Takoma Park SEED
Working in partnership, Unity in the Community and the City of Takoma Park will host a series of Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) seminars beginning in March and continuing through June.
No matter how many advancements we make as a society, it seems we can’t escape prejudice. Of course, our first reaction to prejudice is usually to blame someone else. Our second reaction may well be to blame ourselves. Blame, shame and guilt don’t get us anywhere. However, Takoma Park SEED will help you understand what’s happening in your life and connect you to the lives of people around you. It will challenge you to push for change.
Takoma Seed is part of the National SEED Project, which entails a group of about 20 people coming together for a series of conversations twice a month for four months. The seminars are facilitated, but not lectured, by local residents who have been trained as SEED leaders. They will guide you in interactive activities and conversations often stimulated by films and readings.
Through personal reflection and testimony, listening to others’ voices, and learning experientially and collectively, SEED equips participants to connect their lives to one another by acknowledging systems of oppression, power and privilege—and challenges them to push for change. SEED values your voice so you can, in turn, better value the voices of your neighbors, colleagues and children.
What happens at a SEED seminar? We listen to each other’s stories, watch videos and participate in interactive activities. A few of the exercises might make you smile, some, not so much, but all of them are meant to make you look inward in a safe environment.
SEED leaders Annie Mozer, Rachel Alexander and Shereece Millet will facilitate the seminars for interested participants on March 4 and 18; April 8 and 22; May 6 and 20; and June 3 and 17 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. Topics for the upcoming seminars are listed in the shaded box.
This article appeared in the February 2017 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.
