Christina Santana, Worcester State University
Cynthia Lynch, Salem State University
Aldo Garcia Guevara, Worcester State University
Joseph Krupczynski, University of Massachusetts Amherst
In this workshop, attendees will learn about and apply anti-racist community engagement principles and practices, based on the co-edited volume recently released this summer. Synthesizing the literature and input from focus groups of minoritized students and community partners at four Massachusetts universities, the facilitators of this workshop co-developed four principles for anti-racist community-engaged work with 21 components: (1) Counteracting the Persistence and Impact of Racism on our Campuses and in our Community Engagement, (2) Critical Reflection on Individual and System/Structural Racism, (3) Intentional Learning/Course Design, and (4) Compassionate/Reflective Learning Spaces. Through case studies, reflections, and research-based essays, the authors in the edited volume use the language of the anti-racist community engagement principles to discuss their own practices, show how the principles matter in their institutional and organizational contexts, and offer insight into unique experiences with anti-racist practices in community-engagement. As a collection, the contributions of 65 practitioners from across the country provide readers with shared language and a comprehensive toolkit to support informed action and ongoing conversations regarding anti-racist community engaged practices on campuses, within communities, and in the classroom. In this interactive workshop, facilitators will describe the four principles proposed in the volume and provide descriptive case studies from each book section to show principles in action. The models shared will provide attendees with techniques to (re)consider and (re)imagine their own practices in relation to colleagues, students, and members of the communities with whom they seek to partner. After each principle, attendees will gather in small groups to critically analyze the case studies and discuss how the principles and case studies apply to the work they’re currently doing or would like to be doing at their own institutions. Groups will report back to the larger session on how they might carry what they’ve learned during the session back to their institutions for consideration and implementation.