CORE

Educators don’t just teach – they encourage, mentor, and guide students’ social-emotional development. 

In at-promise communities, students face racial trauma and higher rates of adverse childhood experiences, such as family members struggling with addiction, mental illness, or incarceration. To navigate these realities, educators need better support for their own well-being. 

When we empower educators to create environments that promote resilience and healing, we can reduce burnout and secondary trauma. This helps educators remain and thrive in their profession, supporting at-promise students and creating equitable educational environments.   

Cultivating Resilience: From Surviving to Thriving 

CORE (Cultivating Organizational Resilience & Empowerment) emerged from work LAEP did with Kaiser Permanente around creating trauma-informed school environments. A study by the University of Maryland found this work reduced compassion fatigue among teachers and improved resilience among students and staff.  

It’s much easier to be well in systems that are equitable and promote liberation for all. That work is at the heart of CORE. We focus on dismantling inequitable systems so true well-being can exist for educators and students, both individually and as a collective. 

CORE leads with an understanding of people’s innate need for safety and relationships. Only when people feel safe can we create brave spaces and have real conversations about inequities and the actions needed to dismantle them.   

• Coaching: CORE coaches facilitate team meetings and work one-on-one with school leaders to understand how trauma shapes their school environment and equip them with equity-centered tools and distributed leadership practices to build organizational resilience.
• Strategic Planning: CORE coaches collaborate with leadership teams to identify areas of need and brainstorm strategies to address their unique challenges. Coaches support implementation of trauma-responsive policies and practices that improve school climate, resilience, and equitable outcomes for all students. 
• Workshops: CORE workshops increase knowledge of practices that support resilience, reduce stigma for mental health, and promote emotional wellness in order to advance educational equity. Staff walk away with strategies, policies, and practices to increase health and well-being and build trusting school climates. Available workshops include:
  • CORE Leadership Coaching
  • CORE “What If We…” (liberatory design)
  • Restore with CORE: Educating and Thriving Through It All!
  • CORE Equity: Racial Healing and Well-Being in Schools
  • CORE Resilience
  • CORE Relationships
  • CORE Boundaries
  • CORE Sustainability
• Comprehensive Support: Bundled CORE services blend coaching support, customizable workshops series, and coaching support through CORE school residencies.