Before the Jane Elliot lecture, we invite you to participate in Rx Racial Healing Circles from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. with virtual and in-person options. These circles aim to help us reflect on our shared values and create a blueprint for #HowWeHeal from the effects of racism.

Racial healing circles are an experiential process by which, through story-telling and deep listening, we can engage with perceived others to build trust and deepen relationships, enabling self-reflection and acknowledgment of one’s previously unquestioned assumptions and biases.

Sign up through RSVP link.

Attorney Gerald Griggs will educate and inspire as he explores the intersections of resistance, hope, and education. His talk will challenge us to reflect on our roles in bending the arc of the universe toward justice while equipping us with tools to overcome barriers. “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The National Day of Racial Healing – always held the Tuesday after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – centers around experiences rooted in truth-telling, offering people, organizations and communities a day set aside for racial healing, bringing people together to take collective action for a more just and equitable world.

This event is a hybrid option and will be held in person and over Zoom.

Seeds of Healing: The Opening Event for the National Day of Racial Healing 5-Day Series

Begin an extraordinary journey of collective healing and transformation with Seeds of Healing, a racial healing circle and food fellowship that launches our 5-day series honoring the National Day of Racial Healing 2025. This immersive gathering sets the tone for a week dedicated to reflection, growth and community empowerment as we explore the theme of How We Heal.

Seeds of Healing: The Opening Event

Guided by skilled facilitators, this sacred racial healing circle invites you into a sacred space of storytelling, connection and truth-telling. Together, we’ll break through barriers, honor our shared humanity and uncover the strength to heal racial wounds. This is a moment to embrace vulnerability, ignite courage and reimagine what’s possible when communities commit to transformation.

The 5-Day Series: How We Heal
Aligned with the goals of the National Day of Racial Healing 2025, this transformative series offers daily opportunities to engage in healing and justice through:

Reflection: Guided moments to pause, process and deepen understanding of personal and collective healing.
Education: Workshops and dialogues exploring racial equity, community resilience and actionable steps toward justice.
Art: Creative expressions like painting, poetry and performance as pathways to healing and transformation.
Storytelling: Sharing and amplifying diverse narratives that honor truth, resilience and cultural richness.
Connection: Interactive events that build meaningful relationships and foster a shared commitment to equity and unity.

This is more than an event—it’s a movement toward healing, equity and transformation. Let Seeds of Healing inspire and energize you to carry this spirit into 5 days of profound experiences as we honor the National Day of Racial Healing 2025.

The land and the places we live have deep ties to culture, language, history and the opportunities to live long and well. Join County Health Rankings & Roadmaps on the National Day of Racial Healing as we examine the relationship between reclaiming ancestral land and health and well-being. Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of NDN Collective and a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation, will describe how Indigenous land acknowledgements can help repair generational trauma rooted in forced relocation and intentional erasure of native language and cultural traditions. We will also discuss the land back movement calling for the return of Indigenous lands to strengthen social and economic opportunity. The movement’s strategy emphasizes building relationships across groups experiencing oppression, shifting power and transforming systems to build a world where everyone thrives.

Mark your calendars: Immediately following the webinar at 3 p.m. CT/4 p.m. ET, County Health Rankings & Roadmaps will host a one-hour discussion. Join us in an engaging dialogue with peers across the country and share your experiences working toward equity.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, a series of events will offer the community opportunities to reflect and engage, with a highlight being the keynote memorial lecture by Erika Alexander, titled “Restless Dissatisfaction: An Urgent Call for the Pursuit of Justice and Equality.” This lecture will explore how Dr. King’s concept of “restless dissatisfaction” motivates the ongoing pursuit of justice and equality by challenging complacency and confronting various forms of injustice. The event will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Hill Auditorium and is free and open to the public. For those unable to attend in person, the lecture will also be available via livestream.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation created the National Day of Racial Healing in 2017 based on the work of the foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing &Transformation initiative. This initiative was established in 2017 to promote racial healing as a way to end racial bias.
Purpose:
The day is meant to bring people together to
• Contemplate shared values
• Create a blueprint for healing from racism
• Inspire collective action
• Create a more just and equitable world

PANELISTS:

Simeon Henderson, Actor, Producer and Director
Jhovanny Jimenez, Educator and recent new arrival from Venezuela
Kymberlie Mills, Ph.D. student, Forensic Psychology
Imelda Salazar, Community Organizer, Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP)
Byran Stewart, President, The Stewart Group and Former Treasurer, Village of Maywood
Cortez Watson, Jr., President and Founder, The Hip Hop Firm

Moderator: Dr. Kenneth Phelps, President, Progressive Baptist State Convention of Illinois,
Pastor, Concord M.B. Church

Hosts: Dr. R. Keith, Pastor, Bethel New Life Church, Wheaton
Jennie Stoner, Member, Bethel New Life Church

The 420 Black Universe Women, Men, Children, Seniors and Families of Montgomery County, Maryland.

Wellness Check-in

3:30pm January 13th

Sign our Petition

https://chng.it/L8FxrkX4Lc

https://www.change.org/420blackuniverse

Why are we concerned?

Displacement conditions for Black Women

Black women in the United States, Maryland

Disproportionate Unprecedented: Black women are significantly overrepresented

Causes and symptoms:
Eviction: with many paying more than half of their income on rent.

Systemic Racism and Discrimination: Historical
Post-Incarceration people, including Black women, with higher homelessness rates.

Poverty and Economic Instability: Black women experience poverty, strong displacement. Transitional housing Black Women face systemic Racist influenced outcomes and fear of retaliation, Racial impact on wealth gap and the risk.

Safety Concerns:
Mental Health and Physical Health: DISPLACEMENT Black women
Victimization: harassment, or physical threats.

Black Women and Barriers:
Inabilities: within homeless management and the broader society.

Support Systems: Quality reinforces recovery, access of resources is required.

Prevention is the only Interventions:

Community-Based Programs: Representation non existing esthetic approaches are done.

The scale and funding of repeated funded programs often do not match the need.

Advocacy and Policy: Support is a growing recognition no choice, will simplify how funding is distributed and who understands how to monitor outcomes based on stability.

The Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum will mark the annual National Day of Racial Healing through a celebration of civil rights and spiritual leader Dr. John Perkins. The event is in partnership with the Perkins family and the Alluvial Collective. Panelists will be religious and community leaders influenced by Perkins. The event will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event, sponsored by FedEx, is free and open to the public.

The first panel, Faith + Action: The Legacy of Dr. John Perkins, will feature a conversation about Perkins's lived theology and his influence on Christian community development and racial reconciliation. The panel will be moderated by Von Gordon, executive director of the Alluvial Collective. The second panel: The Importance of Local Philanthropists and Change Agents, will feature philanthropic leaders and individuals striving to improve the Jackson metropolitan area and Mississippi.

Dr. John M. Perkins is a civil rights leader, theologian, and advocate for racial reconciliation and faith-based community development. Born in 1930 in Mississippi, Perkins experienced the harsh realities of poverty and racism in the state, including being brutally beaten while in a Rankin County jail for his civil rights activities. Shaped by his faith and these formative experiences, he committed his life to ministry and civil rights. Perkins founded various faith-based organizations—including Mendenhall Ministries, Voice of Calvary Ministries, and the John and Vera Mae Perkins Foundation—all with the goal of empowering under-resourced communities through education and economic development. Through this work, he has become pioneer among Christian Community Development practitioners.

Conference and retreat for companies and organizations to reflect on ways they support black financial empowerment, especially for womxn, mothers and caretakers.