In this episode of the Caring, Character, & Community podcast, the second of our community-based organizations series, Charmane Higgins, Executive Director of Trinity Boston Connects, shares the challenge of providing children who have been in traumatizing situations with a sense of being valued and cared for. She also discusses the demands that such care places on the adults who serve them.
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BU Wheelock College of Education and Human Development
Center for Character and Social Responsibility
“Caring, Character, and Community” Podcast Series
To prepare the next generation to become caring and effectively engaged citizens requires a multi-faceted approach. It includes a focus on personal development, professional development, program development and implementation, and on systems change. As part of the CCSR’s focus on personal and professional development of educators, parents, and community leaders, we are pleased to announce our upcoming podcast, “Caring, Character, and Community.”
Season One of this series will focus on how leaders integrate the ethic of caring, their own and others’ character development, and a commitment to serving the needs of others to guide and inform their leadership in times of crisis. Part One will focus on PK-12 leaders, Part Two will focus on Higher Education Leaders, and Part Three will focus on leaders of youth-serving, community-based leaders. Each part will include 4 podcasts and an interactive webinar, during which listeners can participate in a Q&A with the leaders who have shared their stories in the podcasts.
In this episode of the Caring, Character, & Community podcast, the second of our community-based organizations series, Charmane Higgins, Executive Director of Trinity Boston Connects, shares the challenge of providing children who have been in traumatizing situations with a sense of being valued and cared for. She also discusses the demands that such care places on the adults who serve them.
Before becoming Executive Director of Trinity Boston Connects, Charmane Higgins served as Executive Director of STRIVE, a social justice nonprofit focused on young adults in Boston, from 2008-2017, during which time she transitioned the organization to become a part of Justice Resource Institute. From 2017-2019 she was a consultant to nonprofit organizations. She has been a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Non-Profit Practice since 2010 where she mentors a cohort of emerging nonprofit leaders of color. Charmane attended Boston Public Schools and graduated from Boston Latin School. She earned a BA in Classical Civilization from Wellesley College, an MA in Latin from the University of Texas and an MBA from Simmons College. She has served as Past Chair and current member of the Board of Trustees of Boston Latin School Alumni Association and just completed a six-year term on the board of the ACLU in Boston. She is a current Board member of the Mass Nonprofit Network and is an adjunct faculty member at Boston College School of Social Work.
Welcome to Semester One of “Caring, Character, and Community,” a podcast from the BU Wheelock College of Education and Human Development Center for Character and Social Responsibility. In this season, we will focus on learning from leaders about how they integrate the ethic of caring, a focus on their own and others’ character development, and a commitment to serving the needs of their community, in order to guide and inform their leadership in times of crisis.
Part One: PK-12
September 7, 2021 CCC Semester One, Part One, Episode One: Karen Bohlin, Principal of Practical Wisdom Group, discusses the importance of developing a caring and compassionate framework, a compass, for guiding a leader’s and community’s response to crisis.
September 14, 2021 CCC Semester One, Part One, Episode Two: Brenda Cassellius, Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools shares with us how centering on the needs of children, with commitment to caring, helps organize the efforts of adults in the community to help children flourish-- even, and especially, in times of crisis.
September 21, 2021 CCC Semester One, Part One, Episode Three: Julie Lawton, Chief Academic Officer of YueCheng Education in Beijing PRC shares the a story of how creating a school that is centered on caring and compassion facilitates positive outcomes in times of crisis
September 28, 2021 CCC Semester One, Part One, Episode Four: Dana Weeks, Head of Germantown Friends School, discusses the importance of integrity and trust in building and sustaining a caring school community that helps children to flourish.
Part Two: Higher Education
October 14, 2021 CCC Semester One, Part Two, Episode One: Nicholas Covino, President of William James College, shares with us the importance of showing up — being present and available to one’s community — as foundational to effective leadership in crisis. He discusses the challenges this commitment can pose to one’s sense of well being, and how gratifying this level of commitment can be.
October 21, 2021 CCC Semester One, Part Two, Episode Two: Kenneth Elmore, Associate Provost and Dean of Students at Boston University, discusses being guided by compassion, along with attention to detail and a willingness to actively navigate the tension between upholding community values and also holding space for disagreement and thoughtful discourse. When it comes to caring for one’s many community members in the higher education space, it is important to highlight opportunities to see and harness “unity of feeling,” where groups with different goals can find common ground in their core values.
October 28, 2021 CCC Semester One, Part Two, Episode Three: Pam Eddinger, President of Bunker Hill Community College, shares with us the importance of meeting the needs of community college students with both deep care and great expectation.
November 4, 2021 CCC Semester One, Part Two, Episode Four: Don Pope-Davis, Dean of The Ohio State University’s College of Education and Human Ecology, shares the challenges of transforming a school to be centered on using its research and teaching mission to meet the needs of local communities, particularly those that have been historically marginalized, while also creating a community that is caring and supports the personal and professional development of all its members.
November 21, 2021 CCC Semester One, Part Two, Special Episode: Nicholas Covino (President of William James College), Kenneth Elmore (Associate Provost and Dean of Students of Boston University), Pam Eddinger (President of Bunker Hill Community College), and Don Pope-Davis (Dean of The Ohio State University’s College of Education and Human Ecology) gather to share their ideas about what is next in higher education to create a more caring community. While there was no consensus as to what are the most important levers of change, there was a shared sense that we need to work across multiple settings to increase access to opportunity, and that we need to learn how to better cooperate across our silos. They leave us to wonder how we can find common cause across the world of late-adolescent and early-adult learning.
Part Three: Community-Based Organizations
November 11, 2021 CCC Semester One, Part Three, Episode One, Ayele Shakur, Executive Director of BUILD speaks to the importance of giving space to youth to find their place in their community by learning how to create an enterprise.
November 27, 2021 CCC Season Two, Part Three, Episode Two, Charmane Higgins, Executive Director of Boston Trinity Connects, shares the challenge of providing children who have been in traumatizing situations with a sense of being valued and cared for, and discusses the demands that such care places on the adults who serve them.
Thanks to Lizzie Barcay for the editorial and production work.
Music:
Bluesy Vibes by Doug Maxwell/Media Right Productions
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Caring, Character, & Community