A call to appreciate one another as children of God continually has been repeated at the General Conventions of the Episcopal Church. In 2009, the General Convention urged every leadership body of the Church to institute programs or sessions on ‘anti-racism’.  Dioceses around the globe instituted anti-racism training and many use Seeing the Face of God in Each Other: The Antiracism Training Manual of the Episcopal Church, a curriculum designed to make us all more aware of how society's racist past still haunts us today. A new framework for creating AntiRacism Programs was approved at General Convention 79 (2018).

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In 2013, thanks to a Sowing Seeds of God's Mission Grant, Province 1 leaders from each of our dioceses and from Episcopal Divinity School began collaborating on a new vision to create a wide variety of entry points to address racism.  ​The group decided to focus on providing multiple access points and immersive ways to INCREASE SENSITIVITY, AWARENESS/KNOWLEDGE, and SKILLS [competencies] with respect to one's own and others' multi-cultural contexts.  The task force's goal is to SPUR ACTION to enact the Dream of God which rsulted in the development of a type of RESOURCE CENTER with materials, activities, and forums (i.e. threaded discussions and live web conferences) to lend support to you and your efforts.

 

In 2017, the Province has issued a new $2500 Sowing Seeds of God’s Mission Grant to the Task Force on Multicultural Awareness and Cultural Competency 1) to assess the challenges diocesan facilitators face when offering trainings and activities to support anti-racism, 2) to develop the monthly web conversations and research available resources to address those challenges,  3) to enhance access to its curated collection of resources  and speakers as well as 4) to create a “Pilgrimage Map” of culturally sensitive sites in the Province for folks to visit. The Task Force’s efforts will be guided with the Becoming Beloved Community effort of the national Church.

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The task force will continue its monthly “Exploring Multicultural Awareness and Nurturing Cultural Competency Web Conversations” on the 3rd Tuesday of each month from 7:30-8:30 pm and will meet on the second Thursday of the month at 4:30 pm via web conferencing.

 

The Task Force includes representatives from each of the New England Episcopal Dioceses and is led by a core team:

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• James McKim (NH and Province I Antiracism Representative to Executive Council) jtmckim@gmail.com

• Alexizendra Link (W MA and Province I Representative to Executive Council) atl029@mail.harvard.edu

• Becky Alden (MA) raalden@capecod.net

• Jane Redmont (MA) janered@earthlink.net

• Elizabeth Ring (ME) elizabethbarkerring@gmail.com

• Ann O’Sullivan (ME) a1158@comcast.net

• Gail Avery (NH) gailavery@gmail.com

• Elizabeth Magill (MA) pastorlizm@gmail.com

• Julie Lytle executive.director@province1.org

 

For more information and/or to join the conversation, contact one of them or Julie Lytle, Executive Director: executive.director@province1.org.