At Think:Kids, we believe kids do well if they can. Underlying this philosophy are many core values involving diversity, equity, and inclusion. The philosophy inherently assumes that with the appropriate tools and supports all kids can and should have the opportunity to succeed. It is, therefore, our mission to help all youth with behavioral challenges, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, ability, or class. To reach all kids, our work needs to be available, accessible, and relevant to adults of all backgrounds.

We also acknowledge the history and continued existence of systemic racism in the United States and around the world. We also acknowledge the explicit bias, implicit bias, and lack of access to healthcare, mental healthcare, and other support services that our neighbors of color face. We are committed to fighting these forces by creating more opportunities for and raising up the voices of people of color in our communities and educating ourselves on the complex systems of oppression.

To put our commitment into action, we developed a blueprint with four key imperatives: learning, expanding, modeling, and teaching. We commit to:

• Continually educating ourselves on issues related to equity, diversity, inclusive practices, social justice, and implicit bias through monthly educational opportunities including articles, videos, trainings, and experience sharing. We also commit to meeting quarterly to discuss what we have learned.
• Soliciting and listening to feedback from stakeholders including surveying attendees of our training to understand their felt experience and learn how we could better teach CPS through an equity lens and in a culturally sensitive and relevant way for all. That feedback will result in direct change to our training curriculum.
• Expanding access to our training and certification program through low cost, no cost, and asynchronous courses.
• Incorporate DE&I best practices into our organizational processes and structure including the review of all policies.

Think:Kids is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in all our work and beyond. Learn why this is important to us and learn about our Racial Diversity Fellowship with support from the Kraft Family Foundation.

We would like to thank our volunteer working group; Averi Schaubman, Kathleen McNamara, Sierra Kehoe, Carmen Dailey, Lu Wang, and Tricia Bailey Sauve who laid the foundation for our DEI blueprint and commitment statement. We would also like to thank Amefika Paige and Margaret Johnson for their work continuing this effort forward. We are grateful to the Kraft Family Foundation for a Catalyst Gift that will allow us to continue to invite parents, educators, and clinicians of color to become certified in our Collaborative Problem Solving approach at no cost to them through our Fellowship program. If you would like to support us in this work, please contact us at thinkkidsinfo@partners.org.