Leadership Board

Community Leadership Board – Community Involvement

“Museum exhibits come and go but RACE has the opportunity to make a lasting impact on our community, our children and our future. We hope each and every resident in Southwest Michigan takes the opportunity to learn more about this important topic and be a force in community transformation.”

Zarinah El-Amin Naeem
Kalamazoo RACE Exhibit Coordinator

In September 2007, 33 individuals met to author a grant proposal to the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. Their goal was to use the upcoming RACE Exhibit, RACE: Are we so different? to stimulate meaningful and productive dialogue on the issue of race and problems of racism in our community.

Since that time, this initiative has forged partnerships with over 50 regional organizations. The group continues to grow and has established itself as a Community Leadership Board for the RACE Exhibit. Their mission is:

"… to use the Race Exhibit as a catalyst for community transformation around issues of race in SW Michigan. We seek to create lasting partnerships with and among community organizations in order to organize for social change. In reachingout to the broader public we will use the themes of the Race Exhibit and other available resources to educate, facilitate, and provide space and opportunity for dialogue about race in local, national, and historical contexts as well as part of our lived experiences."

In addition to the formation of a this Community Leadership Board (CLB), several accomplishments have been made including the organization of a 10-day education workshop for educators and community members, the creation of quarterly RACE newsletters and the creation of a Youth Committee. The CLB meets quarterly to discuss plans, offer suggestions and to learn more about what other organizations and individuals in the region are doing in regards to diversity, anti-racism and social justice. Please join us. See our CALENDAR for a schedule of meetings and events.

CLB Members and supporters include:

• ACT-SO (NAACP Kalamazoo Chapter)
• Bilal Islamic Center
• Boys and Girls Club of Kalamazoo
• Change Agent Consulting
• City of Kalamazoo
• Community Voices Newspaper
• Douglass Community Association
• Diversity Awareness Leadership Training (DALT), of the Adventure Centre
• Episcopal Diocese Anti-Racist Team
• ERAC/CE
• Fetzer Institute
• FIRE Historical and Cultural Arts Collective
• Fontana Chamber of Arts
• Future 4 Teens
• Great Lakes Peace Jam
• ISAAC
• Kalamazoo College
• Kalamazoo Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School
• Kalamazoo Community Foundation
• Kalamazoo Islamic Center
• Kalamazoo Public Libraries
• Kalamazoo Public Schools
• Kalamazoo Promise
• Kalamazoo Regional Educational Services Agency (KRESA)
• Kalamazoo Valley Museum
• KYDnet of the United Way
• National Resource Center for the Healing of Racism
• New Latino Visions
• Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi
• Portage Public Schools
• Red Tent Community – Girls in the Wild
• Season of Forgiveness – Kalamazoo Symphony
• The Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society
• St. Joseph’s County Sheriff’s Office
• Three Rivers Police Department
• Three Rivers Community Schools
• Transformations Spirituality Center
• Western Michigan University
  Specific academic units who have committed so far:
• College of Arts and Sciences
• College of Education
• Committee for Developing Leadership in Diversity, Social Justice, and Inclusion (LDSI)
• Department of African Studies
• Department of Anthropology
• Division of Multicultural Affairs
• Evaluation Center and interdisciplinary Ph.D program in Evaluation Science
• Frostic School of Art
• Graduate Students of Color
• Malaysian Students’ Association
• Muslim Students’ Association
• Office of the Vice-President for Research
• Office of Diversity and Inclusion
• Walker Institute for Race and Ethnicity
• WMUK – Public Radio
• Worldwide Family Media Productions
• YMCA
• YWCA
• Youth United Way

Read what our members have to say.

Funding for the Kalamazoo Race Exhibit Initiative
has been provided by
Western Michigan University,
Kalamazoo Valley Community College
(Kalamazoo Valley Museum),
The Kalamazoo Community Foundation,
WMU College of Arts and Sciences (including the
Department of Anthropology)
& Office of Diversity and Inclusion.