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Several South Florida high school educators are alarmed that a new state civics initiative designed to prepare students to be “virtuous citizens” is infused with a Christian and conservative ideology after a three-day training session in Broward County last week. Teachers who spoke to the Times/Herald said they don’t object to the state’s new standards for civics, but they do take issue with how the state wants them to be taught. “It was very skewed,” said Barbara Segal, a 12th-grade...

Author: TRACEY MICHAE’L LEWIS-GIGGETTS article, Black Joy in Pursuit of Racial Justice I’ve been longing to talk about all the ways in which these last couple of years have been so much of a gift for me. And yet I struggle with holding that fact in the same space with all the ways these last couple of years have challenged the very core of who I am as a human being and the way I navigate this world as a Black woman. And yet, in writing my book Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience,...

Earlier this month, a small group of roughly 50 people gathered in San Juan, Puerto Rico to discuss what a liberatory movement for community economic development might look like. For many, it was their first in-person conference since the COVID-19 pandemic. The convener? CEO Circle, an informal network of leaders of color of national community development organizations. Founding members of the loose network are Akilah Watkins-Butler of the Center for Community Progress , Tony Pickett of...

There is a shift afoot in the field, from critiquing white supremacist culture and calling out anti-Blackness to designing for pro-Blackness. So, we followed up with some of the writers who lent their expertise to this edition, and also interviewed Shanelle Matthews, the communications director for the Movement for Black Lives, in order to go more deeply into defining what we mean by pro-Blackness. We asked them the following questions: The conversations that ensued can be found in full in...

Harvard University is committing $100 million to study and redress its ties to slavery, the university’s president announced Tuesday, and with that money will create an endowed “Legacy of Slavery Fund,” which will continue researching and memorializing that history, working with descendants of Black and Native American people enslaved at Harvard, as well as their broader communities. With the announcement, Harvard joins many other universities — including Brown, Georgetown and Princeton...

The social sector aims to empower communities with tools and knowledge to effect change for themselves, because community-driven change is more likely to drive sustained impact than attempts to force change from the outside. This commitment should include data, which is increasingly essential for generating social impact. Today the effective implementation and continuous improvement of social programs all but requires the collection and analysis of data. But all too often, social sector...

Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race is the book we’ve been waiting for! The team (Megan Madison, Jessica Ralli, and Isabel Roxas) did an incredible thing: they explained race and racism to young children. Not only did they do it in a few pages of a board book, but they also provided guidance to the adults who will read it to children. As soon as you open the book, the reader is greeted with colorful representations of the authors and illustrator, as well as a note on the purpose and...

Intergenerational trauma Trauma occurs when a person suffers intense emotional pain or a threat to their life or sense of safety to such an extent that it overwhelms their ability to cope . We often think of trauma as occurring from catastrophic or violent events. But researchers have found that daily accumulations of stress , like repeated experiences of racism , can result in traumatic symptoms that are detrimental to one’s physical, mental, and emotional health. In the past 10 years, a...

In Ecuador, ancestral or traditional medicine is the medicine of the different Indigenous peoples and nationalities who live there. While th e Ecuadorian Constitution guarantees its recognition, respect, and promotion, Afro-Ecuadorian ancestral healer María Eugenia Quiñónez Castillo explains that there is still a long way to go to reach a real convergence of wisdom and practices in the country. In this interview, she took time off working at the La Fe (Faith) Ancestral Medical Center and...

Virtual Conference | April 5-6, 2022 Our world gets more complex every day. So it's more important than ever to address the traumas that affect our communities. That’s why we’re coming together at the Hanna Institute Summit: to heal our communities. But why should you join us? Here are the top three reasons people attend the Summit: 1) Learn from Experts From best-selling authors Ibram X. Kendi and Resmaa Menakem to Nancy Dome and Dr. Gary Slutkin, national and Bay Area experts will bring...

In Honor of Black History Month 2k22 Please Enjoy the Following NEW Trainings: Facilitating a Full Expression of Resilience: BIPOC are resilient. In learning how trauma is formed and passed from one generation to the next in our communities, we will understand how to facilitate a full expression of resilience in vulnerable communities. This course takes a deep dive into the reality of flight or fight mode and how many people enduring oppression, discrimination and hate live with a constant...

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., beginning on January 18th we will be hosting a number of events aimed at building The Beloved community. The National Day of Racial Healing offers us an opportunity to reflect upon the principles set forth by Dr. King . We welcome all to join us as we learn from our shared humanity to address the historic and contemporary effects of racism. Use the attached flyer to register for these events!