Support Direct & Immediate DEI Work at Catlin Gabel

David Recordon here, class of 2004, and believe it or not one of the newest members of our Board of Trustees. I hope this note finds you healthy and well, despite the challenging times we’re all living through.

While I don’t live in Portland nor have children myself, recent events highlighting systemic racial inequality have brought to the forefront struggles that Black students and faculty in our community face every day. I also know from personal conversations with Black students and alumni that life at the School remains challenging for the Black community. We can and must do better!

Please join me in supporting specific diversity, equity, and inclusion work at Catlin Gabel for this upcoming school year. Plus, I will triple-match any gift small or large up to a total of $50,000!

Our gifts will allow the School to support two new impactful initiatives this year:

Recruitment, outreach, and retention of Black employees and people of color. The School is committed to taking the Assistant Director of Inclusion and Outreach position from half-time to full-time, and now needs funding to make it happen. The primary additional responsibility will be on ensuring Catlin Gabel can find, hire, and retain Black employees and people of color. Representation matters. Adult role models matter.

Implementing School-wide antiracist curriculum and cultural competency training for all faculty and staff through internal and external experts focused on both diversity and inclusion.

Let’s rewind for a minute. I met Head of School Tim Bazemore at an alumni event in the Bay Area about two years ago and was honestly…impressed. He caught me up on purposeful changes to Catlin Gabel’s curriculum, such as the antiracism focus in Human Crossroads, admission’s recruitment across Portland and beyond, and offering authentic, meaningful community engagement opportunities for students through the popular PLACE Program (People Leading Across City Environments).

Tim and Board Chair Indira Nallakrishnan shared an update last Friday on the steps Catlin Gabel is taking to address systemic racism. All of these changes demonstrate a real and thoughtful multi-year commitment to increase diversity and build a better experience for all students. The school is committed to hiring a more representative staff and implementing school-wide anti-racist curriculum and cultural competency training, and it will take additional funding to achieve these goals.

While we may not engage with Catlin Gabel on a regular basis, we can support current students, faculty, and families to make it clear that it’s unacceptable for children in our community to be confronted with racist comments, macro- and micro-aggressions, or any other racial stereotypes.

Students need your support now, in July, so that the work can start now…not in October, not in December, and not next year.

Your gift today—matched 3:1 by my gift today—will help make Catlin Gabel a safer, brighter, and more inclusive place for every student this coming 2020-2021 school year and beyond.

Thank you for joining me in this effort,

David Recordon ’04