Our Vision

The Inception

The Culturally Relevant Classroom is a program designed to undo inequities in schools, to breakdown inequities in society overall.The curators of this program, Aminata Umoja (founder), Nkenge Ayo Nkita-Mayala, and Tashiya Umoja-Mkanga, are educators who have committed their lives to social justice through education. Through their work with Kilombo Academic and Cultural Institute, an accredited K-8 independent school inDecatur, Georgia, they have been able to put Cultural Relevancy into practice and have experienced firsthand the outstanding results of this work. Kilombo has educated hundreds of children of color, of varying socio-economic backgrounds, varying levels of parental involvement, varying disabilities, and exceptionalities in and around the South DeKalb area. At Kilombo, these women and their team of educators have been able to implement the culturally relevant standards in combination with best pedagogical practices and the results have been student growth and success.In Kilombo’s tenure 76%-85% of scholar’s grades 1-8 have scored average or above on NationalStandardized tests.82%-88% of students who have attended Kilombo for two years or more scored average or above on National Standardized tests. 88% of the school’s graduates achieve honor roll or higher in high school.

The children at Kilombo achieve at high levels not because they are special; they achieve because that is the expectation. They are taught that they are beautiful, capable, and divine. They believe it and they soar. This is the secret to Kilombo’s success. Love the children, expect them to achieve at high levels, teach them what they need to succeed and push them to greater levels of achievement. Our children see themselves in the curriculum. They see role models that look like them on the walls. Our students are surrounded by examples of success that look like them. In their minds, African people inAmerica work hard and achieve because that is what they see at their school.In their minds, all people, Asians, Latinos, Native Americans, Europeans, and African have experienced great successes and great failures in history and each nation has helped to advance and improve the human condition.They believe these things simply because it is what they have been taught to believe. We only have to have the will!