Donna frames her BCSE, which is a professional network, as a relationship-based project that turns connection into capacity. In her telling, her BCSE emerges not as a formal association for career development, but as a deliberate practice of care under pressure. In other words, it is an organized response to the exhaustion and daily negotiations that Black educators and community members often carry in institutional spaces.

For Donna, what anchors her BCSE is not simply shared professional interests, but shared responsibility: showing up for one another, protecting one another’s dignity, and building a culture where people feel seen. Most importantly, Donna insists that the engine of her BCSE is relational trust. Relationships are not a by-product of the work, they are the method.  Donna would like her BCSE to invest more in listening to younger community voices and succession planning to ensure the work continues despite shifts in political climate and mainstream interest that inform the availability of funding and other supports.