What we
believe

We believe that in order for the African American community to truly benefit from SEL programming and the outcomes as referenced by Durlak (2011) and others (Cipriano, 2024, Greenberg 2003) that we must recognize that learning is dually social and emotional and contextual (Jones 2017). In the spirit of context, moving forward as SEL practitioners impacting black lives, we believe that future SEL work must be grounded in the black lived experience and subsequently critiqued, embraced, and owned by members of the African American community. It is in the space of context that Black SEL as an organization is poised to help measure, define, and use data for the pursuit of liberation for Black people. We practice liberation by building the bridge between SEL for all communities and the unique needs of Black people and creating cycles of learning through framework application, focused programming for youth and adults and applied research.

The Black experience in the United States in the western world is based on historical and systemic racism from slavery, colonization, and Jim crow AND one of reSELience from building social movements, cooperative economic structures, and culture that prioritizes and heals Black people. Black SEL is about acknowledging the ways that SEL competencies have been present in black communities long before the designation or study of social-emotional learning.