Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Umbrella
Dear Umbrella Families:
Umbrella has committed to address the intensifying need for a discrimination-free environment in our city and is working to improve its services to make sure that they are inclusive, diverse, and equitable for everyone. Hamilton is growing rapidly and becoming more and more diverse with people from all different experiences, backgrounds, values, and identities moving to our city to live, work and raise families. This influx in population has made Hamilton one of the most diverse cities in the province. By living in such diverse communities, we can learn from one another, but first, we must have a level of understanding about each other. Learning about other cultures, backgrounds and identities helps us understand different perspectives within the communities in which we live. It helps dispel negative stereotypes and personal biases about different groups.
With such a diverse population in Hamilton, it is essential that our children, families, and staff feel accepted and be accepting. A healthy community is one where residents hold genuine and mutual respect for one another with a commitment to where they live. To acknowledge diversity and to ensure our services are inclusive, Umbrella Family and Child Care Centers of Hamilton (UFCC) has developed a Program Excellence (PE) Department, including a specialist with a dedicated focus on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). The Program Excellence team is responsible to ensure that its services align with the ever-growing need for acknowledging differences and building acceptance from an early age. Through training, coaching, and mentoring the PE team will support Programs, Supervisors, and Educators to learn about various concepts of diversity and how to support them to program learning experiences and materials that are appropriate for children.
As part of the initiative to improve and support equity, diversity, and inclusion in our early years system across Hamilton, the City of Hamilton’s Children’s Services & Neighbourhood Development Division in partnership with ASCY (Affiliated Services for Children & Youth) has sponsored the acquisition and distribution of several books to be shared with early years programs.
The PE department is developing a plan to use these books to support the introduction of these concepts into programs in meaningful and developmentally appropriate ways. These books will provide information to support children’s understanding and acceptance of different cultures, races, genders, abilities and expressions people in the world have.
In June, Canada, along with the world, will celebrate Pride month to acknowledge and celebrate different gender expressions and identities. Around this time, Umbrella will be introducing books in its programs that directly and/or indirectly present stories around gender expression and identity. The books have been carefully reviewed by the PE department, including the EDI Specialist as well as the Pedagogy and Program Specialist to ensure the messaging is developmentally appropriate and aligns with our mission of inclusivity. The intention behind introducing these books is to introduce children to embrace the ideas of accepting and celebrating differences and to ensure a sense of belonging among children.
We are sharing the book titles and synopsis with families and educators prior to engaging in them with children to clear any confusion or answer any queries that you may have.
Children’s Book List – Pride 2022
Our commitment is to represent, acknowledge and celebrate diversity in our classrooms as well as our communities. This EDI book initiative is one of the many that we will engage in as we are committed to ensuring that diversity and inclusion are being acknowledged and all our stakeholders have a sense of belonging.
Please reach out to your Program Supervisor if you have any suggestions, questions or concerns, we are always welcoming of all feedback.
Sincerely,
Darryl Hall
Executive Director