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What is The May 13 Group?
The May 13 Group is an emerging ecosystem designed intentionally to nurture epistemic healing and wholeness in, through, and around evaluation through structurally-focused collective action, including direct action organizing.
The May 13 Group recognizes members of groups that evaluation has harmed and excluded as protagonists with ideas of their own, who are actively building power together and shaping their world rather than perpetual protégés in constant need of socialization into the existing ecosystem that serves so few.
Our Work
The May 13 Group works through three streams.
Each stream nourishes several decentralized, constituent-led pods.
Get Involved
Whether you just want to stay connected or want to take collective action, we welcome you.
Follow our Work
The easiest way to stay connected to our work is to join our newsletter. You’ll get updates on projects, hear about new events, and learn about and from evaluators whom the field continues to exclude and erase.
Take Action
The May 13 Group is made up of action takers. You can take action individually or collectively, as part of one of our constituent-led pods, to build the ecosystem that our communities need. Work within pods can be both paid and volunteered.
Or you can pledge financial support and help us bring our projects to life.
Our Story
About Us
The May 13 Group is an emerging ecosystem.
Meet Dr. Shanker
The May 13 Group was launched by Vidhya Shanker, PhD.
Dr. Shanker, Founder & Convener of Collective Knowledge Works, is an interdependent, intersectional, and interdisciplinary evaluation practitioner, scholar, organizer, and activist.
She co-chairs the American Evaluation Association’s DEI Working Group along with Dr. Nisaa Kirtman and Elizabeth Taylor-Schiro. Dr. Shanker’s dissertation research bridged critical theories of systemic oppression with systems thinking to examine the construction of race in and through evaluation. The May 13 Group puts her dissertation’s recommendations into practice.
Acknolwedgments
The individuals, philanthropic foundations, higher education institutions, government entities, professional associations, and publishers listed below have channeled their capital – time, money, expertise, and labor – in solidarity with The May 13 Group’s efforts to cultivate epistemic healing and wholeness in, through, and around evaluation’s socio-political economy.
- Isadora Collins – Teresa Ines Cruz – Carolina De La Rosa Mateo – Diana Siegel-Garcia – AJ Juraska – Chris Lysy – Libby Smith – Zachary Tilton
- The American Evaluation Association – The Barr Foundation – Humanity United – Western Michigan University Evaluation Center
Dissemination of this research was funded in part by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Inc., and we thank them for their support: however, the findings and conclusions presented are those of the author(s) alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation.