JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Three Duval County teachers have been selected as the 2021 winners of the Wolfburg Fellowship for Social Justice in Education.
April McRae and Crystal Jefferson of Jacksonville Heights Elementary and Steven Ingram of Stanton College Preparatory High School will pursue professional learning on diversity and inclusion, participate in JPEF’s Teacher Leadership Initiative, and lead activities with their students.
The Wolfburg Fund for Social Justice in Education, based at the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, exists to advance the work of educators committed to social justice.
It provides up to $7,000 to a teacher and their students.
[ Gets Real: Shortage of Black mental health counselors affecting Black Americans ]
The Fellowship was established in 2020 by Vystar Credit Union CEO Brian Wolfburg and his husband Jake - with a mission of advancing the work of public school teachers committed to social justice in Duval County.
The couple told WJXT in June 2020 that becoming dads of their 4-year-old adopted son, Asher, who’s also mixed-race is what drove them to develop the fellowship.
“The pursuit of that noble, yet too often elusive, promise of full and equal participation in society is personal to our family, as it is to millions more,” said Jake and Brian Wolfburg.
“We are privileged to recognize and invest in these three exceptional teachers committed to deepening knowledge around justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion through thoughtful exploration and respectful dialogue.”
[ GETS REAL: Finding hope through therapy, nonprofit aims to help families of homicide victims ]
In 2021, the Fellowship expanded to include an additional awardee thanks to a gift from Liz and Ken Babby, the owners of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.
“The winners’ efforts will have a positive impact not only on their students, but the entire community, for years to come,” said Liz and Ken Babby.
“I approach diversity and inclusion as a salad bowl,” wrote McRae, who was named Teacher of the Year at her school for the 2020/2021 school year.
“The salad bowl would not be much of a masterpiece or even delicious if every component was the same.”
Duval County Public School teacher Abby Solano was a 2020 recipient of the Wolfburg Fellowship. She teaches at West Riverside Elementary. Through the Fellowship, she created a photography project that helped students examine identity and representation in the media.
Ingram, who teaches at Stanton College Preparatory High School near downtown Jacksonville, said he aims to engage his students in diversity, inclusion, and social justice learning beyond academics.
“At my high school, students are surrounded by diversity, but they need to work on inclusion,” Ingram said.
“All too often the students are focused on diversity and inclusion as the potential subject matter for a test, for an essay. Students pass other students in the hallway who come from widely disperse points on the globe but they spend little time actually learning about or listening to the voices of diversity.”
JPEF and the Fellowship’s founders surprised the winners on a Zoom call Wednesday.
“The work of these fellows speaks to the true mission of public education – to prepare our students as critical thinkers and future leaders of our communities,” said JPEF President Rachael Tutwiler Fortune.
The Wolfburgs welcome the support of individuals and organizations to support the Fund through gifts to the endowed fund or in direct support to the Fellowship. Anyone interested in supporting the Fellowships mission in Jacksonville-area schools is asked to contact Jen Silva at jen@jaxpef.org.