As partners in education, we believe in bridging the gaps that often divide community practitioners and university researchers in order to develop a more holistic approach to educational access and opportunity that encompasses multiple disciplinary perspectives. We strive for our work to be intersectional, equity-centric, collaborative, and sustainable. We recognize the multiple, socially constructed identities of students and educators and consider these identities from an individual as well as social perspective. We operate under multiple lenses and analyze educational issues from the intersection of these lenses. We work to make marginalized voices visible and heard, and amplify equitable policies and practices. We engage in authentic researcher-practitioner partnerships. We engage with schools and system in ways that will sustain efforts over time.

Our primary goal is to address the enduring, systemic educational inequities in our local community schools in Alachua County and the surrounding districts (i.e. Levy, Suwannee, Hamilton). Through our partnerships, we aim for the following goals and outcomes:

• Engaging teachers and administrators in culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and learning practices.
• Building connections and crossing boundaries in which educational research, policy, and practice are conceptualized, narrated, and researched from an intersectional and multidisciplinary perspective.
• Changing the narrative various stakeholders (parents, school personnel, policy makers, researchers) formulate while advocating for policies and practices embedded in an equity perspective.
• Strengthening communities, families, and school partnerships.
• Using data to inform decision-making for equity practices.