On April 25, renowned leader and organizer Brittany Packnett Cunningham will take the
stage at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis to headline an event entitled “Co-creating a
More Just Minnesota.”
The nationally known speaker is coming to Minneapolis for the 2024 Teach for America
DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) keynote.
Teach for America recruits and trains a national corps of educators who teach for two
years in underserved, low-income schools. Since arriving in Minnesota 15 years ago,
Teach for America Twin Cities has built a network of 1000 alumni; the majority still work
in education as teachers, school staff, administrators and policy-makers.
In Minnesota TFA corps members commit to working to close Minnesota’s achievement
gap among students of color. In her career as an activist, Cunningham frequently
addresses such racial disparities.
“Brittany has been on the front lines of activism and direct service. She is able to share
lessons she’s learned that we can apply in Minnesota to make progress with our racial
equity gaps,” said Charlie Braman, managing director, Teach For America Twin Cities.
Cunningham has been an educator, author, award-winning podcaster, network news
analyst and leader for social change, from public education to criminal justice. She was
a member of President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing and the Ferguson
Commission and held a top role at Teach for America.
“She has the practical, lived experience, the anecdotes and the data to analyze the how
we got to where we are in Minnesota,” Braman said. “She can identify best practices
that we can leverage to locally to work to close those gaps.”
Prior to Cunningham’s talk, the audience at the Guthrie will watch a film commissioned
by Teach For America Twin Cities. Local filmmaker Benji Perez Gonzalez created a
documentary that asked local leaders to reflect on and reveal the racial divide in
Minnesota in housing, health, and wealth as well as in educational outcomes.
“Minnesota, we’re not the best. We have the lowest high school graduation rates for
kids of color in the nation. Our literacy rates are abysmal. Only about 50% are reading
at grade level,” Josh Crosson, executive director of Ed Allies, told the filmmaker. “We
need that mind shift that we can do a lot better as a state, in fact most states are doing
better than we are, and then we need to create solutions from that mindset.”
“We’re a healthy state. We own our own homes, we have a strong education system,
we have opportunities for people to advance socio-economically. But there’s an
important caveat. None of that is true if you’re Black,” added Markus Flynn, executive
director of Black Men Teach. “There’s a silver lining though. We know the answer. We
know that education is the quality of life indicator that has the most residual benefit that
can lift up the other areas.”
Tickets for “Co-creating a More Just Minnesota” are $5, a price intentionally chosen to
make the event accessible to all members of the community, Braman said.
VIP Tickets are available at a higher price ($25 and $50) for a post-lecture catered
reception with Cunningham.
“Our VIP meet-and-greets always bring together leaders of Twin Cities groups with an
equity focus. Great collaborations and coalitions have sprung from this in the past, when
teams from these community-based organizations have a chance connect and
network,” Braman said.
Teach for America Twin Cities
2024 DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) keynote
“Co-creating a More Just Minnesota” with Brittany Packnett Cunningham
Live at the Guthrie Theater
818 S. 2nd St, Minneapolis
7 pm — April 25, 2024
For tickets: https://www.guthrietheater.org/shows-and-
tickets/specialevents/teach-for-america/
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