This past Monday evening Rona arranged to bring April Dinwoodie to completely inspire us.  April began her talk with her "back history".  She was adopted by a white family from Westerly - Tom & Sandra (Petrillo) Dinwoodie - with three white siblings and raised in a "predominately white environment."  She said that "my white family taught me about love, and I had to teach myself about life as a woman of color."  April has had a successful, over 20 years, career in Corporate marketing, branding and PR.  As a transracially adopted person, she is "devoted to elevating our collective experiences of family and working together to build stronger relationships."  She is former CEO of Donaldson Adoption Institute and founder of AdoptMent, which is a mentoring program that matches foster youth with adopted adults.  April also founded a podcast "Born in June, Raised in April: What Adoption Can Teach the World!"  It turns out the her Birth Mother named her June but her adoption parents decided to name her April.  She offers one-on-one coaching, facilitates workshops and currently also "works with several NY City schools facilitating adoption support groups for young people and parents and offers opportunities for faculty development.

 

The mission of AdoptMent "is to provide young people with an enriching mentoring experience that offers a unique layer of support, advocacy, and guidance from caring mentors who have personal connections with adoption and/or foster care."  April, through her life experiences, is "fiercely dedicated to developing healthy identity, building stronger relationships, and elevating our collective ability to navigate differences of race, class, and culture."

 

If there is  interest in learning more about and from April, go to her website "https://aprildinwoodie.com".  She is also on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  There was a short video from a Good Morning America segment on adoption back in 2006 that featured April and AdoptMent.  So while much of her work is still centered in New York, we are delighted that she also is sharing her time and expertise in Westerly.  We hope to see more of April and wish her every success with all her meaningful and important work.