Dear Colleagues,

The Anti-Black Racism Initiatives Project Team is continuing the work started last semester with the framework introduced by President Nair. We are looking forward to engaging with you this spring and are asking for your feedback to help us further these goals.

Communities of Practice

This past fall more than 100 community members joined in reading and working through Layla Saad’s Me and White Supremacy. These groups are continuing in the spring and are welcoming new members. Please use this form to let us know how you’d like to be involved. All are welcome whether you participated last fall or not.

Also last fall, staff and faculty of color came together to create safe spaces to learn from each other, share everyday race/racism experiences, and develop strategies for supporting each other personally and professionally. These groups are continuing in the spring and will be exploring one of two books: Black Fatigue; How Racism Rodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit or The Racial Healing Handbook: Practical Activities to Help you Challenge privilege, Confront Systemic Racism, and Engage in Collective Healing. Those who could not join a book group and do so this spring through this form to indicate their book preference and availability.

ABRI Spring Conversations

At the Friday Forum on December 18, we mentioned that we would host conversations in the spring for the community to further engage with the Anti-Black Racism Initiatives. These conversations will be:

To ensure that we are meeting the needs of the community, please fill out this short survey so we know which areas to focus on for the conversations.

Once we gather your preferences, we will set a schedule for both days. An invitation with Zoom information will be sent the week of Jan. 25.

Should you have any questions or need more information, please contact Kate Hanley in the Provost’s Office at hanleyk@arcadia.edu.

Sincerely,

Brigette Bryant, Rakin Hall, Jeff Rutenbeck

And the ABRI Committee