Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 5/17/2022
EASTHAMPTON – For Mayor Nicolle LaChapelle, addressing racism is part of an effort to increasing inclusion and social equity, which in turn can be used for greater economic development in Easthampton.
This formal effort was aimed at department heads, but the mayor’s office has recently announced, “The city of Easthampton plans on pairing with People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, Drs. Lomax and Ashley Campbell of Third Eye Network to offer another Undoing Racism Workshop this fall, open to Easthampton residents and city staff.”
The anti-racism workshops are part of LaChapelle’s “Mayor’s Pledge to Reimagine Policing” and is tied to Blueprint Easthampton. Easthampton was chosen in 2020 to participate in the City Innovation Ecosystem from the National League of Cities. The program is described on the Blueprint Easthampton website (https://blueprinteasthampton.com) as an “initiative challenges city leaders to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and STEM education by partnering with key constituents in the community and making a commitment to strengthen regional innovation.”
Blueprint Easthampton is looking to help grow “kitchen table” businesses, the mayor explained. The program will help establish business practice for small businesses as well as access to capital.
LaChapelle described the anti-racism workshops to Reminder Publishing as a “rigorous” 18- hour training, which included “really tough, hard conversations.”
She emphasized, “The training is no joke.”
In a written statement she said, “I deeply appreciate the active participation of leadership, city employees, and board members who attended the sessions in August or October. Their attendance further moves Easthampton to further conversations around inclusion.”
There were trainings in August and October of last year and there were debriefing meetings that followed the training that discussed “tools covered during the Undoing Racism Workshop, introducing frameworks on Managing Organizational Culture and Change, The Philosophical Aspects of Cultural Difference, Historical Levels of Institutional Racism, and Priority Setting (i.e., strategic planning) and Action Planning,” according to the city.
LaChapelle explained the pandemic affected the schedule of the training and much of it was done via Zoom. She added that department heads had “a lot of conversations and questions” during the debriefings and found the training “valuable.”
The mayor is hoping to have three debriefing sessions for residents who participate in training before Jan. 1, 2023. She is also planning to have additional training next February or March.
“The process takes a long time,” LaChapelle noted.
She noted that personally the program helped her to “come to grips” with herself.
When asked when the program to fight racism would end, she replied, “The point is it never ends.”