On this episode of Change Makers, we are celebrating Black History Month. Hear from Monique Coleman about her childhood, college life, and her journey to become a TVI and President of Vistas Education Partners.
On this Podcast (In Order of Appearance)
Additional Links
National Homework Hotline for Blind and Low Vision Students
The National Homework Hotline (NHH) is a free after-school service for blind and low vision students in grades 3-12 and college.
NHH areas of support include, but are not limited to:
To learn more about the NHH, check out this informative APH webinar featuring NHH founders and volunteers, Catching Up With the National Homework Hotline.
Questions? Email nationalhomeworkhotline.bvi@gmail.com
On this episode of Change Makers, we are celebrating Black History Month. Hear from Monique Coleman about her childhood, college life, and her journey to become a TVI and President of Vistas Education Partners.
On this Podcast (In Order of Appearance)
Additional Links
National Homework Hotline for Blind and Low Vision Students
The National Homework Hotline (NHH) is a free after-school service for blind and low vision students in grades 3-12 and college.
NHH areas of support include, but are not limited to:
To learn more about the NHH, check out this informative APH webinar featuring NHH founders and volunteers, Catching Up With the National Homework Hotline.
Questions? Email nationalhomeworkhotline.bvi@gmail.com
Welcome to Change Makers, a podcast from APH. We're talking to people from around the world who are creating positive change in the lives of people who are blind or have low vision. Here's your host.
Sara Brown:Hello and welcome to Change Makers. I'm APH's Public Relations Manager, Sara Brown, and today we are still celebrating Black History Month. On this episode, we're gonna talk to Monique Coleman about her childhood college life and how her journey led her to become a TVI and President of Vista's Education Partners. Hello Monique, and welcome to Change Makers.
Monique Coleman:Hello. Thank you for having me.
Sara Brown:Okay, so welcome and this podcast, this episode is in honor of Black History Month and our changemakers. I wanna make sure we spotlight them. And so that's why we are having you on today. And we just wanna just, just talk about you, your life, your experiences, your journey that's gotten you to where you are today. So can you talk about your childhood and your, your, your formative years?<laugh>?
Monique Coleman:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Um, yeah, I mean, there's a lot there that I could say, but I think, um, what I would highlight is, first I was born and raised in New Jersey. Um, and since we're talking about Black History Month, I will just also say that what I love the most about Black History Month and what it reminds me of the most, um, personally, of course, there's a collective aspect of Black History Month, but personally, it reminds me of my grandmother, who is no longer with me, for us, um, because she was very much, um, active in the association for the study of African American Life and History, which is an organization that was started by Carter Godwin Woodson, you know, the father of, um, black History Month. And so, you know, this month has special significance again for me personally, because growing up a lot of my time when, you know, I was maybe on weekends and summers, you know, with my grandmother, uh, I would be kind of her road dog. Go around her different meetings and activities and, and, and, um, sometimes like book fairs and resource fairs all focused on, um, promoting and, um, raising awareness around black culture and history. Um, so that said, uh, I was raised, um, you know, in New Jersey, both of my parents' families are actually rooted in the south, which is, you know, very typical for, um, African Americans. Right. So they, their families were both, um, made their way up to New Jersey during the Great Migration were millions of African Americans, um, moved out of the south by force, actually. Right. You know, when you have conditions of, you know, racial terror and, um, lack of economic opportunities, millions and millions, um, you know, black Americans moved up north and northwest. And so our, both sides of my families are from Virginia and I think like North Carolina area. So yeah, so similar to what I think many people, um, African Americans who live in Northeast or in other parts of the northern, um, parts of the country experience was in my childhood in the summers were often spent going down south. So we'd go down south and visit family, usually like a grandmother. There's always like a grandmother, a great-grandmother who stayed down there, some kind of older relatives who did not come up. Um, and then of course their children and children's children. And so you have, you know, a bunch of cousins and uncles and aunts and so forth that you're and great-grands that you're, um, sometimes really only, really only seeing that one time a year like in the summer or for family reunions as well. But yeah, for my childhood was really centered around sort of the larger family too, you know, very closely connected family. So even though again, we still had our roots down south, um, the family made sure that, um, they stayed connected through the, this kind of ritual of, you know, going down south. Um, and I think also it was about staying connected to their, their roots and their southern roots. Um, so, you know, as a kid it's, it's fun. It was fun as a kid going down south and you just, you know, just have so much room to run around and, uh, you know, just breathe in this country air and be a little bit more free than you could be sort of where, you know, I, um, in some parts of New Jersey and in New York area. Um, but then as you know, I got older, it's like not as fun anymore necessarily to kind of have to go down to, you know, so go down south every summer. Um, but yeah, I do kind of, you know, now think back with more nostalgia on that time and how important it was. Um, and to this day, uh, you know, my