By Jeannie Russell HEART’s innovative Compassionate Communities Awards competition is taking root in the great borough of Brooklyn, thanks to an exciting partnership with the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office. HEART’s Compassionate Communities Awards competition brings a whole-child, comprehensive approach to humane education into our public schools by challenging them to
By Jeannie Russell Teaching about climate change, and its current and projected impacts on our communities, is a moral obligation we have to our youth, who will have to bear the heaviest burdens of response in the years ahead. We need to offer our students a clear and accurate scientific
By Kristina Hulvershorn If our definition of “humane” means that we are aspiring to reflect the best traits of human beings, how in the world do we handle a conversation with Uncle Jerry on Thanksgiving when he brings out our worst? There are no easy answers, but in my work
by Jeannie Russell At HEART, we understand that public schools are (to turn a phrase) the heart of their communities. Schools bring together the interests and hopes of both current and future generations of community members by connecting diverse neighbors, providing many critical direct services to them and their children,
On the bright, sunny morning of June 5th, the Yes We Can Community Center in Westbury, NY was buzzing with excitement, filled with student presenters and their teachers from eleven elementary schools in New York’s Nassau County on Long Island. With the support of the Town of North Hempstead, HEART
By Bob Schwalb Comprehensive humane education teaches students about some of the world’s most intractable problems. In our lessons, we examine the scope of these problems, discover causes and effects, and search for solutions that will do the most good and least harm (MOGO) for all humans, all animals, and
By Kristina Hulvershorn Years ago, I developed a critique of the field of SEL (Social and Emotional Learning). I believed that we were selling youth potential short when we limited children’s exposure to the kinds of problems in their immediate communities. Most SEL involved helping teachers control behavior, rather than
By Liz Walch When I was a kid, I loved watching Whose Line Is It Anyway?, the TV show where comedians performed on-the-spot skits, bits, gags, impressions, and songs. I may not have understood all of the grown-up humor, but the silliness and fast-paced jokes had me rolling on the