University of Virginia's University and Community Racial Reconciliation Project
"When the Assembly and University issued their statements, many of us at the University saw it as an opening to address ongoing racial disparities,” says IEN Director Frank Dukes. “For the Institute, which focuses on environmental negotiation, the legacy of history impacts of the work we do around environmental issues, and we’ve been systematically paying attention to that.”
A Steering Committee, made up of a dozen individuals from the university’s faculty, staff, and student body and the greater community, guides the project, setting priorities and engaging in strategic planning.
The Andrus Family Fund is providing funding for the project over the next three years. The UCRRP is using the Andrus Family Fund’s Transitions’ Framework, based on the work of William Bridges, to analyze and address the issues from many points of view. The framework emphasizes that in order for meaningful change to happen, affected people must understand that internal transitions that are required of them. The Transitions Framework emphasizes the three stages of transition: 1) An ending point where old ways are concluded; 2) A neutral zone where they begin to lay the foundations for what comes next, and 3) A beginning where the new way is instituted. The Framework helps the group understand resistance to change that occurs through a sense of loss, the need for recognition of that loss, and the possibilities for meaningful change.
UCRRP participants have formed Action Groups around four strategies that the organizing group and Steering Committee had identified to achieve their goal: Truth (research the shared university-community history), Understanding (teach a more complete history), Repair (address continuing racial disparities through university/community partnerships), and Relationship (build relationships between the university and local communities). The Work Groups are putting these strategies into action. As the UCRRP continues its work, the first active projects are coming to fruition this year. They include:
- A University Community History course, co-taught by faculty and a community member, will engage in a combination of oral and archival history. The class includes students as well as community members.
- Madison House, the University organization that oversees and facilitates students’ volunteering in the community, is creating a curriculum for developing a more complete understanding of the history of the community.
- The project will engage student interns at both the undergraduate and graduate levels from multiple departments on activities.
- As the group looks at racial disparities in health care, education, and housing, they will provide a clearinghouse / networking function to allow people to come together who are already working on these issues. The Project is hosting a networking breakfast series over the course of the next year.
For more information about the Project, contact Frank Dukes, Director of UVA's Institute for Environmental Negotiation.