Our Community

Who we are

DC Co-lab is DC (Arts & Humanities Education) Collaborative's Community Collaboration and Data Initiatives platform. It is of, by, and with our community and born out of the need to create an equitable culture. The primary beneficiaries of our community collaborations, education services, and programs are students of the DC public education system. We connect the District's high quality arts and humanities learning opportunities to DC's public and public charter schools by advancing equitable access.

>> See DC Co-lab

Our Community of Practice

A community of practice is a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. (Lave + Wenger)

• District's arts and humanities organizations, and cultural institutions

• local teaching artists and practitioners

• school-based educators and administrators of the DC public and public charter schools

• parents and students in the DC public education system

Our Shared Mission,

Vision, and Values

Community Shared Mission

Advance equitable access to high-quality arts and humanities learning opportunities for DC's public school students

Vision

All children will explore, create, and communicate through the arts to contribute to their development and the success of our city.

Values

Arts education is essential to students’ development and should be provided equitably to all DC students.

Our city is composed of unique national and local arts and humanities assets that should be utilized as an integral component of a comprehensive education.

A comprehensive arts education is inclusive of excellence in dedicated arts learning in the classroom, arts experiences outside of the classroom and arts integration in and through the curriculum.

DC Co-lab's

Collective Impact Framework

1. Common Agenda (https://www.dccolab.org/who-we-are)

Community Shared Mission- Advance equitable access to high quality arts and humanities learning opportunities for the District's public and public charter schools

2. Shared Measurement (https://www.dccolab.org/house-of-data)

Develop and maintain a data-informed and data-driven culture within our community with Collective Impact and Education assessment and evaluation data collection and analysis.

3. Mutually Reinforcing Activities (https://dccolab.citizenlab.co/en/pages/information)

Our committees are one of the ways that DC Co-lab connects with our community of practice for authentic collaboration and management of workflow. All activities are concerted based on the goals of our shared mission.

Committees Structure:

• Equity and Justice Committee drives the community to center equity and defines what equitable access means.

• Education Programming Committee supports actionable output derived from the analysis of the Equity and Justice Committee.

• Data Committee grounds other committees with data and builds a data-driven and data-informed culture in the community.

• Communication Committee activates continuous updated communication between different corners of our community.

• DC Collaborative acts as the backbone support (see Collective Impact Conditions) of DC Co-lab and Committees.

4. Continuous Communication (https://dccolab.citizenlab.co/en/)

DC Co-lab is a democratic space open to our community for relevant discussions as they pertain to our shared mission and a tool for collecting insight and feedback. DC Collaborative staff act as facilitator roles to ensure effective and efficient communication between all committees.

5. Backbone Support Team

DC Co-lab acts as the backbone support of our community's committee organization: we facilitate meetings, goals, and decision-making as they relate to our community's shared mission, supporting the overall infrastructure of our community. We are an enthusiastic and integral part of the Kennedy Center's Ensuring the Arts to Any Given Child (AGC) national network, providing the platform for collective impact in the District.

Community Terms by Topic Area

References/ Resources

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