TAF’s Martinez Fellows Program proves its impact by receiving 2016 NAME Award

TAF’s Martinez Fellows Program proves its impact by receiving the 2016 NAME Award.

Congratulations are in order for our Martinez Fellows program who has just been named a recipient of the 2016 NAME Award. The NAME Award, given by The National Association for Multicultural Education, honors “individuals and institutions that make outstanding contributions toward multicultural education, educational equity, and social justice,” as stated on the organization’s website.

Of the various awards, the fellows program has received the NAME Multicultural Agency/Institution Award. Recipients of this particular award are recognized for their commitment to cultural diversity, eliminating discrimination in the classroom and society at large, curriculum and classroom practices that promote cultural diversity and individuality, and other factors.

This award is a victory and testament for both the Martinez Fellows Program and TAF. It’s been almost a year since TAF accepted the fellows program into its portfolio of programs in its continued efforts to affect public education for students of color through public education. TAF inherited the fellows from the Martinez Foundation operated by Edgar and Holli Martinez who sought to provide teachers of color with professional development and increase their representation against Washington state. Awards like NAME prove that TAF and its management of the fellows is going in the right direction and that people are noticing.

In the end, the hope is that students of color will be able to identify with the individuals that educate them, and that teachers of color feel supported and equipped to deal with the obstacles they face as a minority in the school system.

The Martinez Fellows Program will be presented with the award at the official Awards Banquet on Saturday, November 12th in Cleveland, Ohio during the 26th Annual International NAME Conference. Chris Alejandro, TAF’s Director of Education, will accept the award in Cleveland on behalf of the program.