Earlier this week, our Executive Director announced Voices for Children’s plans to intentionally tell the story of racial disparities for children of color in Nebraska. Last week, we loaded up the cars and ventured to Mahoney State Park to start that journey, retreat-style.
Retreat – Day 1
Voices for Children staff and board members gathered to learn about ways we can look at data and advocacy through a “racial lens.” The day was a self-check of sorts and an introduction into how we can be even better at telling the story of ALL Nebraska kids. Joanna Scott and Paula Dressel, affiliated with the Race Matters Institute, facilitated the day and introduced their “toolkit” to us.
Retreat- Day 2
A group of individuals representing various organizations convened to construct Nebraska’s shared racial history, form a loose partnership, and discuss shared aspirations. Voices for Children and our growing number of partners are not striving to replace any work already being done surrounding racial equity in Nebraska. Nor is Voices for Children attempting to claim we are the experts in the area of race. What we are doing is informing our advocacy work and recognizing the importance of increasing racial equity for Nebraska’s kids.
Let us know if you or someone you know would like to be involved.
Special thanks to Joanna and Paula for sharing their time and skills with us and guiding us on the first part of our journey. They were amazing facilitators!
Comment(1)-
Eric Nelson says
May 15, 2013 at 9:48 pmRace does matter and I am excited to see Voices hit it head on. Racial equity is consistently discussed on the surface, but this amazing work digs deep and really leaves nothing out. The journey is exciting and I am so glad to be a part of it….