CANCELLED: Where Do We Go From Here: Voices of Resilience Virtual Exhibit Tour and Workshop to Explore the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

This class is limited to 20 participants.

Trainers: Janine Fondon, an author, educator, and speaker, brings her New York spirit, Caribbean lineage, and Massachusetts mindset (with Southern exposure) to the boardroom, living room and classroom. Janine has used her communication skills to build bridges of inclusion in corporations and communities. Her work on diversity councils and leadership teams has focused on raising unheard voices and inspiring change through effective communication. She has worked for several corporations (ABC‐TV, CBS‐TV, BankBoston) and co‐founded UnityFirst.com, to share diversity‐related news. As an MFA candidate at Bay Path University, where she is Chair of Undergraduate Communications, Janine inspires women and communities to make new history; and Nikai Fondon, a lifestyle blog writer, speaker and business professional who holds a degree in marketing from the Isenberg School at UMASS Amherst. She currently works for the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts as the Program Associate in the Scholarship Department and commits her free time to sitting  on    steering    committees    for    two    additional    non‐profit organizations. Nikai truly believes in women’s empowerment, leadership, and education and chooses to use her position in society as a young, Black woman to uplift and encourage others of all backgrounds to become better versions of themselves.

Workshop Description: This workshop will explore the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the anniversary of his death in 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. We will use creative expression to evaluate where we, individually and collectively, stand as we answer King’s question, “Where do we go from here?” As King once said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” In a call and response roundtable, we will discuss strategies for advancing civil rights, diversity, inclusion, and equity in a world filled with change and controversy. With storytelling, we will use the “Voices of Resilience” to create a shared plan for social change and inclusive leadership. The session will include a virtual museum tour of the Voices of Resilience exhibit which highlights the contributions of diverse women who raised their resilient voices for justice, social change and inclusion. The exhibit illuminates and celebrates the untold or lesser known stories of African American women who defined leadership, refined relationships and demanded humanity along the roads, paths and intersections of our communities and beyond.

Objectives:

• Past: To learn some new history about people from our region who engaged in the struggle for freedom in different decades as noted on the Voices of Resilience’s inclusive historic timeline.
• Present: To examine King’s legacy by examining our personal and collective interest in social change and inclusiveleadership.
• Future: To engage our creative expression to engage all ages in shaping, designing and curating a new social justice movement that would be worthy of praise by MLK and Sojourner Truth.