Hello!

Thank you for joining YWCA Utah for the 21-Day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge! Today we begin a collective journey of furthering our education, creating dedicated time and space to learn about racial equity, and building more effective social justice habits. We're glad you're here with us.

This is the first time YWCA Utah has participated in the Challenge, and we are overwhelmed by the amazing community response. More than  2,400 individuals  from across the country (and the world) have signed on to complete the Challenge with us! We know that folks are approaching this Challenge with varying levels of knowledge, experience, and understanding of these concepts and ideas, and our goal is to ensure that this Challenge is both accessible and informative, regardless of where you're starting.

You can get started on today's Challenge activities below, but first, we have some housekeeping to attend to.
  • If haven't already, download your 21-Day Challenge Reflection Journal to process.
  • Join our Private Facebook Group where you can engage with other challenge participants!
  • Share your participation on social media with this special graphic and the hashtag #YWCAEquityChallenge
  • Apply our custom Facebook Frame to your profile, which you can see a mockup of here.
  • If you're a group lead and didn't see your Group Toolkit, check your email from Thursday. If you signed up since then, we'll send the toolkit as soon as possible.
We will begin the Challenge by thinking about personal racial identity. Who we think we are and who others think we are can have an influence on how we navigate the world, think about possibilities, or take action. Consider if and how you think about your own racial identity. Do you think about its relevance to your work, volunteerism, and/or studies? What comes up for you?

Our identities are complex and informed by a variety of factors that can complicate how we experience the world around us, not only racial identify but also our gender, sexual orientation, nationality, ability, etc.
Watch one video , or a few if you'd like, from the collection "A Conversation on Race: a series of short films about identity in America" put together by the New York Times, including community submitted videos.
Review this document "Let's Talk About Race: Racial Identity Development" detailing how ethnic groups develop identity from the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Deep dive into this collection of resources from the National Museum of African American History and Culture as an excellent overview of racial identity as a social construction rather than biological.
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