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Date: 7/6/2021
SPRINGFIELD – The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts has awarded a $150,000 grant to the Healing Racism Institute of Pioneer Valley, spread out over the next three years. The first $50,000 will be distributed in July.
The funding will be used to help underwrite the costs of Healing Racism Institute’s training and sessions. Director Vanessa Otero said the money will also help hire more staff so that they can have a wider variety of employees ready to engage people in necessary conversations about race.
The Healing Racism Institute of Pioneer Valley offers a four-part virtual series through Zoom and also has a signature two-day seminar that meets in person at Springfield Technology park near Springfield Technical Community College.
Anyone interested is able to sign up for the programming.
“We encourage folks to go on our website and look at the details of the programming and hopefully choose to sign up and be part of this very important and obviously timely conversation,” said Otero.
After the protests and events of last summer, Otero said that the institute saw more involvement and sign-ups for trainings.
“Folks want to fix it. They realize that there’s work to do and they’re not sure what the first or second or maybe third steps should be, so we got a lot of calls from individuals and organizations asking ‘how do I do this?,’” said Otero. “What we’re finding is that folks are taking a lot of time to read, to watch films and to sort of learn what this means in the lives of people who are oppressed by it. We hope to help them imagine how things can be equitable for all of us.”
The Community Foundation has an “ongoing commitment to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in workplaces and promote equitable growth in the region,” according to a press release. Otero said that the values of the Community Foundation align with the Healing Racism Institute and they are happy to be able to work with them.
“The Community Foundation’s goals around anti-racism are really aligned with what we’re doing and so we were able to partner with them in this way and hopefully in other ways as well,” she said.
Otero said that the grant will significantly help them toward reaching their capital drive to raise $1 million over the next three years. This will allow the Healing Racism Institute to support and build capacity within their organization.
“We are super excited and super grateful to the Community Foundation, but also to our other contributors and granters for believing in us, believing in this work and the importance of this work,” said Otero.
Those interested in learning more about the Healing Racism Institute of Pioneer Valley’s work and programming are encouraged to visit their website at https://www.healingracismpv.org/