Welcome to the Learning Exchange

About 50 people have gathered in East Hartford, Connecticut, this week from around the country to join in the first of two Learning Exchanges for Communities Creating Racial Equity. Everyday Democracy executive director Martha McCoy (below) greeted us by saying that the program is "a step in a dream we've had for a long time."

Formerly known as the Study Circles Resource Center, Everyday Democracy began focusing on racism during the 1992 civil disturbances in Los Angeles after the Rodney King beating. But in the 16 years since then, America has changed the way we talk about racism, McCoy said.

Early discussions were driven by King's plaintive question, "Can't we all just get along?" At first, it was enough for tens of thousands of people to come together in communities nationwide to talk about racial differences. Eventually, however, communities - and SCRC - understood that real change had to come on the institutional and policy level. Today, Everyday Democracy helps lead the effort to turn community organizing and dialogue into substantive change.  "We're working on two of the leading edges in the country," McCoy said: racial equity and making democracy work better.

CCRE participating communities include South Sacramento County, California; New Haven and Stratford, Connecticut; Jacksonville, Florida; Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland; Syracuse, New York; Burlington, Vermont; and Lynchburg, Virginia. Today at the conference, communities will tell their stories, discuss structural racism, and learn tools for evaluation and communication. Tomorrow, participants will look forward to the next six to 12 months of work, using markers of progress we'll identify this week (and backed by action grants that Everyday Democracy will award via generous funding from the Kellogg and Mott Foundations).

And along the way - via DemocracySpace, our website, and other tools - we'll share much of the communities' progress with you so that cities and towns beyond the initiative can take what we're learning and make it your own.

Comments

[Julie Fanselow]

We're doing introductions now, with each team sharing a few highlights of their stories:

Syracuse - 11-year-old program Community Wide Dialogue to End Racism ... has broad base of programs throughout the community, including exchanges with 10 schools, jail-based dialogues, and inter-group dialogue at Syracuse University (part of 10-university team) ... CWD's annual fundraiser is the Duck Race to End Racism, with a $100K goal this year

... project for Learning Exchange includes 1) Northside Sustained Dialogue for an area where many refugees have settled and ethnic violence simmers; 2) work with teachers on ending racism; 3) work with corporate leaders to build and retain diverse workforce and create work environments that work for a variety of people.

[Julie Fanselow]

Lynchburg - "Not the Jack Daniels Lynchburg ... we're the Jerry Falwell Lynchburg ..." ....67% white, 33% minority (mostly African American, but increasingly diverse) ... "a fairly progressive city with a conservative reputation."

Brand new to dialogue-to-change, with first action forum just two weeks ago ... did pilot of five circles last fall ... had 58 circles in Feb-March in first full round, with 1100 people taking part in program in some way or another ... 200 people interested in taking part in action items.

Eager to learn from other communities to sustain the buzz and manage expectations of rapid change ... believe have already made a significant difference by bringing diverse people together, "but people are expecting more."

City is leading program, which is great for resources, but want to become more citizen-directed .

[Julie Fanselow]

South Sacramento County - another new program ... SSC Visions has been working since 2004, but new to race work. Now plan "A Year-long Conversation on Race" using EvDem ideas and tools.

Working via Neighborhood Services to build social capital and generate citizen-driven, government-aided projects. Current and past projects include a bilingual coloring book for neighborhood beautification ... "schools as the heart of the neighborhood" campaign ... disaster preparedness events and multicultural forums (most recently on the media) that have increasingly attracted diverse community members, rather than the older white folks who predominated at first ... now forming affinity groups (including mixed-race and youth groups) to dialogue separately, then together.

[Julie Fanselow]

New Haven - City has a history of dialogue led by organization called Community Mediation ... city is about one third white, one third black, one third Latino, with increasing numbers of refugees. It's also the home to Yale U.

