The University Community Racial Reconciliation Project (UCRRP)

The University Community Racial Reconciliation Project (UCRRP)

The University Community Racial Reconciliation Project (UCRRP)

Leadership and Organization Action Group Meeting Summary

Friday, April 24, 2009

Institute for Environmental Negotiation, 104 N Emmet St.

The first meeting of UCRRP’s Leadership Action Group was held on Friday, April 24, 2009 at the Institute for Environmental Negotiation. The meeting was facilitated by Mr. John Alexander. Thirteen participants from the community and the University (students, faculty, and staff) met to discuss the interests of participants and to prioritize what actions the group should undertake. In particular, the group focused on what forms and categories of communication will best serve the UCRRP.

The meeting opened with a conversation about the purpose of the Action Group:

The leadership of the UCRRP should serve the Action Groups, and facilitate communication within and outside of the project. This communication is pivotal, not only by facilitating the flow of information, but the flow of energy as well. The goal of this communication should be towards tangible project goals as well as towards the building of trust and relationships.

Action Group participants also pictured the project overall as a consortium or clearing house for past, present, and future ideas and actions. Communication needs to be supported for these categories:

  • Within and among UCRRP participants
  • Among groups doing related work
  • To the public, using a deliberate media strategy
  • To the formal leadership of the University and related jurisdictions

Conversation also highlighted the need for transformative communication and for communication standards within the project:

One participant described the project as needing to be able to ‘clean up the messes’ of past communication. How will the project keep people engaged even in the uncomfortable moments, and how will the project identify those fragile moments in the first place? Once missteps are taken, how will the project repair relationships and ensure continued transformative communication?

Much of the conversation also concerned the collection and dissemination of information:

Participants stressed that the project did not need to ‘reinvent the wheel’, but should first look at what has already been done, including previous studies and community efforts and also existing relationships.

Possible digital tools for UCRRP use were discussed including a website that could be historical, informational, and relational. It was heavily stressed, however, that before digital methods of dissemination and communication could be implemented, persons of interest should be contacted and connected with the project. Publishing a body information on the internet before someone without a computer has access to it has the potential to cause conflict and disinterest in the project.For the project to be successful, we especially need to be sure to incorporate the voices of those who may not ordinarily be included at the table. This includes both individuals and organizations.

Time was also spent talking about the plans of UVA’s new initiative to create a database that would facilitate community-university interaction, overseen by aPublic Service Advisory Board, and how the UCRRP is related.

UVA faculty member Angela Davis, with the assistance of student Laura Nelson, is in the process of developing a comprehensive database and website of civic engagement. Concerns were raised concerning the ownership of the website and issues of transparency of the Public Service Advisory Board. The prospect of a full time administrator of the databasepresents a possibility of better accumulation and dissemination of data than could be provided by the UCRRP alone.

Several ideas were shared for ways of effectively communicatingto meet UCRRP goals:

  • Maps and displays to graphically represent history;
  • The city's forthcoming racial dialogue could be accessed;
  • Hard copies of UCRRP documents could be left in popular public places such as churches and community centers in order to address the problem of the digital divide;
  • Shanti.virginia.edu could be used on the project's website as a way to graphically represent connections;
  • A ‘walking tour’ of the University and neighboring communities could be developed with a podcast;
  • A neighborhood grid could be mapped showing each participant’s location;
  • A history of civic engagement in Charlottesville could be collected and placed on the website;
  • The Hope center "meet your neighborhood" project could connect with the Juneteenth celebration;
  • Quality Community Council's Poor People's University.

Next Steps

UCRRP staff will investigate what has already been done concerning both Charlottesville and University history.

UCRRP will continue to reach out to those who may be rarely or never listened to. Staff will expand our circle of engagement and seek one-on-one and small group discussions with a variety of stakeholders.

UCRRP still needs to develop a project media strategy. This will be the focus of the next Leadership Action Group meeting.

Participants

John Alexander: UCRRP Steering Committee | Associate Director, Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts Network of Technological Initiatives

David Bearinger: Virginia Foundation for the Humanities

Mecca Burns: Presence Center for Applied Theatre Arts

Selena Cozart: UCRRP Steering Committee

Frank Dukes: UCRRP Steering Committee | Director, Institute for Environmental Negotiation

Ishraga Eltahir: UCRRP Student Project Intern | UCRRP Steering Committee | Undergraduate Student

Berdell Fleming: Community Member

Bob Gross: member, Unitarian Universalist Church | member, IMPACT

Jason James: UCRRP Student Project Intern | UCRRP Steering Committee | Undergraduate Student

Khalifa Sultan LeeUndergraduate Student

Phyllis Leffler: Professor, Department of History

Dion Lewis UCRRP Steering Committee | Assistant Dean of Students, Office of African American Affairs

Sarah Malpass: UCRRP Student Project Manager | UCRRP Steering Committee | graduate student, Department of Urban and Environmental Planning

Laura Nelson: Student Council Community Engagement Committee |Undergraduate Student

Mary Stewart-Silver:Doctoral Student, Curry School of Education

Garrett Trent: Student Council Community Engagement Committee |Undergraduate Student

Emerald Young: Community Member

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