family members that stayed down south in different parts of down south will, I usually see them for family reunions and things like that and special occasions. Um, and, you know, we often reminisce on those, you know, summers, summers that we would have together. Uh, and then, you know, where I was raised in New Jersey primarily, um, was uh, would be considered a suburb. Um, but it was, uh, like many suburbs in, in New Jersey, and definitely in different parts of the country, it was very, um, segregated re in terms of the residential, um, living. Right. So you, you had your clearly obvious sort of more lower income working class part of the neighborhood, um, that was most, not mostly, but that had the population of black people Right. That existed in the town for the most part. They kind of all, we all sort of lived in a particular part of the community that I, um, this, the town that I was, uh, born in, which is Scotch Queens, New Jersey. Um, and then all around us you would see, you know, this wealth and white wealth really, to be honest with you, um, uh, in other parts, the majority of the, of the town. So I grew up again, very early with an awareness of, um, sort of the racial economic divide. Um, both, again, just the, from my experiences living it and then learning from my grandmother primarily, who was the main one who was kind of this really strong, um, advocate. And, uh, she knew a lot. So, you know, growing up in school, for example, you know, you're, you're, you're a black child in a school district that's, you know, predominantly white. And at that time it was predominantly white or, you know, black, one or the other really wasn't, we didn't have a whole lot of other diversity at that time or we were, um, and, you know, just kind of navigating that and, um, sometimes just feeling like, okay, I'm the only one in this classroom, not necessarily feeling like I'm, my needs are being, I'm being seen for who I am by full self. Right? So, because of course when I go home and my life at home and on weekends in many ways is quite different from the kinda experiences that and experience I had at school. So I think, um, what a couple of things that I experienced growing up as a child was just, yes, having play, having friends and playmates, um, who were, you know, diverse. Of course I had my black friends and I had plenty of white friends when I was growing up, especially when I was younger. But as we got into those adolescent years, uh, we started to, uh, you started to find more, um, kind of segregation in terms of the friend groups even, right? So, you know, the black kids would tend to more associate together. Um, and, and which, you know, again, when you're dealing with that kind of, um, when you're that kind of numerical minority<laugh> in the sense, um, and you do feel in sense sort of some of the inequities in the school system sort of, for example, like, you know, like all the black kids are like kind of, kind of getting tracked into sort of the, you know, lower classes in high school, for example. Um, and not necessarily on kind of more the college track, you know, the, the kids and many of the families see these differences. And so, um, just even just culturally sort of, uh, your relationships and who you connect with, uh, again, are going to kind of reflect, um, your larger, broader, bigger life right outside of the school. So again, I think that for myself and many others who are African-Americans in that community, we really had to, we had a bond like a, you know, special sort of bond. Um, because sometimes it's just like we have to look out for ourselves too, right? And make sure that we are, um, um, supporting each other and getting, um, making sure they're getting kind of equal treatment in that environment. So, for example, um, my grandmother at one point, um, we got to that suburb, um, through a different migration from New Jersey in the, in the city in Newark, down to Scotch Plains in the suburb. And my grandmother made sure that my father, um, who was coming from north urban area, black male, um, into the suburb, um, did not get trapped into those classes. She was very aware of what was happening and really advocated hard to, you know, for him and of course by extension others like him, to not kind of experience that sort of racial tracking. Um, and so when it came time for me to, you know, go through that same sort of school sy that same process in terms of working your way up the hierarchy of, um, academic academics, I found that, um, I was able to, you know, advocate for myself and I was able to really just see, um, step back and sort of see what was happening, kind of look, um, almost as an outsider, uh, as to kinda the social dynamics in that environment. So, um, I got involved with the, um, black student union, and I was, um, you know, vice president or co co-president, whatever we called ourselves. Me and my best friend, um, ended up being, um, co-presidents of the Black student Union, um, in the middle school and then for a time in the high school. Um, and, you know, part of it was just, again, more cultural awareness and pride and activities and everything, but also just about, yeah, we, we have this, uh, support system for each other, and that sometimes that means we're gonna need to advocate and we, uh, for fairness and equity in what we were, what we were, um, experiencing there. So, so yeah, I mean, I, I think that, and when I think about my childhood, my upbringing, um, I was fortunate to be in a situation where I was able to learn early, um, I think and, and, and also learn through experience, but also, again, through knowledge and understanding from my elders, like my grandparents and other family members, um, what it means to be black in America. Um, and so I did not have any sort of mis, uh, misconceptions probably the right word, right word. Um, I was very, you know, I had to be very clear. I learned to be very clear about what it means, um, and how complicated, um, it really gets when we think about what it means to be a black person in America. Right.
