Self-Care and Communal Care for Ourselves and Our Students

Dionne Grayman, Director of Strategic Partnerships

Dionne directs our No Dreams Deferred project, which serves schools across District 5 in Harlem. Before joining our staff full time, Dionne worked for eight years as a trainer and staff developer for Morningside Center. She also writes a regular blog for the organization, See and Be Seen. Dionne became an English teacher in 1993, and her first classroom was in the Rikers Island Education Facility (C-74) teaching male adolescent inmates. Says Dionne: “It was both the hardest and best teaching job I have had to date. I learned much from those young men and that experience has continued to inform who I am professionally and personally.” Dionne also taught at Brooklyn Tech, PATH on the Thomas Jefferson Campus, and Boys and Girls High School. She has been a parent and community activist. She cofounded NYCPublic, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering NYC's public school parents, and she co-founded Mothers Empowered. She has served as a community organizing consultant for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Dionne has a BA from Brooklyn College and an MS in special education from Hunter College.

Nicole Lavonne Smith-Johnson, Morningside Center Staff Developer

Nicole is a restorative justice practitioner, coach, and trainer who specializes in anti-racism, racial justice, and equity and diversity training and consulting. She now brings her expertise and focus on culturally responsible education to her work as a Morningside Center staff developer and lesson writer. Nicole was a New York City educator for two decades, teaching English, environmental science, and capoeira. She holds a Masters in Urban Planning and International Development from New York University and a Bachelor in Psychology from Howard University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and two sons.