Racial Affinity Groups

What Are Racial Affinity Groups?

Racial affinity groups bring together professionals who share a racial identity to foster connection, support, and inspiration. These groups are emerging in many workplace settings, providing a space for early childhood professionals to deepen their understanding of their work, experiences, and relationships with others.

These groups create a safe, reflective environment where participants can slow down, examine systemic inequities, and build critical consciousness about the broader conditions that impact disparities in child and family outcomes.

What to Expect

Racial affinity groups provide a space to:

• Deepen self-awareness around thoughts, reactions, beliefs, and motivations in professional practice.
• Cultivate curiosity and compassion over assumption and judgment when working with children, caregivers, and colleagues.
• Explore the impact of systemic inequities, implicit bias, privilege, social justice, and generational trauma on families and professionals.
• Examine internalized oppression and work toward healing and liberation.

Who Should Apply?

We welcome professionals across the early childhood workforce, including:

• Early intervention specialists and therapists
• Home visitors and parent educators
• Early education and health professionals
• Program administrators, supervisors and childcare directors
• I/ECMH consultants and clinicians
• Community behavioral health clinicians working with young children
• Infant/Toddler childcare specialists

From these professional settings:

• Childcare and Child Care Resource & Referral organizations
• School-based programs
• Home visiting
• Health care
• Community and private behavioral health care
• Early intervention
• Child welfare