Sara Brown:Yeah. Talk to me. You're in school. Tell me how was, what was college like, what, what, what got you on the path to where you are today?
Monique Coleman:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So, I mean, again, as I was very much, um, into school as a little girl, you know, I was not talk about stereotypes and images. I was not like the black girl that would just be in all the dance groups and, you know, doing the step teens and the drill, cuz I just wasn't that good at that stuff,<laugh>. So even though that was big and step teens were big and, you know, you're doing your little dance groups, you know, that just, I couldn't get it. So I, I would be, I was very much into my books. Um, and I actually, uh, uh, me and my best friend started our own newsletter, um, when we were very, very little. My mother actually just recently shared the original copy of it. We started, we were like nine years old and we would interview, um, local people, business people and professionals or whatever. And we did that for a couple years. So I'm think I'm going back to that time because, uh, I think at that time what others around me were seeing in my family, which I wasn't seeing, I was just doing what I like to do, is that okay, you know, this is a child who is really trying to, um, you know, is trying to, we have a path that we see her going on, right? And so part of that is, was a path of me sort of wanting to, um, speak to issues of fairness and issues of, um, I think just people's stories and lives. So that's what the newsletter's all about, exploring people's lives and their perspectives. And particularly we focus on a lot of African Americans who were in particular positions of authority or power like a mayor or business owner and things like that. Um, and so that stayed with me. Uh, and then of course couple that with the experience of, um, you know, being, um, kind of co-president of the black student union. Um, and then in high school when we worked, we had to always work like, you know, all black kids usually had jobs for sure. And so, you know, we needed it. And on weekends my job was at what was in kids or us, which is no longer around the kids are our store. But then I would advocate with my other teenage coworkers for our rights in that environment. Cause it was just like, you know, we, I would see sort of the dynamics when you have a whole bunch of high school kids, right? Most of us, black and brown, you're getting in there. And really we were being overworked<laugh>. And it's started to do a lot of things that I really question. And again, that tied to the way I was raised and how I was taught to be, to think again about these complicated, um, truths that we live within our society. And a lot of those truths fall along those racial right. And, um, class lines and other forms of marginalized identities. So I took all of that with me to, and decided to attend Spelman College in Atlanta. That was actually the only school I wanted to attend. So I only applied to one school. I'm not proud to say that because never advised anybody to do that, right? So<laugh> thank goodness I got in, I mean, I had no backup, no safety school. There was no such thing, right? Um, but I got in, it was my dream school and, you know, it was just the best, um, the best time of my life actually. Um, those college years. Uh, although I, I was really homesick at first going all the way down to Atlanta. Like yeah, I wanted to be a Spelman, but that distance from going down to Atlanta and I couldn't come home regularly. Um, so that was tough, but there were so many kids from all over and there a lot of us from the northeast. So I was able to kind of first start my friendship group out with people who were similar to me in terms of, um, kind of how we grew up and surroundings and so forth. And then eventually expanded those friendships, uh, in Atlanta. So, uh, there it was just a mecca<laugh>, right? Well, Howard likes to say there the mecca, but you know, the, we had the Clark Atlanta University, brown, uh, Morehouse Spelman all together in this, you know, one beautiful community. And, um, it was just, uh, a really good time to come of age and a really good space to come of age, right? Where you're, and you're around surrounded by these professors that are various scholars in their particular fields. And, um, really, um, just imbu and vibe, kind of this idea of black intellectual and black creativity, um, that really inspired, I know for me, inspired me to wanna just be better and do better and learn more about myself and my people. Um, and so, you know, the other thing though is that during that time, that was the time of the Rodney King, um, incident that, cause that was 91, went to filming in 91. And so by our sophomore year was when wa, Rodney King, um, beating, horrible beating happened. And there, there was a major, major uprising in Atlanta and among the college community, uh, there where I was. And guess who one of the main leaders was of that movement at the time? Student leaders.
