Below, you’ll find select blog posts relevant to ICG’s IDEA work. This section will be updated periodically.
Talking to Children about Race and Racism
This blog post includes a curated list of resources for teaching kids about racism and racial bias, including articles on how and why to talk with children about race, podcasts like Embrace Race and NPR’s Talking Race With Young Children, and videos such as How to Talk to Kids About Race and Systemic Racism Explained. Additional recommended resources include guides for anti-bias children’s books, lists of Black-owned bookstores, and organizations like Teaching Tolerance and The Conscious Kid, with an invitation for the community to share more resources.
We Must Do More, We Must Do Better, and We Must Do it NOW
The post reaffirms ICG’s commitment to racial justice and calls on its community to learn and take action by engaging with key readings on race, play, and nature including: Dr. Corliss Outley and Dr. Harrison Pinckney’s essay “Playing While Black” and their keynote on creating safer, more inclusive play spaces; Dr. Carolyn Finney’s book Black Faces, White Spaces, which examines how outdoor and environmental spaces are racialized in America; and the work of Dr. J. Drew Lanham, including “9 Rules for the Black Birdwatcher,” Birding While Black, and The Home Place, which explore how culture shapes relationships with nature.
Take a Rock, Learn Their Story
The post reflects on The Village Rock Garden installation, created by artist Lisa Spring Orinda and hosted at Ithaca Children’s Garden as a memorial honoring Black and Brown lives lost to racial violence. It invites visitors to hold the rocks, say the names aloud, and use the space to reflect and commit to anti-racist action. The post also points readers to resources for further learning—Say Every Name, Renee Ater’s List of Black People Killed by Police, Al Jazeera’s Know Their Names, and Mapping Police Violence—and emphasizes that green spaces can only be truly safe and welcoming for all children once historic and ongoing racial violence is acknowledged and addressed.
