The Tauck Family Foundation hosted its third annual Investee Cohort Gathering in November 2015 at the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Event participants included staff and Board members from investee organizations; local area funders; and the Board, staff, and Advisory Committee members of the Tauck Family Foundation.

The event began with a “Brain Game”, led by Ann Partee of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ann modeled a version of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” which was created by the Harvard team and is designed to be used in school-settings to build social and emotional skills like self-control and social awareness.

Investees shared updates on the work underway to integrate social and emotional learning strategies and approaches into the fabric of their organizations.

Dr. Susan Rivers, Deputy Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, shared that, after a year of coaching to increase the emotional intelligence of principals and other district leaders, the Bridgeport Public Schools began training RULER implementation teams and implementing the program throughout the district in August 2015.

Ronelle Swagerty, Chief Executive Officer of New Beginnings Family Academy, described New Beginnings’ efforts to develop student social and emotional skills through the use of Responsive Classroom and Restorative Practices.

Achievement First Bridgeport Academy Elementary School’s Dean of Culture, Samantha Lucky, and Principal, Christina Pares, described how students explicitly learn social and emotional skills through daily “pump up” lessons and Friday REACH circles.

Raluca Cadar, Executive Director at Horizons at Greens Farms Academy, shared how Horizons’ students learn and discuss social and emotional skills through a proprietary literacy curriculum that embeds social and emotional learning.

Dr. Stephanie Jones shared the work her team is doing with New Beginnings Family Academy, Achievement First Bridgeport Academy Elementary School, and Horizons at Greens Farms Academy to train and support staff in developing and monitoring student social and emotional skill acquisition.

We held a panel discussion on “Addressing Environmental Stress & Trauma: Social Emotional Strategies that Promote Healthy Schools”.

To build background knowledge, Dr. Gretchen Brion-Meisels, lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, facilitated the panel and provided an overview on environmental stress and trauma and its impact on school ecosystems, including students and adults.

The Tauck Family Foundation was honored to have an esteemed panel share their expertise on this topic. Panelists included: Dr. Darcy Lowell, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Child First; Gabriella Cassandra, Social Worker at Mott Haven Academy in the Bronx, New York; Drema Brown, Vice-President of the School-Age Division of Children’s Aid Society; and Dr. Stephanie Jones, Associate Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The event ended with a closing gratitude circle led by Bonnie Brown, senior consultant at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

Participants shared their takeaways from the event, which included:
“Embedding social and emotional learning takes time and collaboration.”
“School structures need to address poverty.”
“Environmental stress impacts staff, as well as students.”
“To support students, schools need to support adults too.”
“Start young.”
“Relationships matter.”