Sara Brown:Um, Let me think, let me think, let me think. I don't know...who?
Monique Coleman:Student leader Stacey Abrams.
Sara Brown:Oh my gosh,
Monique Coleman:Yes. So I went, I was at Spelman in the same class as Stacey Abrams. And she is just such a real deal because like I said, back then we were students at Spelman and she was clearly, you know, sort of cream of the crop in terms of her commitment to first student activism and, and community activism. And also obviously just her brilliance and how smart she was. Um, which is a really cool kind of person, right? So, um, yeah, she was heavily involved in that, um, the kind of the, the protests and the uprisings that the co the college community experienced in the, in the wake of the Rodney King verdict. And so I like to tell that little story cuz I'm like, yeah, I was right there with, uh,<laugh> Stacey Abrams.
Sara Brown:No, that's So cool. Yeah. And everything that she's done is amazing, so yeah.
Monique Coleman:Yeah, yeah. Exactly. So yeah, she was honored, you know, multiple times, but recently, and I didn't make it to our last, uh, reunion film reunion. She's honored. Um, but yes, she's just doing really amazing things and I'm not, none of us who know her are in any way surprised. Um, but that was the kind of, you know, she's one person, right? And she's just really obviously, um, an exemplar in many ways. However, this was kind of just this community that we were in, right? There's so many, there's so many bright, brilliant minds and minds that were just at that time were trying to figure out who we are. And it was really a, a moment of like black consciousness too, during that time. So, you know, really trying to get closer to our roots and who we were and be proud of that. And that was the perfect milieu for that. Um, so yeah, college year is best and you know, I really love it. Love that time. Um, and then, you know, I just, for me, um, I came back up north after I graduated cause I did not want to stay in the south, to be honest with you. Although some people did<laugh> and many people as you know, kind of migrated back down south, um, for different opportunities. But I, I knew I wanted to come back up north, and so I did and, um, ended up finding my way to the field of blindness and visual impairment in grad school up up here in New, in New York. Um, but yeah, I, I really had no, um, knowledge of the field of blindness and visual impairment until I got to grad school. Prior to that I was, um, teaching here in, in New York and I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. I mean, I kind of knew that from a little girl, either like a teacher or journalist. Um, but teaching always sort of felt right for me. Um, and so, you know, again, when I graduated Spelman with a Sociology degree, it's like, all right with that you're either you're going to grad school or you know, what are you doing? Um, and I knew I wanted to teach, so I was able to go into teaching, um, in early childhood ed and in the pursuit of my master's, I just kind of stumbled upon blindness and visual impairment in a, uh, presentation that a professor was doing in that department. And, uh, that really just opened my mind up to thinking, um, more broadly about what I could do with my interest in reaching underserved communities. I knew I wanted to work with kids who needed it needed, um, what I could offer the most, at least in my mind. Um, and that to me were, were kids who were in, you know, kind of urban, um, you know, low income working class sort of settings, black and brown kids. That's tho that's the population I was really sort of focused on, um, working with in my early teaching years. Um, so when I was introduced, used to the blindness visual education field, and I heard about, you know, just how much of a need there is in the field, right? The lack, first of all, the short, the extreme shortage of certified teachers to work with this population, um, the low incidence of the disability and what that means in terms of getting services. And so I'm like, okay, well this does sound like something that is, is also would suit sort of my need, um, to feel like I'm working with a population that really, um, needs to have someone like me who, who like others, you know, are really interested in trying to make a difference with our most vulnerable students.
Sara Brown:So when you started and you graduated grad school, what was, what was that career? What, what, where did that take you after you got your, your master's?
