Culturally Responsive & Restorative Practices

As Associate Director of Learning, Clare works in partnership with HFLI’s leadership team to advance HFLI’s national programs and vision of excellence in education for all. Clare believes education should ultimately foster students’ abilities to creatively transform their world, and she leverages a Deeper Learning by Doing® approach to promote experiences that guide learners in developing future-of-work readiness skills and competencies. She spent ten years working in Detroit education as a secondary ELA teacher, a literacy instructional coach, an assistant principal, the founding principal of University Prep Art & Design Middle School, and the director of academics for a network of ten K-12 schools. In each of these roles, Clare’s practice is grounded in culturally responsive and restorative practices, aiming to develop strong relationships with all community members, rooted in empathy, respect, dignity, and mutual concern.

In her role at HFLI, Iffa uses Design Thinking to develop capacity of individuals and coach organizations to develop and advance strategy, ideas, and innovative programming. Iffa designs and facilitates HFLI’s fellowships and workshops, specializing in human-centered and user experience design, systems thinking, test and learns, and implementation planning. Her instructional practice incorporates Deeper Learning by Doing® principles, which emphasizes the learner at the center of each design experience, leverages strong instructional practices, and nurtures a culture of belonging in every engagement. She is committed to empowering HFLI’s partner organizations to create Transformational and Actionable change. Iffa brings a unique perspective to her role, having both corporate and nonprofit experiences.