instructional practices and developing skills to advocate for their students and schools. The program consists of five cohort-based sessions that provide participants with time and space to build relationships with newer colleagues across the state who are dealing with the same challenges in their own classrooms and locals.

Davis said it was exactly the kind of collaborative community she was looking for.

“We create a sense of belonging for our students in our classrooms but sometimes we forget that as teachers we need to fill ourselves up. My cohort provided a space for us to fill each other up and find that belonging,” she said. “We would go through [Onward] and have intentional discussions about what we were feeling and give each other different strategies and feedback based on what was happening in our own districts.”

The BRAVE program begins in December and runs through the spring. It consists of four virtual sessions that run from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and ends with an in-person session in St. Paul.

This program is a benefit of membership and is available to all Education Minnesota members within their first five years of teaching at no additional cost.

Davis encourages everyone who is eligible to apply for the program. “If you want a place that creates a sense of trust, partnership, respect, diverse perspectives and mentorship—this program is for you,” she said.