Children’s Institute of Cultural Appreciation and Understanding (CICAU) is a women/minority-led nonprofit organization founded by Ma’Keva Myricks-Puri and Preeti P. Menon in 2022. The organization is composed of a diverse Board of Directors, all of whom are highly vested in the mission and vision of CICAU. With a unique mixture of both personal and professional experiences, the co-founders and the Board of Directors are driven to bring greater awareness to childhood cultural education and provide accessibility to resources needed to propel cultural education to the forefront.
Co-President and Executive Director of Operations, Administration and Finance
Co-President and Executive Director of Program Development, Marketing and Communications
Learn More About PreetiIn addition to various professional experiences, people bring their specific family and cultural background lens to our work. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) helps minimize biases in the workplace and offers a safe space for people to freely express and share their input towards our organization’s activities. As the cultural education curriculum is developed, it is essential to get diverse opinions to ensure our organization’s success.
CICAU’s co-founders and senior leadership embody DEI values and through their diverse backgrounds. As an African American woman married to a Sikh-American man, the Executive Director of Operations brings the perspective of a multi-cultural and multi-racial household. She has first-hand experience providing her two children an understanding of navigating their current cultural environment. The Executive Director of Program Development is an immigrant born in India who arrived in the United States at a young age and personally navigated through cultural differences. Given the backgrounds, environments, and social experiences that both women have had to traverse, they work hard to ensure their children understand, appreciate, and respect all cultures.
As we work towards building this organization, DEI is of the utmost importance. Diversity and inclusion are among the organization’s core values and act as guiding principles for the activities of the Board of Directors, Executive Officers, and the Board Committees. Each Director, Officer, and Committee is responsible within its focus area for promoting broad diversity in the organization’s governance, staffing, outreach, and programs.
While striving to educate young children to appreciate and understand cultural differences, we remember to adhere to those principles in the work we do and those we interact with. Respect for all aspects of diversity is vital for the health and success of our organization. It includes but is not limited to age, culture, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, and physical abilities.
