The recent protests for racial justice, as well as the disparate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, have once again demonstrated the racial inequalities that continue to persist in both our state and nation. Serve Wisconsin remains dedicated to the work of promoting and creating a more just and equitable society through our work with AmeriCorps members and programs, volunteer centers, local and national nonprofits, and volunteers helping others throughout our state.
AmeriCorps members in Wisconsin are working towards racial justice in communities throughout our state in numerous ways. They are striving to help close the achievement gap in education, promoting greater access to educational resources and programming, helping end disparities in both the access to healthcare and in health outcomes, and working with organizations throughout our state to further enhance and expand the reach of nonprofit organizations that aim to build a more just and equitable world.
While we are proud of the service that these AmeriCorps members and programs are doing, we recognize that there is much more that can and should be done to address racial inequity in our society. With this in the forefront of our thoughts, Serve Wisconsin is announcing the following concrete action steps that we are taking to expand the scope of national service in Wisconsin to address racial inequality and the racial justice training that we provide for AmeriCorps members.
Our first step is reaching out to Wisconsin nonprofit organizations that are working to end racial inequality and disparity to discuss how AmeriCorps programming and individual AmeriCorps VISTA members can help these organizations reduce racial inequality. Through
this survey
and the resulting conversations, we hope to better understand the needs of organizations and communities and to engage local partners to make the most effective difference possible.
Additionally, we want to expand our training to our AmeriCorps members, making sure we hear their concerns and support them as they work to end racial inequality. Towards this aim, we will be holding a digital session with Dr. Alex Gee, the founder of The Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development and host of the Black Like Me podcast series. Dr. Gee has previously worked with our AmeriCorps members for a training series on transformational leadership and their ability to impact the community. We look forward to the upcoming discussions with our members.
These will not be the only actions that Serve Wisconsin will be taking to help address issues of racial justice in our state, but only the first steps in a continuous path towards creating a more just and equitable society. This may be a long journey, but as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” and we aim to keep our mission and efforts pointed in that direction.
Links to AmeriCorps VISTA Site Survey
