BOARD HIGHLIGHTS FROM JULY 20, 2020 MEETING
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New Board Member - Welcome to Eva Marie Carney. Eva is the founder of
The Kwek Society
, a nonprofit providing Native American students and communities period supplies.
She will join the CR Governance committee. You can read more about Eva Marie
here
.
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Board Nominations Process - We are looking for new board members. If you are a dedicated professional and/or community member who is interested in serving, we have a new board nominations form. Nominations will be open until mid-September.
If you want to be considered to join the Board of Challenging Racism or if you want to nominate someone, please fill this form.
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Challenging Racism -
Learning to Lead
ONLINE
Learning to Lead
, the Challenging Racism course to train facilitators for programs in race and equity, is off to a great start. We had 10 total participants, which is a full roster, and an additional 3 people on the wait list.
This is the 6th summer we have offer this training, but the first time we’ve held it all virtually using Zoom technology.
We missed the face to face interaction and close in person connection with the group but the benefit was we increased the reach of the program. We were able to include participants from other parts of the country who would not have been able to participate in an in-person course in Arlington, VA.
The course ran from July 14 and will end on July 30 and ran on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8:30 - 12:30 PM. This work is important and not even COVID could stop us!
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Challenging Racism -
Curriculum Revision
Challenging Racism
Learning How
curriculum is undergoing its first revision in almost 3 years. The writing team, comprised of Jennifer Goen, Judith Knight, Dawn Kyser and Melissa Stone, was tasked with reviewing and updating the readings, activities and content. We considered resources, information, and concepts that we would want to include based on the recent proliferation of material and national events (eg, George Floyd, COVID).
The new curriculum will be ready in August and we look forward to sharing it with you in the fall. Stay Tuned!
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Challenging Racism -
High School Curriculum and Website
Earlier this fiscal year, Challenging Racism received a grant from the Arlington Community Foundation to develop our
Learning How
program to deliver to high school students by teachers. The curriculum will be available in mid-August and fully accessible on the web. Big thanks to Jennifer Goen and Carolyn Crumpler for their leadership in tailoring the curriculum.
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Over the month of July, Challenging Racism
Continued
, in conjunction with Dr. Susan Strasser, has presented a series of lectures via Zoom to present a richly researched historical perspective on the topics of Slavery, Lynching, Voting Rights, and Residential Segregation.
In these lectures, Dr. Strasser challenges audiences to reconsider history they may have learned by providing original sources as well as a meta-analysis based on a review of major works by historians, sociologists, artists, and more. Ariadne Goerke and Ami Foster of Challenging Racism
Continued
facilitated Q&A and discussion among the group to support each topic.
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THE VIRTUAL 5K RUN FINAL REPORT
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Kathleen Allison partnered with Challenging Racism to raise money to support the conversations and programs hosted by Challenging Racism to disrupt and end racism in our schools, communities and society as a whole by organizing a 5K Virtual Run.
The purpose of this event was to bring ALL races together in an effort to educate people about the prevalence of racism and provide knowledge on how you can make a difference in your own communities. The Race was open from June 19th until July 4th, 26 people registered to participate and together they contributed over $1,150 dollars to our cause.
When the race was finished, participants had access to a special an unique online virtual panel,
facilitated by our own Ami Foster and based on "The Moving Walkway",
where they were able to participate in an open discussion about racism and ask questions about how to make a change in their communities.
Thank you Kat for your commitment, your time and your support!
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Challenging Racism gratefully acknowledges Romana Campos as our volunteer of the month.
Romana took it upon herself to form a one-woman fundraising team, raising $740 for Challenging Racism through her participation in the 2nd Annual Running Against Racism 5K!
Romana learned about Challenging Racism years ago when she attended some talks at Washington-Liberty High School on the intersection between racism and voting as well as racism and housing. More recently, she received an email about Challenging Racism's 5K. Her brother had just passed away from complications of diabetes, and she had been working on mindfulness of her own health by jogging and being more physically active.
The combination of wanting to channel her energy for good - in support of anti-racist work, in memory of her brother, and for her own health led her to not only sign up for the 5K but to create her own peer-to-peer fundraiser. Her goal was to ask 20 people for $10 each, but she ended up soliciting donations ranging from $10 to $50 from over 20 friends and family. "I had never done fundraising like this before and was surprised at how easy it was," she explained. Romana's spirits were raised when she realized her community easily supported her efforts; she ended up upping her own challenge in another way, too, by running 10 kilometers instead of the 5K as described in Challenging Racism's materials!
Romana is a 17-year member of Trinity Presbyterian Church, where she is an elder and has been a member of the Mission and Service Ministry. She is proud of her church’s efforts to get discussions on racism going, spearheaded by the “Racial Justice Group” formed in 2016. This Racial Justice Group has challenged the congregation to participate in trainings (such as on allyship and micro aggression) and book club and movie discussions focusing on racism and white privilege. Romana' professional background is in international public health and she is a volunteer.
Thank you for your enthusiasm, vision and gift of your time Romana. You have inspired us to continue to evolve the 5K by introducing a team fundraising component for the 3rd Annual Running Against Racism in 2021!
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ANNUAL FALL FUNDRAISER 2020
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Challenging Racism is looking for its Annual Fall Fundraiser Chair to organize this year's efforts to raise much needed funds that will be devoted to provide more conversation groups to more people and to expand the circle of neighbors who are working toward the anti-racist goal of equity for all.
Due to COVID-19, we are planning to go virtual this year as we did with the Annual 5K Running Against Racism Run/Walk last spring. Our preferred dates are either November 7th or 14th, 2020. If you would like to help, please contact us for more information at
info@challengingracism.org
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ARE YOU INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING?
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Challenging Racism is always looking for volunteers to join us as we design and implement a range of activities to support and expand our operations.
All skills are needed and welcome! Volunteers can choose to help with discrete activities or lead on racial equity initiatives. Please fill this form and we will get back to you!
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Share local events, field trips, webinars, books and podcasts with Challenging Racism Operations Coordinator Pilar Afshar at
info@challengingracism.org
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