ASDE News

The board of directors of the Alliance for Self-Directed Education (ASDE) is pleased to announce two new members of the board and recognize one director leaving the board.

First, a heartfelt welcome to Maleka Diggs, the founder of Eclectic Learning Network (ELN) in Philadelphia, PA. Maleka was nominated by board president Peter Gray for her spirit, energy, and dedication to children’s freedom. Maleka tells us...

“Engaging young people and families through offering programs and workshops that align with Unschooling and Self-Directed Education pathways lies at the center of ELN’s core values. For 4.5 years, ELN has provided over 300 learning opportunities to the Philadelphia home education community from monthly meetups exploring how nature impacts our daily experiences to parent workshops discussing how our personal connections and experiences in learning are adopted as the foundation of our own parenting styles. Additionally, the intersections of race/racism and education in this work have extended opportunities to partner with schools (public and private), facilitating trainings surrounding the impact of unconscious bias, racial equity, inclusion and diversity in learning spaces. It is an honor to have ELN’s work recognized by ASDE and I’m excited to team with this dynamic collective of advocates to provide greater awareness and insight for parents and young people exploring SDE with a focus on decolonization through Unschooling for BIPOC families.”

Also new to the board, but not to the Alliance, is Tomis Parker. When the Alliance was first forming, Tomis was in New York and Charlotte, NC, working with both the first Agile Learning Center in NYC and ALC Mosaic. In the midst of that work, he made time available to assist the board in developing governance processes and provide crucial project management skills to the website development effort. Tomis worked tirelessly for months to coordinate the efforts of volunteers and freelance talent toward the launch of self-directed.org. With his abundant creative skills, he was able to work directly with several teams, contributing to the design of our graphics, membership system, donor interface, media campaigns, and more. And our fantastic online magazine, Tipping Points, was Tomis' brainchild!

Tomis was asked to consider joining the board over a year ago, but declined in order to focus his energy on acquiring a property for ALC Mosaic and starting a family with his wife, Nancy Tilton. Tomis remained involved as a member of the ASDE Organizing Committee, a team that meets with the board on a video conference every six weeks to plan, implement, and measure the many efforts of ASDE. We are grateful that Tomis has now been able to set aside some of his time to take a seat on the board.

We are also acknowledging the decision by Scott Noelle to step down from the board and become a regular member of the Organizing Team. Although he will continue to support some of the ASDE projects he started, like our Resource Directory and Forums, he will now have more time to focus on his (non-ASDE) work supporting people who are creating “partnership cultures” — including unschooling families and SDE communities. Scott was a founding member of the Alliance, bringing years of experience as an unschooling dad, an SDE-friendly parenting coach, a writer, and a self-taught web programmer. Scott contributed countless volunteer hours to ensure that visitors to self-directed.org find the information and support they need, and he has been an empathic sounding board to members of the Alliance. We cannot thank him enough for his support and continued commitment to SDE.

Please join the board of directors of the Alliance in thanking Scott for his service, recognizing Tomis for his continued commitment in his new role, and welcoming Maleka to the board. These are examples of the dedicated people who make up the Alliance and embrace the vision of a world free to choose their own path to education and knowledge. Should you wish to contribute in any way, feel free to donate or volunteer, but above all, become a member and plug into the full resources of ASDE!