CACE Welcomes Tia Gaines as a Senior Fellow

As we take time this fall to honor “redirecting” CACE Fellow Dan Beerens, we are excited to announce a new Fellow joining the work of CACE. As CACE continues to be a place where schools can share and promote innovative ideas, develop as school leaders, and network with one another, we wanted to invite someone who has spent much of her professional life around the biblical concept of belonging and creating an organizational culture that fosters such a place.

Tia Gaines is the newest addition to our distinguished group of Senior Fellows. Tia brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to excellent, faith-based education. With a background that includes consulting, speaking, writing, and conference organizing, she has devoted herself to advocating for diversity, unity, and belonging within Christian education.

Tia has served in education for over 20 years, including time teaching internationally and in both suburban and urban contexts. Tia has created curriculum and resource material on the topic of cultural humility, as well as intercultural competency, dialogue, and reflection, with a specific love and passion for urban education, community engagement, and school partnerships.

“Her leadership, vision, and passion for empowering others align perfectly with our mission to advance Christian education.”

Tim VanSoelen, Executive Director of CACE

Currently Tia is the Executive Director of UnifiEd, a nonprofit offering education consulting services to K-12 Christian schools. She also works in the Office of Social Equity and Community at the University of Pennsylvania, where she created and led the Equity in Action Visiting Scholars program. She serves on the Board of Trustees for the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) and as a Flourishing Schools Institute faculty member. Bringing all these experiences and expertise, Tia is poised to make a significant impact on the work of CACE.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Tia to our team,” says CACE’s Executive Director Tim Van Soelen. “Her leadership, vision, and passion for empowering others align perfectly with our mission to advance Christian education. Her presence as a Senior Fellow will undoubtedly inspire and encourage all leaders, especially the next generation of female leaders.”

As a Senior Fellow, Tia will be contributing to the work of CACE in a variety of ways. She will be a consistent voice on the CACE blog. In November, Tia will present the Level 400 Track at the TfT Instructional Coaching Conference on the topic of fostering a culture of belonging in schools by embracing a posture of cultural humility. Using her background in urban education, she will also be involved in CACE’s strategic roadmapping projects. Her work will contribute to CACE’s overall growth and serve as a beacon for women aspiring to leadership positions in Christian education.

“I am honored to join CACE as a Fellow,” said Tia. “This is a pivotal time for women in leadership, and I am excited to contribute to CACE’s mission of advancing Christian education. I look forward to working alongside the other Senior Fellows as we provide a network for Christian schools, promote innovative practices, and develop school leaders.”

We asked Tia to write an opening post so our readers can get to know her heart for Christian education and the biblical concept of belonging. Below are Tia’s reflections on the inaugural Leaders Like Us Global Summit, an event CACE was honored to sponsor.

Hearing, Healing, and Honoring: The Vision Behind the Leaders Like Us Global Summit

In the spring of 2024, UnifiEd, a Center for Hope and Unity, hosted the Leaders Like Us (LLU) Global Summit, a conference inspired by two significant events. The first occurred during a visit to the UK, where Christian school educators spent ten days touring schools in London and learning from the Church of England Schools. It was here that school leaders witnessed the launch of the original Leaders Like Us program, an initiative spearheaded by the Church of England Education Office, aimed at mentoring and developing leaders of color in educational settings. This experience left a profound impact on tour participants, serving as a catalyst for change.

The second moment of inspiration came during a conference specifically designed for women leaders in Christian education. During this event, women leaders experienced firsthand the transformative power that comes from shared experiences and the strong support networks that these gatherings create. These encounters ignited a vision to create a global network where educators of color could gather as well. Thus, the idea for the LLU Global Summit was born: a conference where educators of color could come together to foster community, share valuable resources, and expand their professional networks.

The theme of the summit, Renewal: Strengthening Our Capacity to Nurture Flourishing in Christian Education, was not about discussing diversity, equity, or inclusion—topics often covered in many educational conferences. Rather, in the language of our Teaching for Transformation (TFT) friends, the “deep hope” for the LLU Global summit focused on three core goals: hearing, healing, and honoring one another. And these goals remain in place as we plan the 2025 Global Summit. 

Hearing

The Summit creates a space for brave dialogue, allowing participants to share their stories and, crucially, to feel heard. It’s an opportunity for mutual support, where attendees can hold space for one another’s experiences. In preparation for the event, participants were asked to read a 2021 article by Esau McCaulley published in The New York Times. McCaulley poignantly reflects on the experience of being Black in predominantly white spaces, saying, “At Wheaton, I am faced with the daily reality of my strangeness, like being a peacock in a flock of wild turkeys. The peacock is interesting and adds some color, but the fact that it is not native to the area is clear to all.” This summit offers a unique environment where Christian educators of color can be seen not as outliers, but as part of a vibrant community of beautiful and unique individuals.

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,”

James 1:19

Healing

The current state of education, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is one marked by stress and burnout. According to the National Education Association (NEA), K-12 teachers are now considered the most burnt-out professionals in the United States. More than half of them report that they are likely to leave the profession earlier than planned. Furthermore, there are 500,000 fewer educators in the American public school system compared to pre-pandemic levels, with 43% of job postings in education going unfilled (NEA, 2023). A staggering 85% of teachers describe their work as “unsustainable” due to overwhelming stress.

This summit acknowledges that now, more than ever, educators need healing – from the challenges of teaching but also in terms of their own well-being. This is a kairos moment, an opportune time to focus on self-care and communal rejuvenation.

Honoring

Finally, the summit calls on participants to honor the sacred space they are in by being fully present. Drawing on the work of Christina Crook, author of The Joy of Missing Out, the summit encourages attendees to embrace the idea of JOMO, or “the joy of being in the here and now.” As Crook explains, “JOMO is actually being able to be in the here and now. To be able to enjoy what you are doing now without looking left and right and be jealous or anxious about missing something” (Crook, 2019). Participants are invited to be radically present, to recognize the individuals God has placed around them, and to seek out ways to bless others by sharing resources and making meaningful connections.

We at UnifiEd believe that bringing people together, as in this Summit, amplifies the gifts we have as individuals. Sociologist James Davidson Hunter says, “The key actor in history is not individual genius but rather the network. . . . And the more ‘dense’ the network—that is, the more active and interactive the network—the more influential it could be” (Hunter, 2010, p. 38). This vision lies at the heart of the LLU Global Summit, where educators of color gather to learn from one another, to foster deep connections, and to support each other in their professional and spiritual growth. The hope is that through hearing, healing, and honoring, a more resilient and flourishing community of Christian educators will emerge.

UnifiEd is gearing up for LLU Global Summit 2025, which will take place March 23-25 in Chicago. Whereas our country remains as contentious as ever, the themes of hearing, healing, and honoring one another remain as relevant as ever. This is the time to be slow to speak and quick to listen (James 1:19), to confess our sins and pray for one another and in doing so, to heal and restore one another (James 5:16), and to outdo one another in showing honor (Romans 12:10).

References

Crook, C. (2019). The Joy of Missing Out: Finding Balance in a Wired World. [Publisher].

Hunter, J. D. (2010). To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World. Oxford University Press.

McCaulley, E. (2021). “What It’s Like to Be Black in Higher Education,” The New York Times. National Education Association. (2023). “The Teacher Burnout Crisis.” NEA Research Reports.