IC What's Up!

JUNE 2021
THIS MONTH

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Applications open for Bellevue Transformational Leadership Program
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Omaha Table Talk continues conversations with the AAPI community
UPCOMING

July 18 - Humanitarian Brunch Situation
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August 1 - The Precious Brady-Davis Book Tour + IncluCity Reunion
AWARENESS

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Juneteenth is now a federal holiday
A NOTE FROM CAMMY WATKINS
What's in a federal holiday?
Last Thursday the President signed the bill to recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday. June 19, the day that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas were finally free. Two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

This isn't the first federal holiday with roots in Black history - there is MLK Day, and Memorial Day which few recognize was chosen because it marks the day in 1865 when Charleston's Black community re-buried and decorated the graves of Union soldiers who had been discovered in an unmarked gravesite at a former Confederate camp.

In our team discussions, we had previously decided to observe Juneteenth as a paid holiday. It came from a place of wanting to truly advocate for Black history and confront that this legacy of harm formed the systemic racism that continues to show up today.

We cannot ignore the dichotomy of Juneteenth as a federal holiday being signed into law alongside a concerted effort at the state level to ban education around racial bias, with specific demonization of critical race theory (CRT). CRT acknowledges that the legacy of slavery, segregation, and the imposition of second-class citizenship on Black Americans and other people of color continue to permeate the social fabric of this nation. It shows us that we cannot treat racism as a relic of the past.

It is our hope that this moment, this legislation, renews the energy of our leaders for the historical reconciliation that we must undergo as a nation. We hope that this commemoration to mark the true end of the slavery directly resulting from the plantation-based transatlantic trading of people, opens the door to bigger discussions and actions focused on dismantling the systems of disadvantage that that practice erected, and building equity through concrete legislative changes.

Juneteenth is a celebration of Black liberation. That we have finally recognized that Black liberation is something we should uplift wholly, as a nation, is progress. And it begins the corrective process of Black history. Elevating this day acknowledges that justice has been delayed. We view this with anticipation for the justice that is yet to come.
On July 18 we'll be celebrating our second Humanitarian Brunch Situation. Incidentally, July 18 is also National Ice Cream Day. The Humanitarian Brunch isn't new of course, but this will be our second year of hosting a fully online celebration. We chose this format again because we recognize that the pandemic is still affecting many folks, and while vaccine availability has significantly increased over the past few months, many (including some of our team) don't feel comfortable gathering in-person just yet.

As you know, we honor some awesome awardees at our Brunch including the Volunteer of the Year, Partner of the Year and Humanitarian of the Year. We also have on special award in store this year, and we hope that you'll tune in on July 18 for the big reveal.

Our Humanitarian of the Year award this year goes to Essential Workers, who have truly sustained our communities throughout the pandemic. Many of them did not have the privilege of working from home, and we recognize the great personal risk that they took on in continuing to provide goods and services without pause.

We are collecting stories of essential workers and will be highlighting the stories of three (3) individuals. If you would like to nominate an essential worker that you know for this recognition, please fill out the brief form by clicking the button below. You can also make a donation for the Brunch and receive some complimentary brunch-themed pints of ice cream.
Memoir and Memories
Precious Brady-Davis' Book Tour + IncluCity Reunion
Precious Brady-Davis is an award-winning diversity advocate, communications professional, and public speaker. She also happens to be an IncluCity alumna from the days when it was called AnyTown.

Precious' memoir will be released on July1 and she's coming back to Omaha for the very first stop on her book tour. We are honored and excited to have hosting privileges for this event, and we also chose to honor her history with Inclusive Communities by getting our campers back together to reminisce on their best camp memories.

So join us at the Thompson Alumni Center on Sunday 1 August at 2:00pm for Precious' book tour. You can bring your book to be signed or purchase one from Urban Abbey at the event. And you get to hear some of the best memories from IncluCity/AnyTown campers throughout the years!
We've extended the deadline so you've got one more week to apply for LeadDIVERSITY!

Don't miss out on your chance to become an Advocate in Cohort 3. You will develop robust skills to start and advance the conversations on diversity, equity, access, respect and inclusion in you organizations and communities. You will become part of a network of leaders who are driving inclusive culture. And you will become a prominent bearer of positive change

Applications are now being accepted until June 25, 2021.
Previously on Omaha Table Talk

June 15 was our final Omaha Table Talk for this season. We once again came together with Dr. Sharon Ishii-Jordan, Lorraine Chang and Maria Corpuz for a conversation moderated by our contract faculty member Krystal Vuong Wegner
Omaha Table Talk will return September 2021
Join us at the Heartland Pride Parade

We'll be at the Heartland Pride Festival & Parade this year on July 9-10! You can join our group on the parade route with the Inclusive Communities banner (we won't make you hold it), or you can be a volunteer at our booth for either day.
Applications are open for the Transformational Leadership Program
Applications are now being accepted for our second round of the Transformational Leadership Program offered in partnership with Bellevue University.

This 5-session program covers identity and authenticity, why and how diversity contributes to business results, coaching for performance and communication, and retention and talent strategy.

Here's what students from the first cohort had to say:

“I love learning from others’ experiences. It was interesting learning about identity, specifically about intersectionality. That was a new concept for me. It was also great to learn specific strategies about leadership and one’s identity as such.”

“Inclusive, welcoming, comfortable, thought provoking, engaging, interactive, relevant! The opportunity to gain perspective from others who are also aspiring to be effective leaders who model diversity, equity, and inclusion is the icing on the cake. We are all on this journey!”
INCLUThink
The "boogeyman of wokeness"
By Tena Hahn Rodriguez

This month I've been to two open meetings to give remarks on equity in education. I first went to Kearney for the Board of Education's meeting to testify in support of adopting the proposed Health Education Standards, and last Thursday I attended the Learning Community's meeting to express my support for the teacher-requested anti-bias education training.

In both places voices opposing anti-bias trainings and education about equity in schools invoked Critical Race Theory as a sort of “boogeyman of wokeness.” Claiming that it promotes Marxist ideology, it’s undemocratic, unpatriotic, or teaches feelings of “white guilt.” None of these statements are accurate or true.  

But y'all, I'm tired. After a year of demonstrations and a pandemic that has disproportionately affected BIPOC; is it still so difficult to acknowledge our country’s real history of racial inequity and discrimination? It’s disappointing to see this collective drive NOT to confront the legacy of harm that slavery and its compounding impacts have entrenched in our society. 

Anti-bias education (which is not the same as CRT to be clear) helps us recognize the varying lived experience of all people, and how that connects them to systems of advantage and disadvantage. It explores the vast and diverse intersections of identities – age, income, ability, background, education, language, faith, sexuality, gender, appearance, and yes, ethnicity and race. 

So, you see, bias doesn’t come from just one place. But when we say the word bias, some folks automatically jump on the issue RACE.  

This type of education has come under attack with a particularly strong fervor in the past year. Last year the Executive Order banning diversity training made me feel like the future of IC as an organization was in peril.

And I get it. Change is hard. Change is uncomfortable. Change is ugly, especially when we have to acknowledge deep societal wounds that have generationally existed and never been addressed. Getting uncomfortable is our first step towards growth. We can’t do it otherwise. We do need to have a reckoning with ourselves where we unfreeze and make intentional changes, whether it’s in ourselves, our communities or the systems that underpin our society.  
Tena Hahn Rodriguez is the Business Development Manager at Inclusive Communities
Inclusive Communities | 6400 University Drive N, CEC 122, Omaha, Nebraska 68182-0868 | www.inclusive-communities.org