Date: Saturday, January 10, 2026
Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Elms College - Mary Dooley College Center Dining Hall Annex
Cost: No cost, but Registration is required
Parking: Available in Lots A, B, and L Campus Map
Light refreshments will be provided
In honor of the 10th Annual National Day of Racial Healing, Elms College's Center for Equity in Urban Education (CEUE) is hosting an event entitled, #GOODScholars: Cultivating the Essence of Sankofa for Racial Healing. Dr. Tyra Good, Inaugural Executive Director of the CEUE, and Dominique McDonald, Assistant Director of the CEUE, will be joined by Dr. De’Shawn Washington, Founder & President of Cultivating Changemakers, LLC., to lead a heartfelt discussion on rediscovering the humanity within ourselves and those we serve. Through powerful storytelling, the conversation will empower educators to lead with love, courage, and vulnerability while elevating historical truths and examining how the past continues to shape our lives. This event will serve as the launch of the CEUE’s GOOD Educators Connect” Book discussion of, Finding Your Leadership Soul: What Our Students Can Teach Us About Love, Care, and Vulnerability, by Carlos R. Moreno.
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About the Keynote Speaker:
Dr. De'Shawn C. Washington is an award-winning educator, scholar, and public education advocate. Dr. Washington was the 2024 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year and the 2025 Massachusetts Teaching Excellence Award winner through the National Education Association. He is also a two-time TEDx Speaker in Massachusetts and New York. Dr. Washington is also the Founder and President of Cultivating Changemakers, LLC, where he is developing an innovative K-12 Financial Literacy curriculum that integrates social justice, literacy, and mathematics.
As an elementary school teacher for nine years, Dr. Washington cultivated a classroom of resilient, collaborative, and interdependent students who leverage learning and community building from one another to maximize student engagement and academic achievement. Now, as a curriculum developer, policy advocate, and professor at Bay Path University, Dr. Washington continues to empower aspiring teachers, seasoned educators, and supporters of public education in a way that elevates public education as a vessel for lifelong achievement as an informed citizen engaging civically in society.
Holding a Doctorate in K–12 Educational Leadership and Policy from Vanderbilt University, Dr. Washington continues to drive systemic change through curriculum development, teacher training, and advocacy for policies that close opportunity gaps and empower every student to thrive academically and socially.
About the National Day of Racial Healing:
This annual observance is hosted by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) and was created with and builds on the work and learnings of the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) community partners. Fundamental to this day is a clear understanding that racial healing is at the core of racial equity. https://dayofracialhealing.org/about-ndorh/
About the Center for Equity in Urban Education (CEUE):
The Center for Equity in Urban Education is committed to increasing the number and diversity of qualified licensed educators and school leaders. The CEUE’s Degree Program Pathways supports full-time, non-licensed educators in attaining their bachelor’s degree of completion and/or a master’s degree with initial teaching licensure, as well as a pathway for principal and assistant principal licensure. Our comprehensive support includes targeted and extensive MTEL preparation, tuition scholarships, academic-community engagement, and culturally responsive professional development designed to enhance educators’ effectiveness in diverse classrooms and global learning environments. https://www.elms.edu/ceue/
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*This event is presented in collaboration with Elms College’s Black Experience Summit, taking place on Friday, February 20, 2026, from 12:30–4:30 p.m., under the theme Sankofa: Rooted in Truth, Rising in Dignity-Celebrating 100 Years of Black History, Faith, Scholarship, and the Stories That Shape Our Future.