Our Partnerships
We work with a variety of partners across education, media, non-profits, sports and entertainment to advance our mission of raising conscious, justice-oriented kids. From co-creating educational tools to amplifying research and storytelling, our partners help expand the reach and impact of our work. We value relationships that are aligned, intentional, and grounded in shared values.
The Conscious Kid’s partnership with Stanford Black Academic Development Lab in the Graduate School of Education explores the impact of diverse literature and culturally responsive learning on identity development through a lens of Black language, literacy and culture. This partnership supports events, education, and best practices to raise awareness and support action surrounding the impact, teaching, and creation of culturally responsive learning, literature, and/or media.
The Conscious Kid served as the Cultural Consultant on Disney Jr.’s 2022 series Rise Up, Sing Out. Executive produced by Latoya Raveneau, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, these animated, music-based shorts provide an inspiring and empowering message about race, culture and community, celebrate differences, and provide a framework for conversation. The show was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and Annie Award in 2023. In addition, The Conscious Kid has presented to and trained hundreds of Disney employees and executives on creating content that counters racism and bias in young children, including teams across Disney Jr., Marvel, and Disney General Entertainment.
Through a multi-year partnership with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), The Conscious Kid and the NFLPA have worked together to expand access to affirming, culturally relevant children’s literature and community-centered programming. This partnership has included the donation of more than 5,200 children’s books by Black authors to Howard University’s Social Justice Reading Program, Middle School, and Early Learning Center.
The Conscious Kid and the NFLPA also partnered with Howard University to host a Storytime Read-Aloud event for youth participants and families in the Social Justice Reading Program, featuring Charles Leno Jr. of the Washington Commanders reading Dear Black Boy by Martellus Bennett. In addition, children’s books were donated to local elementary schools in Super Bowl host cities, including Phoenix and Las Vegas, during NFLPA Community Day events alongside current and former NFL players.
We partnered with Google to curate a collection of reading materials, evaluation criteria, and lesson plans designed to support inclusive K–12 classrooms that affirm students’ identities and foster critical conversations about equity, racism, and belonging. Through this partnership, The Conscious Kid also collaborated with Google for Education to donate 20,000 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) children’s books to 2,000 educators across the country.
To further amplify Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) stories and increase their accessibility, we collaborated with Harry Shum Jr., Padma Lakshmi, Ming-Na Wen, Randall Park, and Asian-owned media company Wong Fu Productions on a series of AAPI storytime read-alouds. YouTube featured the series on its blog, and YouTube Kids highlighted the videos within its app, expanding their reach to families nationwide.
We also partnered with YouTube Kids to create a storytime playlist centering Black authors and stories to counter anti-Black racism and affirm healthy racial representations of Blackness for kids of all races. We also conducted a training for major content creators on YouTube Kids on “Addressing Racial Bias in Children’s Media.”
The Conscious Kid has consulted on series, on-air content, and social media content for Nickelodeon and Nick Jr., including Little Lens from LeBron James’ SpringHill Entertainment, Black Sunshine, and their Kids, Race and Unity special, hosted by Alicia Keys. We also create content and resources for families, educators, and children on Nickelodeon’s website, including toolkits on countering anti-Blackness, countering antisemitism, countering Islamophobia, and countering anti-AAPI racism. Additionally, our organization has worked with Nickelodeon to develop guides for families on Affirming Jewish Identity, AAPI Heritage Month, Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, and Anti-Bullying.
The Conscious Kid partnered with Pottery Barn Kids and Pottery Barn Teen to curate a selection of board books, picture books, and chapter books by authors of color, as resources for parents and caregivers which are featured and sold across their platforms.
For Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month, Somos Squarespace, the Hispanic/Latinx Employee Resource Group at Squarespace, hosted The Conscious Kid for a workshop on using children’s books to talk about race and support anti-racist action.
The USC Shoah Foundation was founded by Steven Spielberg in 1994 to videotape and preserve interviews with survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust. Their mission is to develop empathy, understanding, and respect through testimony.
The Conscious Kid is honored to partner with USC Shoah Foundation to bring testimony-based resources for grades K-5 associated with The Willesden Project and author and Holocaust survivor, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, to educators and caregivers. These age-appropriate tools are suitable to the emotional and developmental needs of young learners for raising awareness to appreciate cultural, ethnic and religious diversity.
The Conscious Kid partnered with Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff on a read-aloud on Ruth Bader Ginsburg in celebration of Read Across America Day. Our organization has also hosted a conversation with Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on the administration’s plans to support families and educators.
The Conscious Kid partnered with Cartoon Network to provide caregivers and educators with resources to celebrate Black History Month and spotlight groundbreaking figures in Black history. The organization has also partnered with Cartoonito on children’s book giveaways in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month, Native American Heritage Month, and Black History Month, helping families engage with inclusive and culturally affirming stories year-round.
In partnership with Knock Knock Children’s Museum and Line 4 Line, The Conscious Kid donated thousands of children’s books by BIPOC authors to the entire elementary school system in East Baton Rouge Parish in Louisiana.
During the 2022-2023 school year, we donated over $100,000 in anti-bias children’s books to every elementary school in LBUSD.
The Conscious Kid has partnered with Chance & Bri’s Books and Breakfast to provide free diverse children’s books to families at Chance The Rapper’s storytime read-aloud event in Chicago.
The Conscious Kid partnered with Baton-Rouge based Line4Line for the last 8 years by providing books to their barbershop literacy program, which gives free haircuts to kids who read while they are in the shop. We also support their book-of-the-month program by providing over 300 free books for kids to take home and keep each month.
The Conscious Kid partnered with Once Upon A Farm and co-founder Jennifer Garner on an IGTV series that featured various storytellers each month, along with activities and resources to engage and encourage child-focused conversation and positive-growth in areas of inclusion, respect, and belonging. Featured storytellers included Alicia Graf Mack, Troy “Trombone Shorty,” and Meena Harris.
The Conscious Kid donated 6,400 Spanish-language children’s books to a bilingual immersion elementary school in Santa Ana, California, which they are using as centerpieces as they build their curriculum.
We also partner with higher education institutions on research initiatives and maintain an indirect cost (IDC) rate of 8%.