Empowering Families to Support Social-Emotional Growth

For over 30 years, Jean has led content development and instructional design teams in the creation of digital learning solutions that meet the needs of today’s K-12 students and educators. She served as the chief academic officer and vice president of content development at Apex Learning for 10 years. Today, Jean engages in relevant and meaningful ways to support education by aligning her research and writing with her commitment to improving learning and life outcomes for all students. Jean serves on the Executive Committee for the Digital Learning Collaborative.

He serves as a powerful advocate for and witness to the experiences of students of color to help district leaders identify, confront, disrupt, and dismantle structures that limit the potential of those students. Working within and between the fraught social, emotional, and political fault lines of equity work in public schools, Shomari designs and facilitates thoughtful district professional development that nurtures impactful conversations around racial inequity, inequality, and the over-arching impact institutional racism has on students of color. His persistent efforts within the district have instigated a community-wide conversation about the struggle students of color face in Bellevue schools. His tireless collaboration with district leadership and the School Board has resulted in a bold and ambitious equity policy that stands to fundamentally change the way the district confronts and disrupts racial and socio-economic inequities.

Shomari also works closely with students to raise their social awareness and help them feel more connected and engaged in the district and their communities. Shomari’s active presence in schools is especially impactful for students of color who describe how hearing about “his life journey, his challenges, his accomplishments” made them feel like they “fit” in Bellevue schools. He has developed several student empowerment initiatives like Students Organized Against Racism (SOAR), Breaking Out of the Margins (BOOM), and Sistah’s Having Outstanding Uniqueness Together (SHOUT), as well as parent advocacy groups like the Parent Alliance for Black Scholars (PABS). In 2019, Shomari was one of a handful of educational leaders in the U.S. to be recognized as a “Leader to Learn From” by Education Week for the significant impact his work has had in Bellevue schools.

His past professional experience includes working as the Chief Operating Officer at the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, a not-for-profit organization with 82 years of activism and community experience in the heart of Seattle’s most diverse neighborhood, the Central District. Shomari remains profoundly dedicated to fostering greater diversity and inclusivity in his professional life and through his volunteering efforts within numerous organizations around the Puget Sound Region, such as the Seattle University Center for Social Transformation and Leadership and the Bellevue Police Chief Diversity Committee. He holds a bachelor’s in science in Mathematics from Tuskegee University and has a daughter in college. In his free time, Shomari enjoys playing tennis and traveling the world.

Becky Haas is an international advocate and trainer on using a trauma-informed approach, the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study and Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) study. She is a pioneer in creating trauma informed communities.

The work she led while working for the Johnson City Police Department in Northeast Tennessee was recognized by SAMHSA in 2018 as a model for other cities to follow. In 2019 she co-authored the “Building a Trauma Informed System of Care” toolkit for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, detailing a blueprint for creating community resilience. This toolkit has been recommended as a “practical tool” in John’s Hopkins, Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action.

Becky is the author of several sector-specific professional development trainings with two receiving statewide accreditation in Tennessee as evidence-based training. She has been certified by the SAMHSA Gains Center as a Trauma Informed Care Trainer, earned her professional certification in Trauma and Resilience from Florida State University, and has completed additional certifications from Texas Christian University and Starr Commonwealth.

In 2020, Becky co-founded the Global Resiliency Accelerator which meets quarterly and has grown to include participants from 14 countries.

In March 2022, she received the Friends of Children award from the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth for her work as a local, state, and national leader in implementation and support of trauma informed services and communities.

Becky has a deep understanding of the importance for every professional sector to have intimate knowledge of healthy early childhood development and the potential for early adversity to disrupt that healthy development. She is a founding member of the East Tennessee State University Ballad Health Strong Brain Institute and serves as Co-Chair of Curriculum Development. She also serves as a member of the CTIPP National Trauma Campaign strategy team and as a Strategic Partner for the Pathways to Resilience Program.

Tamara Gibson-Alonso, PhD has served as a passionate health educator and promoter in Florida for more than two decades. Having taught science and health to middle and high students in Florida for more than 10 years, Tamara’s philosophy in life is to educate, develop and inspire students and communities to lead healthier lifestyles. She previously served as the health education coordinator for the Florida Department of Education, provided leadership and support for health education statewide, and collaborated on the development and implementation of the State Board of Education (SBOE) Required Instruction Rule that was passed in 2019 (Rule 6A-1.094124). In her current role as a researcher and instructor at the University of North Florida, she continues to educate and promote quality research and practice in health and education.