Upcoming Conversations:

Photography Exhibit -“Stereotypes: A Conscious Look at Race, Faith, Gender and Orientation”  Mon., March 7 – Fri., April 15; reception Thurs., March 31, 7:00 pm at ACA

With Arlington Center for the Arts, we bring photographer Kevin Briggs’ powerful work to Arlington.

“Identity in Arlington and ‘Americanah’”  Tues., Mar. 22, 7:00 – 8:30 pm in Robbins Library Community Room. Diversity Task Group co-sponsoring with Robbins Library as part of the “Arlington Reads” program.

This panel discussion featuring Arlingtonians will explore the many forces that impact the  creation of one’s identity: culture, race, gender, class and personal will.

“Unconscious Bias”   Thurs., April 7, 7:00 pm at Arlington Town Hall

We all have biases toward and against other people, especially those different from us. We’ll explore how those biases affect all aspects of our society, and what we can do about them. Presenter:  Christopher Dial, Lab Manager, Social Cognition Lab, Harvard University.

 “Stories of Stigmas” – Tues., May 10, 7:00 – 8:45 pm, at Robbins Library Community Room

With True Story Theater, explore aspects of feeling stigmatized – or stigmatizing others.

 

“Being An Active Bystander” – Wed., May 25, 7:00 – 9:00 pm, at Arlington Center for the Arts

With True Story Theater and facilitator, learn skills and practice responses to incidents of injustice.

Past Conversations:

To create awareness about diversity issues, we held a series of community conversations in 2013-2014:

We are Many Races & Ethnicities

When Faced with Injustices

We are Many Faiths and Spiritualities

We are Many Social Classes

We partnered with True Story Theater to cosponsor “Stories of Welcome” that addressed experiences of feeling welcome or unwelcome in town, and “Stories of Family” that looked at diverse expressions of family.

We engage in ongoing conversations through:

Representation on the Superintendent’s Diversity Advisory Committee to expand the number of teachers and administrators of color

Participation in the Rapid Response Network if a Hate crime or incident occurs

Co-sponsorship with the Robbins Library of the annual Community Read book selection and related events, as well as partnering with True Story Theater and other groups on diversity programs.

 

Some Past Accomplishments

  • Spearheaded establishment of the Arlington Human Rights Commission
  • Urged creation of a Minority Hiring Policy in the Arlington Public Schools
  • Advocated for a Human Resources Officer to support recruitment and retention of teachers of color in the Arlington Public Schools
  • Initiated two “Profiles in Diversity” oral history projects where high school students and adults wrote articles featured in the Arlington Advocate about town residents
  • Published a monthly Diversity Calendar
  • Formed a multicultural children’s group