T.E.A. - The Educational Architect

I’m happy that this conversation serves as my season 1 finale. It was a pleasure to talk with a 2021 Bragg, Harvard, MuhammadSmith Why We Can’t Wait Scholarship recipient! BHMS scholarship applications are due the first Wednesday of November. 

1.3 million - the number of meals Kids Food Basket served to our children during the first 16 months of the COVID-19 pandemic! 

Join me as my conversation continues with Will Osmun, Ph.D. - VP of Programming at Kids Food Basket in Grand Rapids, MI. We talk about a lot in this segment. So, take a listen as Dr. Osmun shares his experiences with changing the narrative of children’s education, coded language for whiteness, and our job when it comes to educational dignity. Dr. Osmun is passionate about addressing racism and hunger in the US. His professional work has focused on social equity issues through the lens of personal, community, and organizational change. He has facilitated local, national, and international conversations, coached, and trained CEOs, executive teams, government agencies, nonprofit leaders, and community organizations on issues of poverty, hunger, racism, othering, bias, hiring, retention, inclusion, collaboration, and leadership. I am happy to share this conversation. I hope you listen to all the segments! 

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Will Osmun, Ph.D., VP of Programming at Kids Food Basket in Grand Rapids, Michigan is passionate about addressing racism and hunger in the US. His professional work has focused on social equity issues through the lens of personal, community, and organizational change. Will has facilitated local, national, and international conversations, coached, and trained CEOs, executive teams, government agencies, nonprofit leaders, and community organizations on issues of poverty, hunger, racism, othering, bias, hiring, retention, inclusion, collaboration, and leadership. 

Will is trained in Empathic Listening and Motivational Interviewing and is certified in Compassionate Listening, Mediation, and Immunity to Change. Through coaching, speaking engagements, group facilitation, training, and panel discussions, he takes clients through a meaningful process of self-reflection, history, research, conflict repair, and authentic relationship building. Coaching and training sessions are customized to meet the specific needs, language, and frameworks necessary to create understanding and promote change. 

Will’s primary focus is on the factors that create resistance to equity and entrench cultural dehumanization. He provides clients with practical methods to address and overcome internal and structural frameworks. Will is currently the VP of Programming: Expert in Residence at Kids’ Food Basket, where he leads the programming team across four counties, including a 10-acre chemical-free farm. 

Before this role, he was the Chief Strategist for the Urban League of West Michigan, where he headed their programming team and led their Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion work. He previously served as executive director of The SOURCE, an equity and employment-focused nonprofit, and as the State Director for United Healthcare’s myCommunity Connect program in Detroit, Mi. Additionally, he spent 30 years working in for-profit industries, where he gained experience in manufacturing, management, and national sales and marketing. 

Will earned a MM from Aquinas College, an MS in Supply Chain Logistics from Michigan State University, and a MA and a Ph.D. in Leadership and Change from Antioch University. He is a 2011 graduate of Leadership Grand Rapids and a Marano Fellow of the Aspen Institutes Sector Skills Academy 2011. 

• His dissertation is entitled: Hiring the “Other”—A Biographical Narrative Inquiry of Progressive Human Resource Professionals.

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