Dr. Monique W. Morris, President & CEO, Grantmakers for Girls of Color
Monique W. Morris, Ed.D. (she/her), is an award-winning author and social justice scholar with three decades of experience in the areas of education, civil rights, juvenile and criminal justice. She envisions a world in which all girls and gender-expansive youth of color are healthy, safe, thriving, and fully empowered to dream and shape their desired reality on their terms, while dismantling structural barriers created by racism, sexism and ageism, and other forms of oppression that prevent their healthy development. Her research intersects race, gender, education and justice to explore the ways in which Black communities, and other communities of color, are uniquely affected by social policies. Read more.
Dr. Venus Evans-Winters, Author, Scholar and Clinical Therapist
Dr. Venus E. Evans-Winters is a former Professor of Education at Illinois State University in the College of Education with faculty affiliation in Women & Gender Studies, African American Studies, and Ethnic Studies. She is also the Founder of Planet Venus and creator of the Write Like A Scholar program.
Dr. Evans-Winters researches and teaches in the areas of social and cultural foundations of education, Black feminist thought, critical race theory, educational policy, and qualitative inquiry. Read more.
Stephanie L. Patton, Principal Leadership Coach, Former Principal
Stephanie Patton is currently serving as a School Leadership Coach for Columbus City Schools. Stephanie has been in education over 25 years, the last 16 of those years serving in an administrative role. Her approach to education is reshaping how Black girls learn, lead, and leverage their voice. She was featured in the film PUSHOUT – The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools for her widely respected transformative leadership. Along with transforming the way girls are educated in school, Stephanie has also worked for the Ohio Department of Education as a turnaround specialist where she transformed low performing schools to high performing. She received her Bachelor’s from The Ohio State University, a Master’s Degree from Xavier University, and is currently pursuing her doctorate from Concordia University in Educational Leadership. She also has her superintendent’s licensure from The Ohio State University.
I truly appreciated how these phenomenal group of women discussed the needs and approaches that educators need to understand in order to fully and honestly served african american young women in particularly inner city schools. The need to understand our systems of oppression and to critically examined our biases and the need for our own healing to fully serve our young women of color. Thank you for explaining the larger historical context and giving ideas for self and communal healing spaces.