Racial Equity Challenge
Take the LGBTQIA+ Equity Challenge
United Way of South Central Michigan is partnering with OutFront Kalamazoo to offer a 21-Day LGBTQIA+ Equity Challenge as an opportunity for our communities to learn, come together and break down the systems and biases that keep many people from living a flourishing, equitable life. You will receive one email a day throughout the month…
Read MoreDay 21: Take Action in Your Community
Congratulations on completing the United Way Racial Equity Challenge. We are thankful that you have come along with us on this journey and made time to learn and reflect on topics of racial equity. We know these conversations and the feelings they evoke are not always easy but making space for brave dialogue is one…
Read MoreDay 20: Final Reflections
Today’s challenge is to take time to reflect on your experience over the past 20 days. Research shows that a critical component to learning is taking time to reflect or being intentional about processing the lessons being taught by your experiences. Today’s Challenge Reflection More Group Discussion Prompts
Read MoreDay 19: Tools for the Racial Equity Change Process
“The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. Ant that is the only way forward.” –Iljeoma Oluo “To be antiracist is a radical choice in the face of history, requiring…
Read MoreDay 18: Being an Ally
“We all have a unique set of privileges that affords us special access and immunity that others may not have. Through allyship, we can begin to close that gap by strategically using our privileges.” -Allyship (& Accomplice): The What, Why, and How by Michelle MiJung Kim What does it mean to be an ally? An…
Read MoreDay 17: Building a Race Equity Culture
“And I saw that what divided me from the world was not anything intrinsic to us but the actual injury done by people intent on naming us, intent on believing that what they have named us matters more than anything we could ever actually do.” Ta-Nahesi Coates. Every day in the workplace, individuals face challenges…
Read MoreDay 16: The Impact of Racial Trauma on Black, Indigenous, and All People of Color
Recent events including the continued killings of unarmed Black people by law enforcement and the disproportionate rates of COVID-19 cases in Black and Hispanic communities once again shed light on the deeply embedded systemic racism in this country and its institutions. It is important to recognize that People of Color often experience significant trauma as…
Read MoreDay 15: Adverse Childhood Experiences
“Many abused children cling to the hope that growing up will bring escape and freedom. But the personality formed in the environment of coercive control is not well adapted to adult life. The survivor is left with fundamental problems in basic trust, autonomy, and initiative. She approaches the task of early adulthood—establishing independence and intimacy—burdened…
Read MoreDay 14: Education
More than 65 years after the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education declaring racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, studies show that public schools across the United States are just as racially segregated as they were in the Jim Crow era. According to a new report by EdBuild, U.S. school districts…
Read MoreDay 13: Racialized Outcomes in Early Childhood
“To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin.” Bell Hooks Anti-racist education in early childhood classrooms is far more than a multicultural lesson or two. It requires educators to deeply…
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