Honored to share that The Thriving Project has been named a Do Good Campus Fund recipient at the University of Maryland!

This support will help us deepen our work alongside UMD Black male undergraduates and local school districts to cultivate mentorship, belonging, and pathways to success for Black boys and young men. We're especially grateful for the opportunity to support an arts-based project that centers community and connection in educational spaces.

Thank you to the Do Good Institute for investing in projects that advance the public good. We're excited for what’s ahead!

Dr. Reka Barton, Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Maryland, reminds us that storytelling, literacy, and creativity can be powerful forms of care, connection, and justice.

Through her support of incarcerated women and families impacted by the justice system, Dr. Barton helps create spaces where people can write, share, heal, and be seen in their full humanity.

We are grateful she shared her wisdom with the Racial and Social Justice Collaborative and helped us think more deeply about what it means to center dignity, voice, and liberation in our work.

Read more about Dr. Barton’s work here.

Congratulations to RSJC member Dr. Jennifer Turner on this incredible achievement! 🎉

Her new book, Critical Visual Methods to Advance Racial Justice in Educational Research, has been recognized with the AERA 2026 Book Award from the Semiotics in Education SIG.

This powerful work advances critical research methodologies for analyzing visual and multimodal data, with particular attention to racial justice for minoritized communities. We are proud to celebrate Dr. Turner and this important contribution to educational research!

Who gets to witness Black girls and how?

This UMD research dives into the ways AI-generated images reproduce stereotypes, and what it takes to harness technology that sees Black girls fully, in all their creativity and brilliance.

Read an interview from UMD’s College of Education with Dr. Jennifer Turner, Professor of Literacy Education, and Qualitative Researcher on the Racial and Social Justice Collaborative team! 

We’re still reflecting on this powerful #EdTalks2025 conversation with Dr. Christine Neumerski, Senior Research Fellow, on Untold Stories of the Long Divide Between Education Research and Real-World Practice.

Her talk offered an important reminder: when educators and researchers work in partnership, research becomes more than theory and becomes actionable, relevant, and capable of driving meaningful change in schools.

Watch here!