The Future of Work is Diverse, Inclusive, Just and Equitable

GlobalMindED closes the equity gap by creating a capable, diverse talent pipeline through connections to role models, mentors, internships for low-income students, returning adults, First Gen to college and inclusive leaders who teach them, work with them and hire them.
Serving Her Community through Education & Activism - Meet Christina Faw Faw Goodson
 
My name is Christina Faw Faw Goodson. I am Jiwere-Nut’achi/Baxoje (Otoe-Missouria/Iowa) and I am a descendant of the Owl and Wolf clan respectively in my tribes. My first teachers or educators were my parents, grandparents, extended family, and tribal communities. I grew up in Manhattan, KS and Stillwater, OK. I am a 2010 graduate of Stillwater High School. I completed my undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Native American Studies and History in 2014. I graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistic Anthropology in 2019. Currently, I am a tribal education specialist at the National Indian Education Association, where I focus on language and culture. I have worked in Native education at the national, federal, local, and tribal levels for the past eight years, including as a classroom teacher for four years.

What key moments defined you as a leader?

A key moment for me as a leader was when I was in high school and seeing a need for leadership and direction for my high school’s Native American student group. The experience of running for an officer position in the group and then serving in different roles helped me understand and learn how to keep a group organized, engage in community outreach and volunteerism, and be a leader to my peers. I brought the skills I learned in that organization to college and beyond. Having the experience of being a leader made it easier for me to be confident in my skills to step up when my communities needed me to.

What community-driven projects have you spearheaded/participated in that you are proud of? What did you take away from these experiences?

After I graduated with my master’s degree, I worked with my tribal language department and the local school’s Indian education program to start a high school language class for Otoe-Missouria. The class was offered for four years and produced around 45-50 new speakers of the language. One thing that I took away from the experience was that it is important to structurally support programs like this within the school system and within tribal language and education departments through memorandums of support/agreements/understandings as well as codifying language and culture education standards at the tribal level. 

The other community-driven project that I was honored to participate in and help organize is the city of Lincoln, Nebraska proclaiming a day to honor and recognizing the Otoe-Missouria Tribe as the last indigenous people to call Lincoln home before being forcefully removed to the southeastern part of the state - then later to Oklahoma. Along with my co-organizers Cory DeRoin, Billie Tohee, and Kyle Robedeaux, we held community meetings and fundraisers to bring a delegation of Otoe-Missouria elders, adults, and youth to Nebraska for the historic occasion. It was truly a blessing to see so many of my fellow tribal members and descendants in our homelands and remembering our shared history and ancestors. 

How do you connect with your ancestral roots professionally and personally?

I approach all of my work and my life as a Jiwere-Nut’achi woman grounded in our traditional values of love and respect for all, care for family, and commitment to community uplift. To Jiwere-Nut’achi people, a good life is one which places Wakąnda, our Creator, first in all aspects of everyday life, and a life in which someone exhibits kindness, responsibility, and embodies love. I also make a point to learn and teach our language, sew traditional clothing, and dance southern cloth, our women’s dance.

As a leader, what motivates you to move forward in adversity? Where do you find your passion?

When I am faced with adversity in my career or personal life, I look to my ancestors for guidance and motivation. I think about the obstacles they were faced with—removal, land theft, poverty, starvation, allotment—and I think about how they prayed for their children, their children’s children, and so on and so forth. Those prayers and acts of survival are what have brought me and other indigenous people this far and they will carry me through the obstacles and difficulties. I find my passion from my former and current students as well as my nieces and nephews. Their inherent resiliency and optimism empowers me and strengthens my resolve to do what I have to do to succeed.

What do you see yourself doing in the future?

My ultimate goal, whether it takes five years or ten, is to open a school for our youth centered in Jiwere-Nut’achi culture and language. I draw inspiration from other indigenous people across the world who are returning to their traditional ways in hopes for a better future. In addition to the school, I would like to create a Jiwere-Nut’achi eco-village, which is a traditional, intentional community with the goal of becoming socially, culturally, economically, and ecologically sustainable. I also have a goal of one day serving on my tribal council. I wish for my life to be of service to my people.

SAVE the DATE: Join us in Denver June 7-9

June 7 Inclusive Leader Awards Dinner,
First Gen Leadership Program

June 8, 9 GlobalMindED Conference
2023 Denver, Colorado

Watch the brief video below that The PhD Project produced highlighting the experience at GlobalMindED from several key demographics; students, faculty, and business leaders
Making Impact: Leveraging Collaborations and Partnerships to Advance STEM Equity

Moderated by Dr. Susan Swayze, Founder & CEO Diversity Think Tank. Dr. Swayze is a DEI strategist and expert researcher who created Diversity Think Tank to help organizations identify transformative solutions and accomplish audacious goals. Susan is a highly sought-after speaker on topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion with special emphasis on holding conversations about bias, race, and gender pay equity. She has inspired audiences in Africa, Brazil, Canada, and across the U.S. An accomplished scholar, Dr. Swayze has authored three books and more than 50 scholarly works. Speakers include:

Melvin Stallings, President, Cyber Green Group
CGG is a workforce training non-profit for teachers and students in STEAM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts, and Math) that trains, educates, and creates innovators of the future. Mr. Stallings is also a Curriculum Development Specialist and has written many math and science curriculums for high schools throughout the US. He has presented professional development workshops at local and national conferences and managed various STEAM initiatives for over 1,500 students in subject areas like Cyber Forensic, Biomedical Engineering, Coding, and the Art of Green Science across the US.

Dr. Janelle M. Johnson, Associate Professor of STEM Education, Metropolitan State University
Dr. Johnson is co-editor of “STEM21: Equity in Teaching and Learning to Meet Global Challenges of Standards, Engagement, and Transformation” (2018). Her research focuses on interdisciplinary STEM equity and inclusive approaches to teaching and learning. Janelle taught K-12 math and science with English Learners primarily in Guatemala, and now teaches multicultural education and science methods at the university. Dr. Johnson is on the board of the Colorado Assoc. of Science Teachers, the Director of the Colorado STEM Ecosystem 2.0, and she served on the Council of State Science Supervisors ACESSE Network in the disrupting ableism affinity group.

Lisette Torres-Gerald, Senior Research Associate and Program Coordinator, TERC
Dr. Torres-Gerald is a scientist and disabled scholar-activist at TERC, a non-profit made up of teams of math and science education and research experts. Her academic research focuses on addressing racial and gender inequity in science and higher education. Lisette is an active member of Science
for the People and a co-founder and executive board member of the National Coalition for Latinxs with Disabilities. Dr. Torres-Gerald is also an advisory board member of Science Friday’s Breakthrough Dialogues Program and the Invisible Disability Project (IDP)

Rubi Amateco, Biology Student, Metropolitan State University
Highlights from the Resolve to Solve in Atlanta below. You can watch a YouTube video of the entire day,thanks to WABE/PBS Atlanta.
Rose Scott with Dr. Glenda Glover, Dr. David Thomas, and Dr. M. Brian Blake
Michael Render, AKA "Killer Mike"
June 2022 Conference Summary in Photos and Videos
We had an inspiring conference in June after two years of virtual gatherings due to COVID. If you missed that, you can still be a part of the experience through the photos from the 2022 GlobalMindED conference, as well as seeing the complete program for connections and inspiration.



Video remarks:
Honoring the 2022 Inclusive Leader Award Winners. Please see their stories:
GlobalMindED | 303-327-5688 | contact@globalminded.org | www.globalminded.org
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