Nobles County Promise to Act Plan
In 2015, the Minnesota Education Equity Partnership (MnEEP) began a collaboration with the Nobles County Integration Collaborative (NCIC) to address equity and excellence in education for the Southwest Minnesota region. The NCIC is made up of six public school district members, mostly located in Nobles County: Fulda, Round Lake-Brewster, Adrian, Ellsworth, and Heron Lake-Okabena.
NCIC applied for and received consulting support from MnEEP to gather data on racial disparities in the region’s education system. This data was shared in a published report, presented at a community summit, and ultimately incorporated into a Race Equity and Excellence in Education Action Plan (EAP) with recommendations for the NCIC.
The data and content of the EAP were gathered and developed by conducting community engagement summits, holding linguistic-specific community visioning sessions, and meeting with the Promise to Act Advisory Committee (PAAC).
The Nobles County Integration Collaborative and Minnesota Education Equity Partnership [relationship] has been a vital collaboration in addressing educational equity issues in our region. Through this process, we have been able to build stronger relationships with families, students, stakeholders, community members, and school districts that have an interest in educational excellence for all students. The project has identified disparities that exist but also equity strategies to close the achievement gap. It’s encouraging to know that work is being done that will allow access to all student to learn and excel at their best!” —Lakeyta Swinea, NCIC Board Chair 2017