Monique Coleman:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Well, also on a personal level at that time,<laugh>, I finished my master's program with a baby in until, so I had a newborn<laugh>, literally. Um, so what I, my initial plans<laugh> right after graduation did not go as I as expected. Um, I was going to be working in on New York City in the Department of Education working with blind, um, students. Um, I ended up moving after about a year, so moving to Jersey. And, um, what I ended up doing was working with st working at a school for the blind, St. Joseph's School for the Blind, New Jersey. Uh, which allowed me to, um, have some flexibility as a classroom teacher, but, um, you know, raising one small baby and then I had another one 18 months later, I just had to really think about family too. So I started with at the school for the blind as a classroom teacher. Then I moved into early intervention working with the babies to three year three, uh, year olds, which was, um, again, uh, partly just because it's, I loved working in early childhood and so working with that, the early year babies and, and up to three year olds and their families and really sort of the whole package right, um, at that early stage was really something that I've been interested in, always interested in. And it just also fit with sort of where I was in my life too, right? Just raising my own children and wanting to be able to have some flexibility with my schedule, work schedule. Um, but yeah, that was a time because I would go for early intervention. I would just drive around house to house. Sometimes I'd be, you know, kind of in a little tiny corner in the living room, you know, with the child on the floor or you know, at the kitchen table or you know, wherever we can get some space and all kinds of families, you know. And part of it is almost like therapy or therapeutic. I'm there maybe hearing the mom, you know, having an emotional, uh, moment of crisis almost. And so, you know, there's so much, there was so much more to it than just providing a service, um, for that child, but is really working, uh, again, with their caregivers as well, which I, I really love that part of it, cuz again, I was more into that, the ecology, the holy ecology of what it takes to, um, teach and educate our young people.
Sara Brown:Vistas Vista. Yeah. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> talk about that. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, how did you get, how did that happen?
Monique Coleman:Yeah. So, um, now again, I'll, you know, tell a little bit about my age that I graduated my, my master's program when I, in 2000, cuz that was when my son was born, um, so quite some time ago. And I spent, uh, the first few years at St. Joseph's school are blind. And then I went into working in the public schools as an itinerant TVI, um, and I worked sort of what you could call freelance or independent, but would go in and, um, you know, kind of contract with schools to provide services for, for blind and low vision students. And I was working with children as young as preschool up to high school age. And what I, again, in my, in my, I think ever present desire to reach and, and have as many kids and families as I could and have, um, you know, impact, um, but also in my desire to, I think, uh, make sure that in our state of New Jersey, um, students who are blind and low vision in, in public schools, and I know this is, I'm sure the case in many other states, um, I was really interested in making sure that they have quality, you know, quality TVI services, um, that would really make a difference. Um, and so this just came about because I felt like I needed help honestly with just what I was trying to do in terms of, um, working with students and their educational teams in this case, including their families, families, but certainly their teachers and, uh, related service providers. And so I kind of partnered with a couple of other TVIs and we, uh, started Vistas as a way to reach more students, but also to do more programming outside of the school day. So, um, like a Saturday enrichment program and we could do, um, you know, Brailler Richmond or other, um, types of enrichment op, uh, activities in the Expanded Core Curriculum, getting the mountain community and trips. Um, that was my fav, that's been my favorite part is just doing, um, trips. Haven't been doing that as much, um, since Covid<laugh>, um, um, doing the Braille Challenge, you know, just trying to think of, um, implementing as many programs and activities, um, that, uh, brought sort of the blind and the vision students and their families more into community, right? With each other and the broader community. So, um, and that's, I'm a big advocate of partnerships and col collaborations. So Vista's collaborates with, um, local nonprofit organizations, uh, to do kind of inclusive programming. Before the pandemic, we were doing an inclusion camp with the nonprofit, um, group in the community, um, which was, I think really welcomed by families, um, kind of across the board. So this is, you know, has allowed me to branch out a bit more and created a team of providers here in New Jersey that are really working toward this goal of, um, the highest quality of inclusive education that has, that really focuses on, um, the whole team of team approach and integrating our instructional services with other types of supports.
Sara Brown:Wow. And if anybody's out there listening that wants to know a little bit more, what can they do? Where can they go?
