DIVERSITY, INCLUSION and EQUITY RESOURCES |
The New York State Reading Association commits to cultivating a professional community that respects differences and promotes a sense of inclusion and belonging. We celebrate diversity of all identities and make it our goal to cultivate harmony and respect in order to nurture equality and inclusion within and beyond the classroom.
NYSRA recognizes this is a continuous conversation that needs to be addressed through, action, advocacy, and listening to our members, students, and the community.
We’ve gathered a range of resources to help educators create a culturally inclusive classroom through literacy
| Title |
Description |
|---|---|
| Challenged Book Hub | This resource was created by Heather Turner, an Onondaga, Cortland, Madison County BOCES Librarian. This webpage is for teachers, by teachers, and rich with information on advocacy for a student's right to read. |
| Learning for Justice |
Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators—teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners—who work with children from kindergarten through high school to help educate children and youth to be active participants in a diverse democracy. |
| Disrupt Texts |
Disrupt Texts is a crowdsourced, grass roots effort by teachers for teachers to challenge the traditional canon in order to create a more inclusive, representative, and equitable language arts curriculum that our students deserve. It is part of the mission to aid and develop teachers committed to anti-racist/anti-bias teaching pedagogy and practices. |
| The Diverse BookFinder | The Diverse BookFinder is a comprehensive collection of children's picture books featuring Black and Indigenous people and People of Color (BIPOC). |
| Social Justice Books.org |
Social Justice Books.org offers carefully selected lists of books for children and educators, book reviews, and articles on social justice, multicultural children’s literature. |
| We Need Diverse Books |
We Need Diverse Books is a 501(C)(3) non-profit and organization of children's book lovers and advocates essential changes in the publishing industry. The aim is to help produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people. The following link is a compiled list of sites that offer recommendations for diverse titles. |
| Embrace Race |
EmbraceRace is a multiracial community of parents, teachers, experts, and other caring adults who support each other to meet the challenges that race poses to our children, families, and communities. |
| The Brown Bookshelf |
The Brown Bookshelf is designed to push awareness of the myriad Black voices writing for young readers. |
| American Indians in Children's Literature |
Established in 2006 by Dr. Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books. Dr. Jean Mendoza joined AICL as a co-editor in 2016. |
| SCBWI Diversity Resources | Resources from Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators |
| Latinxs in Kidlit |
This site offers a broad forum on Latinx children's, MG and YA books, promote literacy and the love of books within the Latinx community, examine the historical and contemporary state of Latinx characters and encourage interest in Latinx children’s, MG, and YA literature among non-Latin@ readers. |
| Children's Book Awards |
Recommended reading lists that highlight outstanding literature and nonfiction for young people about diverse peoples |
| Reading Diversity Text Selection Tool |
Teaching Tolerance offers a multi-dimensional approach to text selection that prioritizes critical literacy, cultural responsiveness and complexity. |
| I Am Your Neighbor |
Iamyourneighborbooks.org sorts and features books by the culture represented, allowing for schools, libraries, and organizations to best select and share books that represent their neighborhoods, the diversity of the nation, and the global community. |
| CBC Diversity | CBC Diversity is dedicated to increasing the diversity of voices and experiences contributing to children’s and young adult literature. To create this change, CBC Diversity strives to build awareness that the nature of our society must be represented within the children’s publishing industry. |
To view our Private Policy Statement click here. | The New York State Reading Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Mail to: P.O. Box 874, Albany, NY 12201-0874 Contact Us via email at admin@nysreading.org |