Come Build Relationships at CES!
The Social Justice Platform StartUp Circle (alongside the Joy and Justice Team) helps to facilitate two racial affinity groups, BIPOC, and white.
The previous social justice dialogue sessions will be taking place in affinity groups and will be facilitated by members of the Social Justice Start-Up Circle (SJE Platform).
Meeting Times – 3rd Tuesday of each month
- BIPOC Affinity group meets from 1-2:45pm
- White Affinity group meets from 3-4:30pm
- ANNOUNCING! A new Jewish Affinity Group. (First meeting is Tuesday, July 9th, 2:15-4pm
Scheduling will be based on the availability of those who express interest.
To sign up for the BIPOC or White Affinity Groups, please complete this form. Scroll down on this page to learn more about and sign up for the Jewish Affinity Group.
If you have any questions, contact imartinez@collaborative.org.
The impetus for these circles arose when the SJE Startup Circle at CES began to design and launch a new circle focused on Internal Policy and Advocacy. Several members worried about the impact of inviting colleagues of color to participate in the new circle without prior knowledge, involvement, or relationship to the Startup circle and its members. Concerned that inviting colleagues of color could potentially cause them to feel tokenized, we decided to take a pause and explore the topic within affinity groups before proceeding further.
Affinity groups are open to exploring a variety of topics that may be of interest to the participants. Some other proposed areas of focus for the affinity group spaces:
BIPOC
- Dialogue and decolonizing ways of being in relationship together
- Space where BIPOC employees at CES can come together in a safe, inclusive space to share experiences working here
- To be in community with folks at CES that look like you
- How we can maintain the network of and for BIPOC employees
White
The white affinity group has been meeting on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month from 3-4:30pm. Our group has adopted a rotating facilitation of a topic, issue, or challenge brought forth by any member of the group. We all have somewhat different purposes for being there, so rather than share with you one clear purpose, we’d like to share what the group means to each of the members:
- Think with white ally colleagues about specific challenges we are facing in the workplace around systemic racism, oppressive hierarchical structures, and transforming how we work together.
- Getting compassion, gentle accountability, and peer support around the emotional difficulties and isolation of being a white, actively practicing anti-racist
- Building a radical white anti-racist culture
- To discuss the different ways that race affects our actions and our work within CES and explore actions we can take as an organization.
- It’s important for white folks to be in a space where we can learn about being an anti-racist, and also support each other in honest & authentic ways without worrying about whether we have caused any harm for our BIPOC colleagues during the course of our discussions
- To share with each other specific situations we have encountered at CES, receive feedback about our actions, and receive support in doing better
- Understand how tokenization shows up for our BIPOC colleagues and others of marginalized identities at CES and how white people intentionally and unintentionally contribute to this, and what we can do to reduce harm
Our meetings are hybrid – we encourage you to attend in person if you can at 97 Hawley St, but you can also join via Zoom. If you would like to attend for the first time, please contact a facilitator, either Clarke Bankert at cbankert@collaborative.org, or Sherry Smith at ssmith@collaborative.org.
Jewish
The CES Jewish affinity group is for anyone within CES who identifies as Jewish from the broad and diverse Jewish diaspora. This includes folks who identify as ethnically Jewish, culturally Jewish, and/or religiously Jewish, and whose families originate from various parts of the world. Jews who identify as white and those who identify as people of color are all welcome, as well as both folks who were born Jewish and those who converted to Judaism. This affinity group is an opportunity to connect about our shared Jewish heritage, build community, and share our experiences with antisemitism and Jewish liberation. This will include personal story-sharing, resource exploration, and conversations about how we’re impacted by our current contexts in the world, in our local communities, and at work. As this group will likely include many different experiences and perspectives of Jewish identity, participants will be supported with some intergroup dialogue skills, which can help us communicate across our differences and similarities, while fostering a deeper community of care. This group will be facilitated by Mariah Lapiroff, a member of the CES Joy & Justice Team and a mixed-race Ashkenazi Jewish person of color.
To receive the Zoom Link for attending, please fill out this form. We’ll be beginning regular meetings the second Thursday of every month, starting in the new school year on September 12th from 3-4:45 pm. All Jewish folks are encouraged to join and welcome to hop on a little late, if needed.
