Applying Our Research
|
|
 In March, our Research Department started a series of focus groups on young progressives and participants in the Occupy movement around the country. Sessions held in Portland (OR), Oakland (CA), and NYC explore what motivates young people (ages 18-30) to get involved in progressive organizations or movements, as well as to what extent they believe racial justice should be an explicit feature of their social justice work.
Additional sessions will be held in Atlanta (GA) and Baltimore (MD) -- site of ARC's upcoming Facing Race Conference. If you know of organizations who could help our research team recruit participants, please e-mail us at [email protected]. Key findings from these focus groups will be released in May, in a report and an informational webinar.
Research Director Dom Apollon presented at the Kirwan Institute's Transforming Race conference in Columbus, OH on March 17. Dom sat on a panel organized by Nicole Mason of NYU's Women of Color Policy Network, offering practical reflections about the success of ARC's "Shattered Families" report at a session about research at the intersections of race, gender, and class.
Senior Research Associate Yvonne Liu recently participated on a session at the Left Forum in New York, NY, discussing her experience as an active participant in Occupy Oakland's Research Working Group.
|
Network News
|
|
As part of ARC's work to advance racial justice, we coordinate a Racial Equity Policy Network of organizations in ten states and one Canadian province who are engaged in using racial equity tools--legislative report cards, policy guides, budget analyses and racial impact assessments--to inform public discourse on key policy issues.
A multi-racial coalition of community organizations in Oregon released its first legislative report card on racial equity in January. The report attracted widespread media coverage, including an editorial by the Oregonian, which stated: “The new racial report card is intended to open eyes--and spark more action in minority communities on their own behalf. The data is extensive, and change is possible.”
Also in January, the Organizing Apprenticeship Project in Minnesota was joined by hundreds of allies at the state capitol as it released its sixth annual Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity and a Racial Equity Agenda, which was endorsed by over 30 organizations.
The Racial Equity Policy Network, coordinated by ARC Research Associate/Consultant Jermaine Toney, includes: Citizen Action of New York, Colorado Progressive Coalition, Colour of Change Network (Toronto), Idaho Community Action Network, Maine People’s Alliance, OpenSource Leadership Strategies, Inc. (NC), Organizing Apprenticeship Project (MN), Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations (IL), Washington Community Action Network and Western States Center (OR).
|
|
Colorlines.com Spotlight
|
|
 News happens all day, every day--so we've launched a breaking news blog to help you keep up. Colorlines.com/NOW follows the latest headlines in everything from politics to pop culture, from the economy to the latest viral videos--all while facing the reality that race matters to today's news.
Jorge Rivas, our pop culture blogger, leads the effort at /NOW. He’s digging through the torrent of information that we all struggle to digest each day and pulling out the most important stories--such as the killing of Trayvon Martin--as well cultural news that's just too interesting or entertaining to miss, from viral videos to on-site reports from SXSW.
We do mission-driven journalism at Colorlines.com, and a core goal is to reach as many people as possible with a racial justice perspective on the day’s news, so with that in mind, we are also out and about doing media interviews, highlighting stories that go unnoticed and bringing a race lens to issues that haven't been covered from that perspective. Check out Colorlines Editorial Director Kai Wright on MSNBC, Seth Wessler on Democracy Now, and Jamilah King on NPR.
|
|
President's Message
I am so excited to announce a most wonderful addition to our leadership team here at ARC. On April 2, Melinda Weekes will be joining the staff as our new Managing Director, and the staff and board couldn’t be happier. As ARC celebrates 30 years in the racial justice movement, the addition of Melinda to our team will help us expand our work in media, research, leadership training, research, and solutions-focused events.
Melinda is a gifted facilitator of group processes and program planning, the kind who can feel what isn’t being said and make room for it. She comes to us from the Interaction Institute for Social Change in Boston, where she has been consulting with a huge range of non-profits for the last five years.
In that time, she has facilitated planning and strategizing on policy development, arts and culture programs, faith-based initiatives, and practical applications of "design thinking" for social change -- an practical, creative approach to understanding and solving complex problems through out-of-the-box thinking, innovation, and a focus on community needs.
She’s worked with groups like the Berklee College of Music, Grantmakers in the Arts, the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, the Greater Allen Cathedral of New York and the Open Society Foundation’s Campaign for Black Male Achievement.
Melinda did great work as a consultant, and we are very lucky to have her transition into the field as a political leader through our organization. She will take over our program management, providing welcome guidance and tools that enable the staff to keep producing at the fast pace and high quality in which we take pride. She will also, of course, get into the field herself, so you will all have many chances to engage with her.
New Yorkers will be glad to know that she is a home girl, and the spiritually inclined will identify with the faith Melinda brings to everything in her life. She is an ordained minister the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a theorist on gospel music, and holds a Masters of Divinity degree from Harvard.
Before Harvard, she owned and operated a transactional law practice for ten years. I personally am thrilled to have a running buddy who brings so many new skills and perspectives, one who is as warm as she is feisty.
Judging from the early reactions of colleagues in the field, our choice will be applauded throughout the nation. Feel free to send her a note of welcome on our Facebook page or through twitter (@racialjustice or @melindaweekes).
Rinku Sen
President, ARC
Publisher, Colorlines.com
|
