Our United Against Racism campaign is now in full swing! Every April, YWCA USA leads a signature campaign that aims to raise awareness about the impact of institutional racism and empower participants to take action. As part of that campaign, YW Boston offers an exclusive, self-paced curriculum of racial equity content that has been developed to educate, contextualize, and empower organizations and individuals to better understand and address racism in Boston.  

Perhaps you’re just beginning your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) journey, or you are with an organization that is helping to facilitate cultural development. You may fall somewhere in the middle. No matter what, anyone can participate in United Against Racism. 

Jillian Harvey is the Director of the DEI Division for the Town of Arlington, MA, and has participated in many of our campaigns. Using last year’s curriculum, she was able to create DEI learning spaces for both town and school employees. Her story, presented in her own words below, showcases just one of the many ways that our United Against Racism campaign can be beneficial to both individuals and groups who are looking to bolster their knowledge on diversity, equity, and inclusion work.  

“_{Over many years, I have had the opportunity to participate in the [YW Boston’s] annual campaign and was thrilled to expand the opportunity to the employees that I work with. Serving as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Division Director for the Town of Arlington, MA I am consistently seeking out opportunities for employees to engage in DEI workshops, learning spaces and continue their equity journeys- so YW’s campaign was a perfect addition! Last year throughout the month of April, town and school employees were invited to join virtual workshops each week focused on racial identity, microaggressions, biases and the importance of representation in media and communications. The curriculum provided by YW Boston was also shared with all employees, and I encouraged department heads to host their own smaller conversations or simply use the curriculum for their own personal learning.}  

_{Everyone is at different stages of their racial equity journeys and the United Against Racism content is perfect for folks at all levels. I have seen the positive impact of participating in the campaign, specifically regarding normalizing talking about race, racism, and our flawed systems. Creating spaces for folks to just talk about an article they read or a podcast they listened to and discuss and flush out some of the difficult and somewhat taboo topics centered on racism has proven to be challenging and rewarding. Last year’s curriculum was a starting point for many, and we took that as a launching point for continuing the work. Arlington committed to upholding the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion and embarked on a town-wide employee racial -equity workshop initiative that took place over the course of 6 months. The last set of workshops wrapped up earlier this year, and I am excited to have the United Against Racism programming serve as a continued opportunity for learning and engaging our employees for the whole month of April.}“

Jillian Harvey – Director of DEI Division, Town of Arlington, MA

As Jillian mentioned, we’re all at different stages in our racial equity journey. Whether you’re participating in the curriculum as an individual or with peers/colleges, United Against Racism gives us a shared framework so we can take action toward institutional racism and DEI-related issues together. The campaign runs throughout the month of April. You can sign up today and learn more through the link below: 

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