About
Jenna is the Co-Author of the book, Learning and Teaching While White, and the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Teaching While White. She has been an educator in non-profits, schools, and colleges for over 20 years, working with students from kindergarten to college level. Jenna was also a founder and co-director of the Multicultural Teaching Institute, which produced workshops and a conference for educators on issues of equity in education. Jenna currently lives in Providence, RI on the Ancestral and Traditional land of the Nahaganset and the Wampanoag. She is an equity consultant, specializing in professional development on issues of Whiteness and its impacts on organizationscurriculum and leadership, and has worked with over 150 schools and institutions across the country. She holds an M.Ed. from Pepperdine University and a bachelor’s degree from Marlboro College.
“Learning and Teaching While White is the best book on race in the classroom that I have ever read and it has had a profound effect on how I teach. Its approach is an accessible one, but its diagnosis of White racial amnesia is as useful and precise as it is intimate. Not only do the authors give the reader a way into a very complex subject, they offer often vulnerable examples from their own experience that make the stakes of the work clear while offering a practical path forward. Anyone interested in education in the broadest sense—from teachers to parents to mentors—should buy this book. “ Adam Haslett, Director of the MFA Creative Writing Program- Hunter College, novelist, two-time Pulitzer Finalist.
Working with Jenna
Organizations that are ready to do the work of real diversity, inclusion, and equity rely on Jenna to guide and support them. Jenna does presentations, workshops, strategic planning, and support for organizations that want to engage in systemic and meaningful racial equity work. She partners with each organization to provide support that is both aligned with the institution's particular needs and also supports meaningful change. Jenna will collaborate with you to develop a plan to move your organization forward and to develop a long-range vision for sustained racial equity. Common topics include, bias in hiring, examining organizational culture, white racial identity development, and strategic planning for organizational wide racial equity.
Why Hire a White Consultant to Talk About Race?
For many predominantly white institutions and organizations, whiteness passes as normal. Therefore, it is impossible to do real diversity work without addressing this. In many instances, organizations rely on people of color (Black, Asian, Latinx, Indigenous, Multiracial) to carry the burden of addressing racism. The truth? White people have to take responsibility for racism.
And, that makes many white people uncomfortable.
As a white woman who has committed her life and practice to talking about the real implications of whiteness, Jenna actively utilizes her own understanding and experiences as a white woman for making change. But she certainly does not do this in a vacuum: she partners explicitly with people of color in cross-racial dialogue and facilitation, and together they demonstrate what it means to lead with multiple perspectives.
Depending on the specific need, Jenna facilitates alone or in partnership with colleagues of color.