ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies ideas for staying connected, energized, and hopeful for the long haul. Part of staying hopeful is knowing about teachers, learning from them, and teaching children about the long legacy of people of every skin color, language, culture, gender expression and sexuality, able-ness, age, religion, and economic status that have resisted injustice and oppression. The local groups had varied models for their work, including non-profit organizations structured to support early childhood educators and providers, local networks informally structured to come together to impact systems, support groups organizing for action, and committees formed to create resources and/or address institutional oppression. Inquiry to Action Groups (ITAGs) is used by many progressive teacher action groups around the country. The group's website explains that ITAGs are spaces for teachers to build community and develop as activists, and that educators can participate in linking social justice issues with classroom practice.
