The 2025 Playbook Initiative, a special partnership between Project 351 and the Boston Celtics is an anti-discrimination and bias-prevention program, led by student Trainers in 20 communities across the state of Massachusetts and this year, in Portland, Maine, through interactive workshops with middle-school youth.
Playbook Trainers gain skills in facilitation and mentorship, receive in-depth training and coaching from both Celtics and 351 staff, as well as Playbook Coaches, and become champions of change who model inclusion and support for social justice.
We are so grateful to the Celtics for founding the vision and committing to the mission of Playbook. You can learn more about the Celtics’ commitment to social justice here.
The 2025 Playbook
Playbook Action Items
It’s workshop prep season! Educators and Administrators, work with your partner district to select dates for your joint workshops and prepare for your first two Playbook Workshops on Race. Trainers, review your Racial History Topic materials and be prepared to facilitate your own workshop activities during the Practice Sessions with your Playbook Coaches.
Save the Date for Train the Trainer #1 (virtual) on December 2nd from 6-8pm
Save the Date for Train the Trainer #2 (in-person) at Wellesley College from 1-2:30pm
Check out our Playbook Focus recordings and accompanying resources from the 2024 season! They’re available for you to learn more about how to be a better ally to the people around you!
Get excited for an inspirational season of community-making, courageous conversations, and leadership development!
Highlights from 2025 Playbook Immersion Summit
Workshop Resources
Here you can find useful materials inducing a general sequence of workshop events, activity sheets specific to each session you lead, and best practices from your fellow Playbook trainers about what has helped them with the preparation, organization, and facilitation of trainings with their own communities. You can submit your own tips and pieces of advice here to be added to the Best Practice Guide.
“I believe this world and everyone in it, is a manifestation of virtue... I serve because I wish to work toward a world where everyone can realize the inner light I know they have, to become the bright human beings and leaders I know they can be.”
Highlight Reel
Coming soon: Snapshots from our Playbook communities from their own Playbook workshops!
Send us photos from your workshops so that we can celebrate you and your community!
Racial History Resources
Here, you can find more information, including articles, videos, and statistics that contextualize our mission to spotlight race, racism, and racial history in our Playbook community. As part of the Trainer Certification proccess which prepares Trainers to lead their own workshops, each coach cohort is assigned to learn more about one of the following 5 topics: Busing, Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration, Redlining & Root Shock, and Health Inequality. During the Practice Sessions, your Playbook Coach will lead a discussion that encourages you to reflect on the impact of these structural issues. We encourage our whole Playbook community to expand and deepen their knowledge about the history of race in this country, and the ways it manifests itself in our present day, by taking a closer look using this guide.
Additional Resources: 5 Areas of Focus
Vocabulary
LGBTQIA+ Allyship & Inclusion with Ali Kane
“In creating the conditions that promote equitable conditions, I recognize few people will follow a pessimist or someone who is fearful; that is particularly true of the work of equity. Optimism is the thing that allows us to act and contribute to a brighter future.”
Content Training Resources
DEI with Dr. Andre Morgan
Ability with Jordan Simpson
Content Training Resources
Articles
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https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/02/lifestyle/why-do-kids-engage-antisemitic-incidents/
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https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/01/us/racism-bullying-school.html?campaign_id=61&emc=edit_ts_20240101&instance_id=111444&nl=the-great-read®i_id=55603854&segment_id=154006&te=1&user_id=b9aea2389af1f0a5b6271713f3f29d76
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https://www.axios.com/2023/12/13/dei-programs-harvard-israel-gaza-protests
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https://circle.tufts.edu/2024-election-youth-poll#information-and-support,-key-to-youth-engagement,-are-often-still-lacking
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https://www.salemnews.com/news/students-tell-ed-board-about-antisemitism-in-schools/article_06e12f08-88a4-11ee-976c-bbb603c7ccd6.html
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https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-ma-reports-300-increase-in-calls-for-help-amid-rise-in-islamophobia/
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https://newbedfordlight.org/white-supremacists-stepping-up-activities-in-massachusetts/#print
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https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/10/13/metro/concord-schools-racism-massachusetts-bigotry/?s_campaign=breakingnews:newsletter
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Educator Resources
Here our Lead Educators and Administrators can find useful information and materials related to operationalizing Playbook in your districts, best practices, presentation templates, and more!
“Our society is in urgent need of more empathetic, intelligent, and inclusive young leaders who dare to proactively stand up to injustice in the name of creating a better tomorrow for all.”
