(Im)possible Over Perfect
The Next Chapter of 4.0, Together.
The 4.0 community is defined by the long-term investments we make in each other. Below are four operating principles for the next four years that will let us strengthen that investment for every fellow and alum in the years to come. These aren’t goals, but they’re principles that will help us make decisions as we enter this next chapter. Help us shape this direction by dropping your favorite 4.0 team member a line via email or leaving a note here.
Pro Liberation over Passive
Over the next four years, we plan to continue our journey beyond passively supporting equality to actively supporting the liberation, healing, and growth of our fellows and alumni who are immigrants, black and brown, gender non-conforming, women and femmes, and caregivers. At its core, our mission is to build a liberating physical and virtual space where leaders can innovate, heal and be themselves in order to come up with bold, new ideas to create thriving, human-centered learning spaces for students.
Our alumni are currently two thirds women and two thirds people of color; but we want to do better. This means building a space that is supportive, welcoming, and dedicated to combating inequity. We will pursue this by learning about and incorporating best practices to create actively anti-discriminatory, decolonized spaces; creating curriculum that is intentional and customized to fellows’ identities that empowers and dismantles barriers; creating a supportive and welcoming environment for anyone who may have not felt welcomed in other spaces; and building allies who can work within their communities to dismantle oppression. We’re still on this journey, and we’re are always learning, growing and becoming more responsive. We’d love your help along the way.
Collective Ownership over Centralized Power
We have over 1,000 alumni across the country, each playing a part in realizing a more equitable future of learning in their communities. We believe that the folks closest to this work need to be leading it, so we’re moving towards a future where 4.0 is led entirely by fellows and alumni. In 2018, we had over 50 different alumni on payroll actively playing a role in the organization: they coached new and aspiring fellows, led trainings, hosted events, reviewed applications, and designed programming. What would it look like if every alum and fellow had roles like these and power over how resources are shared and directed? We’re committed to answering that question.
Local Leaders over Top Down Scale
Raise your hand if you’re in Atlanta. DC? How about Oakland? You don’t know it, but a lot of folks just raised their hands (wink emoji). We’ve seen so many cities start to develop a density of fellows, alumni, and applicants. This is due, in large part, to your dedication as alumni and the work you’ve done to build this community. Alumni have hosted local recruiting events, fellows have visited each others’ pop-ups and pilots, and many small groups have gotten together and supported each other on their own, without any prompting from 4.0. We’re hungry for a future where we can share resources with local alumni that they can use to create more contextualized support for education leaders in their communities. First, that means intentionally investing in our home city of New Orleans: doing more to connect our local alumni community and growing as a space for students, teachers, and families. In your city, it might mean something different; we’re excited to discover alongside you.
More Open, Responsive Resources over Fixed Content
Alumni and fellows are the greatest resource of the 4.0 Community, so doing a better job of connecting you to each other and providing better resources for your growth is our priority. We’re not here to close doors; instead, we’re working towards making curriculum and resources open, accessible and responsive to everyone who raises their hand and wants to build a better future alongside their community, whether they’re in our fellowships or not. Most importantly, you know what strengths exist in your community — we’re here to listen and use our network to source expertise and create assets to be utilized by the community. We believe everyone can start building the future of learning in their community, whether our formal programming is right for you or not, and we’re committed to providing resources and support to help get you there.
