Can we talk about...? A podcast on leading for racial equity in philanthropy · Philanthropy Northwest

Kent McGuire and Zoe Stemm-Calderon on Building an Inclusive Public Education

November 26, 2024·1 hr 5 min·3 clips

Rather than share public pools, cities filled them with concrete—that's the dynamic happening in education now

Katie Hong frames the season around what it takes to move racial equity from principle into practice. The conversation stays centered on public education, but it keeps widening to show how schools sit inside legal, political, and narrative systems that shape what is possible for children and families. Zoe describes listening to superintendents who were trying to build systems that worked for every kid in their community. She puts that work beside legal scholars and litigators who were helping interpret the laws and sort out what could actually be done. The episode also makes room for the story layer. Zoe talks about narrative work, misinformation, and the need to lift up the voices of the majority of parents who want inclusive schools but may not know how to organize their voices as loudly as more aggressive advocacy groups. The Ed Future Fund comes across as a practical response. It gathers a community of practice of funders, keeps people learning together, aligns strategy, and pools money behind a growing effort. That effort is aimed at parents, young people, and advocates who want public schools to focus on what matters most for children and build inclusive environments for them to go to school. Kent then adds personal memory to the policy discussion. He connects the conversation to his own family experience of race and access, including a story about trying to buy a house in Lansing, Michigan. He remembers how his very light-complected mother could move through one version of that process differently from the rest of the family. He also points toward the unequal terrain of lending and mortgages. Those memories do not interrupt the strategy talk. They deepen it. The episode keeps returning to the idea that inclusive public education is not just a slogan but a contested practice. It asks what it takes to support educators, parents, and advocates when the environment is politically charged and misinformation is loud. The tone stays steady. No one rushes toward easy answers. Instead, the conversation treats equity as something built through listening, alignment, and sustained collective work.

As heard by us

A grounded public-education conversation that keeps equity tied to strategy and lived experience.

An episode about inclusive public education turns into a practical look at how racial equity work gets organized when schools are under political pressure.

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Why you'd press play

You want a patient, strategy-first look at inclusive public education under political pressure.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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