2024 Program:
Restorative and Transformative Justice
Thursday November 21
We invite Facing Race attendees to join us for a session exploring the creation process and lessons learned from the Reparations Grantmaking Blueprint, a tool designed by reparations movement leaders to guide a donor collaborative in investing in the reparations movement in a strategic, effective, and equity-centered manner. This will include:
- Grounding the session in the three key roles that philanthropy can play in catalyzing the reparations movement and a culture of repair
- Discussing our approach to movement-led strategy development, including reflections from movement leaders that are part of the Blueprint Steering Committee
- Engaging with the draft Blueprint, including some of the strategic milestones, activities, and tradeoffs that emerged in the process
- Discussing and reflecting on opportunities for participants to advance collaborative/movement-led strategy development and/or the reparations movement from their institutional contexts.
Our hope is that session participants feel more prepared action to change grantmaking strategy development practices in their own institutions, in the form of:
- Identifying specific and creative ideas about how they can implement similar frameworks in their institutions (e.g., particular program areas, potential partners, etc.)
- Analyzing their field’s landscape to clarify how and where collaboration will be valuable
- Understanding opportunities to deepen their institutions’ engagement with reparations and racial repair
This breakout session will be structured into two parts. First, the current JIC Co-Chairs will present a history of the Just Imperative Committee. This will include the overview of the committee and its objective, as well as key challenges, wins, and learning lessons from the three year-long detailed Truth, Accountability, Repair, and Healing Process (TARH). For instance, the Foundation now has two dedicated staff members in the newly created equity office. We will present from our reparative action steps should our proposal move forward. This part of the session will close by highlighting the work that lies ahead for the committee. Second, the session will have an interactive component where session participants will have an opportunity to reflect on their own organizations’ internal equity and inclusion journey. This part of the session will include small group discussion guided by a reflection guide and an opportunity for participants to share their organizational experiences and to learn from the experiences of others. By the end of the session, we hope that participants have learned about MacArthur Foundation’s recent equity and inclusion journey; had an opportunity to reflect on, and share, their organizational experiences; and have learned from the equity and inclusion journeys of other organizations.
Together, we will expand our knowledge and accountability to the experiences of Black trans people. Between examples from our history, real-time examples and issues, engaging conversations, and self-reflection activities, we will re-establish our role(s) in movements for racial and gender justice.
This session is about the protection, support, and thriving of people who are immeasurably impacted by historic and systemic violence. "Aliveness" is the category for this space, and we will collectively re-imagine what is needed to create holistic care for Black trans people. This session is not a naïve utopian dream nor a space for hollow performativism; it is a praxis of Radical Imagination and an intentional space for us to live into a better, safer world. All participants are welcome—regardless of their identities, scope of work, or prerequisite knowledge—as long as they are invested in fostering a community where Black trans people are liberated.
Session Objectives:
-Participants will learn about eight dimensions of aliveness and relate those dimensions to Black trans communities.
-Participants will engage in activities to set one goal for Black trans aliveness.
-Participants will develop an accountability system to sustain their role(s) in Black trans aliveness.
Friday November 22
This workshop will provide government racial equity officers, policymakers, and administrators with practical tools and strategies to advance racial equity within government agencies by integrating restorative practices into the local government landscape.
Restorative Practices is an indigenous power-sharing framework that can improve authentic communication, acknowledge the harms of institutional racism, develop equitable staff and community engagement, and strengthen institutional accountability—critical components of racial equity work. Restorative practices offer a framework to build community and institutional capacity to achieve a more equitable future.
In this interactive workshop, participants will:
1. Comprehensively understand restorative practices, including their principles, values, and applications within government settings;
2. Identify specific areas within their government agencies where restorative practices can promote racial equity and address systemic injustices;
3. Learn strategies for fostering inclusive and supportive environments within government agencies, emphasizing collaboration, empathy, and power-shifting;
4. Work collaboratively to create actionable plans for implementing restorative practices within their respective government departments, including identifying key stakeholders, setting goals, and establishing metrics for success;
5. Discuss common challenges and resistance to implementing restorative practices within government settings and develop strategies for overcoming them; and
6. Assess the effects of restorative practices on advancing racial equity within their agencies, including collecting feedback, measuring outcomes, and making necessary adjustments.
By incorporating these principles into government policies and procedures, participants will learn how to create more inclusive and equitable environments that prioritize the needs of marginalized communities. Join us!
An effective, long-standing tradition of midwifery steeply declined after 1910, when the Flexner Report recommended that women deliver their babies in hospitals and midwifery be abolished, making the case that all medical practitioners should have standardized training. But because medical education was rife with racial inequities, this transition away from midwifery had a particular adverse effect on Black mothers and babies. Join Jamaa Birth Village founder Okunsola M. Amadou as she presents a historical overview, shares the organization’s work of training people to serve as midwives and doulas, transforming Black Maternal Health in St. Louis and Missouri over the course of 10 years.