Learners are supported in embracing and exploring their ancestral heritage, integrating their cultural roots into their unique identities.
Elements of a Culturally-Sustaining Approach
- We practice speaking in our native language(s), developing our cultural literacies, leaning into indigenous wisdom, and listening deeply to both young people and elders.
- Learners and staff/community/volunteers alike are encouraged to develop their own capacity to self-reflect on their identities and to continually reflect on how they relate to the topic under study in any given moment.
- Learners select texts and topics that deepen their sense of self and broaden their sense of the possibilities that exist for themselves and their lives.
Benefits of a Culturally-Sustaining Approach
- As our sense of possibility expands, we come to experience and fundamentally know that we are part of a greater whole and that our needs matter.
- Being transparent about our identities, embracing our unique perspectives and honoring our needs is how we come to live, love, grow and heal liberated in community and truly experience our cultural wealth.
