Expanding Our Reach – A Multicultural Update

by Te’Essence Mack, September, 2022

At NCHE we have a mission to serve all NC homeschooling families so they can homeschool with confidence and joy. We are always looking for ways to improve so we can serve more families more diligently. The recent growth in the homeschooling community has brought with it an increase in diversity. As more families are coming from different ethnic, racial, and linguistic backgrounds with unique experiences and goals for home education, NCHE has been making strides to ensure the needs of this population are highlighted and met.  Here’s how:

• Created multicultural liaison positions to help concentrate efforts towards reaching the African American and Hispanic communities, as well as facilitated racial/cultural discussions within the organization
  
• Hosted a multicultural webinar and chat to begin having meaningful discussions in support of unified diversity
• Created the multicultural committee to support, plan, and execute such efforts in favor of unified diversity
• Hosted regularly occurring homeschool conversations in Spanish to begin providing meaningful content to Spanish-speaking ESL families
• Made personal connections with Hispanic and African American homeschool leaders and speakers to increase their representation and offer many opportunities for their voices to be heard and faces to be seen
• Used social media homeschool groups to spread the word about our efforts and make a positive connection with diverse homeschooling families
• Had conversations on The Homeschool Show (featured on radio, podcast, and Youtube) about the need for intentional, unified diversity
• Hosted an in-person multicultural connect event to give diverse families the chance to connect with others in their area
• Included two African Americans as co-hosts on The Homeschool Show (featured on radio, podcast, and YouTube)
• Will be using The Homeschool Show (featured on radio, podcast, and YouTube) to capture conversations with all families
• Introduced at Thrive! Conference the first African American regional liaison for Region 4, which covers Mecklenburg, Union, Cabarrus, Gaston, Rutherford, Cleveland, and Lincoln counties
• Hosted Multicultural Connections, a one-hour workshop at the Thrive! Conference, in which we provided resources and encouragement, allowed for discussion and connection, and had games and giveaways. Diverse families had the chance to meet each other and get plugged into NCHE to further diversify the organization. This was hosted by our multicultural liaisons in English and Spanish
• Hosted a Multicultural Gathering at the Thrive! Conference. This was another touch point to allow diverse families to meet each other and get plugged into NCHE. This was also hosted by our multicultural liaisons in English and Spanish

This is just a summary of what we’ve been working on over the past year. We are looking forward to furthering these efforts, expanding our reach, and connecting with more homeschooling families of different ethnicities and cultures. We will continue this work because we believe that we will all be enriched by a more ethnically and culturally diverse homeschool experience. At the end of the day, we are all homeschooling families wanting the best for our kids, and NCHE is here to make sure that happens. We are here, and we are working so all families have the privilege to homeschool with confidence and joy.

Te’Essence Mack is a child of God and lover of Christ. She believes the most potent ministry is that of motherhood, and she is grateful to have the opportunity to do so full-time to four beautiful children in various stages of life – a teen, a preschooler, a toddler, and a newborn. She serves as one of NCHE’s multicultural liaisons and as a co-host on The Homeschool Show.

Cover photo by Photo by Jhon David on Unsplash.