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During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Dre recognized the need for community and belonging more than ever. This led to the creation of Homeroom, a Smile On Me members-only club where girls can digitally connect with their peers, participate in meaningful conversations and continue to learn and grow. The work Smile On Me does has proven that low self-esteem, poor body image and unrealistic expectations decrease when girls are a part of healthy environments in which they are valued and heard. Dre has seen firsthand that healthy environments that allow peer-to-peer interaction can be a positive way to encourage girls to embrace their strengths, celebrate their differences, freely express their concerns and struggles and build confidence and systems of support. Last year, Dre crowdfunded to bring to life the first and only BIPOC-girl-focused in 2022. This summer camp experience, which is free of charge to all participants, provides a unique opportunity for campers to gain and practice life skills in a safe space. With only 10% of the American campers identifying as Black and only 60% of Smile On Me participants having ever attended sleep-away camp, Dre aims to close the gap in access and participation in this enriching summer experience.

Throughout his teaching career, Dua—as students refer to him— has inspired students to utilize their agency and mobilize to effect positive change. His past students led and set multiple Guinness World Records; campaigned for free tampon bathroom dispensers; implemented new royalty titles and crowned their school prom’s first same sex couple; and advocated for web pages to correct the misidentifications of enslaved Black humans. Within his classroom, Black students have hosted weekly afterschool seminars on Black identity and current events for their classmates, teachers, families and invited guests such as Dr. Cornel West, the Black Lives Matter Cambridge chapter and Congressperson Ayanna Pressley. In 2017, Kevin became the first African American to be awarded the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Massachusetts History Teacher of the Year and a finalist for National History Teacher of the Year. The following year, Kevin was selected to join the nation’s first all-teachers Hyland’s Boston Marathon team, where he promoted the importance of increasing teachers of color in schools. Along with his teaching career recognized by NPR, PBS, Learning for Justice, Abolitionist Teaching Network and UpLift Cohort of Black Male Educators, Kevin travels nationwide delivering keynote addresses and consultation on antiracism and anti-bias. In 2019, he collaborated with Catherine Wong, director of equity implementation at Leadership Brainery, to establish a partnership between ��ɫ��Ƶ and Boston College that offers Master of Education tuition scholarships for ��ɫ��Ƶ alums aspiring to teach in systemically under-resourced communities. Currently, Kevin volunteers as a mentor for first-year ��ɫ��Ƶ Boston AmeriCorps members and presents workshops on how they can support their students with social justice activism within their schools and communities.

Emerald went on to serve two years with ��ɫ��Ƶ New Hampshire as an AmeriCorps member. She dedicated her passions and skills during her first year of service to the Young Heroes program, working with middle school youth on social justice learning and action through service projects. During her second year, Emerald supported the pre-service experience by building relationships and persistence with the applicant pool and confirmed corps. Naturally, Emerald then went on to join ��ɫ��Ƶ’s recruitment department. It was at ��ɫ��Ƶ New Hampshire that Emerald met her future husband and started developing her understanding of community organizing and equity strategy for marginalized populations. Emerald has remained committed to advancing ��ɫ��Ƶ and pushing the organization to become more equitable and inclusive. She has developed policies and programs, facilitated trainings and led the examination of our current systems in order to create a more equitable recruitment and service experience for BIPOC AmeriCorps members. Emerald helped form the Black Leadership Response Collective, a group of ��ɫ��Ƶ colleagues committed to advocating on behalf of staff members of color. In 2020, Emerald joined and helped to shape ��ɫ��Ƶ’s first Office of Equity where she hit the ground running by creating national affinity groups that held space for all staff and corps, establishing an Equity Point Community of representatives from our 29 sites and developing and implementing a three-part equity learning series for the entire organization. Outside of ��ɫ��Ƶ, Emerald dedicates her time, expertise and resources to activism and organizing efforts, both locally and nationally. She is the founder and owner of , an equity consulting group that works with school districts, police departments and various other government and nonprofit entities in realizing their areas for growth in abolition and antiracism work. Emerald currently resides in Manchester, New Hampshire, with her husband, Damond, and their two young daughters, Cleo and Reed.