New Haven was in national news for creating municipal ID cards, which has caused anti-immigrant groups to converge on region (for example, leafleting black churches with fliers that read: "They're taking your job.").

New Haven was chosen by Church World Services as a site for one-day summit on immigration, and there was a hunger for more. ... Want to find out via CCRE how to be a community that can have fruitful and civil discussions about immigration. Also working on coalition building and retaining participants.

[Julie Fanselow]

Montgomery County Public Schools - County is just north of Washington, DC, with just under a million people. School system is among nation's largest, with 138K students and 22K employees, and rperesentation from more than 130 countries. Study circles program is institutionalized within school district.

Program's focus is on racial and ethnic barriers to student achievement and parental involvement in education. ... about 1400 participants have completed about 90 circles ... circles are focused within individual schools.

Challenges include district budget cuts; how to be more strategic in organizing; and showing how circles positively impact student achievement. Big success is reaching out to parents who rarely took part in children's education.

[Julie Fanselow]

Jacksonville - Florida city knows that to address economic, educational, public safety, and other issues, it must address racism and know that it's a quality-of-life issue. Jacksonville has been working on race relations for about 10 years without a lot of visible progress, but it's eager to move forward.

"Dinner With a Difference" is a big upcoming event ... challenges including clearly defining racial equity and making it equitable for everyone. City wants to learn from other CCRE communities. ("Keep us from tripping where you tripped.")

[Julie Fanselow]

Stratford - In Fairfield County, with about 50K people and growing diversity. Youth were first ones to bring up the idea that some neighborhoods weren't welcoming to all. Started dialogues nearly a decade ago and rose again in 2003 to push back against hate-crime incident.

In 2006, the city faced school redistricting and an incident involving a police officer with black teenager and city councilman. People were tired of just talking, so action teams were formed to look at such items as hiring for better diversity, building broader leadership, and helping school staff reflect diversity of students. New police chief making headway on changing culture of department and setting new standards.

[Julie Fanselow]

Hopkinsville - Community visioning plan included a survey that showed that city needed to address racial issues. City, chamber, and local community college are among partners in coalition that's held circles, as are the Boys and Girls Clubs. Hopkinsville is an agricultural community that also has industry and military presences.

CCRE project is focusing on white and black communities but also engaging growing Latino population. There's a big discrepancy between per-capita incomes and educational attainment among races. Did study circles in 2007, and now beginning action focuses on youth, criminal justice, and increasing minority leadership in key positions. A part-time coordinator has been brought on to help grow program.

[Julie Fanselow]

Burlington - Historically, Vermont is one of the whitest states in nation - 98% not so long ago. But that's changing fast with refugee resettlement, and the population was 92% white on 2000. Increasing diversity is showing up in schools, where some now have up to 43% English-language learners, including refugees from 27 African nations.

Dialogue and citizen engagement have long been part of the culture in Burlington. Study circles formed working groups, some of which led to substantial systemic change, including anti-bullying legislation, greatly increased diversity coverage in the local newspaper, hiring changes at the police department, and a black-led biracial project to address racial profiling.

The community is now working on how to frame issues for dialogue and how to keep citizens, staff, and coalition partners engaged without burnout. Burlington plans to focus upcoming programs on schools, using the "wisdom of the crowds" as a way to address increased diversity.

[John Fenner]

Posting live from the back of the room. What a great day of information sharing.

[Carter]

Well done Julie, you captured the summaries well. Thanks for the hard work and we look forward to blogging with you in the weeks and months ahead!

[Julie in Boise]

Right on, Carter and John! Thanks for your comments.

[Martha McCoy]

We had a good day of sharing yesterday (as Julie's posts and comments of others capture)... today will be an exciting day of building on the energy and momentum we've begun.

Looking forward to another day of deep learning. Amazing to see the commitment to racial equity in the room.

This makes me think of the energy and diversity that will be at Everyday Democracy's national conference in June.... this is just a more intense, specifically oriented learning community here this week.