Monique Coleman:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, so, well, VISTAS is easy to find. It's just, uh, www.vistaseducation.com. So vistaseducation.com, and that's information, that's where you'll find information about vistas. Um, and, you know, I think that's a great starting point. You'll notice on that website that we also run a hotline called the, um, national Homework Hotline. And this is a service that we started during the pandemic. And yes, APH actually honored the hotline at their 2022, um, Annual Meeting. And, uh, we received an award and the Navigator Award, um, board, and I say we am talking about the, i, I accepted the award on behalf of the hotline and all of the volunteers of this particular service, uh, which started actually, uh, the, the second week into the pandemic when all the schools shut down in March of 2020 across the country. Um, myself and some of my colleagues in VISTAS and a few other, um, blind adults in the community here in New Jersey that I knew put our heads together and figured that we would start a service to, um, assist families and students in navigating this new terrain remote education. So it was te it's a telephone-based homework assistance service, and to this day, we're still doing it because even though schools are open again, and we're pretty much, you know, really finding our way back to quote unquote"normal or new normals," people like to say, um, we know that for our students, um, there's still, there's still gonna be a need for getting help at home, right? So if you come, you're working on something in braille, you're working on something on your Abacus or your, um, access technology tool in school, and you get home and there's no one there who knows what you're using or how to do it, and you need some reinforcement help, you can call the hotline, um, and, uh, we will help you and work with you with, with a one-on-one, uh, support. So that particular service is accessible through our website. There's a form that people would fill out to request assistance, and typically it's the, you know, obviously a parent or sometimes a teacher or social worker will fill out the form requesting an assistance for their student.
Sara Brown:Okay. And to wrap it up, just since we've talked about everything, your childhood, college life, this does, what would you say to the 7, 8, 9 year old Monique Coleman, if you could go back in time?
Monique Coleman:Oh, that's a great question. Well, now that I'm al I'm almost the 50 year old Monique Coleman<laugh>, what I would say in the spirit of positivity and thinking about life's journey, right? And all the changes and, uh, that it in involves, and the twists and the turns, it involves, I would say, to that eight year, eight to nine year old, look at you. Look at how far you've come, right? Look at all of the people that you have, um, taught really. I mean, I think about all this, the kids that I've taught and the families that I've worked with, and the, that little girl, that little eight, nine year old girl that had her stuffed animals lined up on the bed, well, you know what<laugh> that, that meant something that led to something. And it led to a career where I've been able to really give back to so many, um, children and students and families, um, and my community too. I haven't even talked about that, but a lot of the community work that I've done too is all rooted in that little girl who, you know, wanted to, was always thinking about, honestly, always thinking about fairness and, and what was happening around her, um, and the people and the interaction, that social context. Um, and I think that I would say you should be proud and happy.
Sara Brown:Sounds like you are a natural born change maker, right there. Sounds like changemaker at the ripe ol' age of eight,<laugh><laugh>. That's what it sounds like. So is there anything else you'd like to add about VISTAS, about your life, black History Month, anything?
Monique Coleman:Yeah, I mean, I think I just wanna point to just the idea of community, which is really important for me and, um, collectiveness and collective action. Um, because I know this is all about changemakers, like an individual changemaker that you're interviewing on this podcast, but all of us who you've been interviewing for this podcast, this series, um, you know, we would, would not be who we are if it weren't for some sort of community, right? Some sort of, um, collective that nurtured us and raised us. And so I'm always coming back to that and remembering that any work that I do, um, it's, I try to make it in unison with a collective. Um, because through community, that's where you have struggle and that's where you have growth. And I think that's kind of the most important thing is to remember that it's not always just about sort of an individual in our individual selves, individual leaders or changemakers. That's great. But it's also about what are we doing as a collective and moving us forward.
Sara Brown:All right, Monique Coleman, thank you so much for joining me today on Change Makers.
Monique Coleman:Thank you for having me. This is a really nice conversation. I appreciate you again thinking about me and inviting me to be interviewed.
Sara Brown:Okay. I've put links in the show notes to VISTAS Education Partners, that's www.vistaseducation.com, so you can learn a little bit more about that awesome organization. I've also put some info about the National Homework Hotline Monique mentioned. And as always, thank you for listening to this episode of Change Makers. And be sure to look for ways you can be a changemaker this week.