On January 21, 2025 Greater Williamsburg, the Birthplace of America" will join communities nationwide to celebrate the National Day of Racial Healing. This is our 6th Annual National Day of Racial Healing observance and this year's theme is "Healing through the Arts." We will feature an evening of dance, poetry reading, and musical performances. We will announce the 2025 Table Builders Award winners! Our special guest, the Leah Glen Dance Theatre, will perform a dance inspired by late activist and author, Nikki Giovanni.
Join us for this free community event, sponsored by Sentara Health and the Virginia Racial Healing Institute.
In honor of the 9th Annual National Day of Racial Healing, Elms College's Center for Equity in Urban Education (CEUE) is hosting an event entitled, #GOODScholars: Cultivating Educational Spaces of Hope for Racial Healing. Dr. Tyra Good, Inaugural Executive Director of the CEUE, Dominique McDonald, Academic Coordinator in the CEUE, and Dr. Jennifer Shoaff, Chief Diversity Officer at Elms College, will lead a critical discussion on examining structured inequities within school systems and an educator's role in creating equity-centered, trauma-informed educational spaces that foster and honor intersectional student identities. This event will serve as the launch of the CEUE's "GOOD Educators Connect" Book discussion of, Learning to Relearn: Supporting Identity in a Culturally Affirming Classroom by Kwame Sarfo-Mensah.
The event will be held on Saturday, January 11th from 10:30 am-12 noon at Elms College in the Mary Dooley College Center, Room 101.
Join Us for a Powerful Evening of Connection and Healing
We invite you to an intentionally diverse community circle to mark the National Day of Racial Healing. We will gather to nourish our hearts, bodies, and spirits as we share homemade food (made with love), acknowledge our shared humanity, celebrate our innate connection to one another, and sing simple songs to harmonize and deepen our commitment to racial healing and collective liberation.
Gather at 6:30 PM to connect and enjoy a meal (cookies & casseroles!) together before we begin the community healing circle. Through community singing, storytelling, and facilitated sharing, we will create space to foster closeness and belonging with those who we may perceive as different from us.
Meet your hosts:
Andrew Hairston, civil rights attorney, writer, socialist, prison abolitionist, and storyteller, Andrew Hairston will share an original story written exclusively for this occasion, offering insight and inspiration for the work of racial healing.
Sarah Bentley, community song leader and activist, will facilitate community singing throughout the evening (all voices welcome).
Robin Bradford, trained grief tender and interfaith chaplain, will guide intentional conversations.
What to Expect
Participate in a thoughtfully structured community healing circle that fosters open dialogue and deep listening, creating a safe and brave space for authentic and vulnerable conversations about racism and racial healing.
Share personal stories (with a partner and the group) to build trust, understanding, connection, and collective healing.
Listen deeply to stories that reflect our shared struggles and aspirations.
Build authentic relationships that bridge divides and support the journey toward a more just and equitable world.
Connect authentically with your own truth and the truths of others.
Sing in community (guided by a trained song leader) to experience the unifying power of community singing.
Why Attend?
Let’s join our voices in harmony and solidarity to honor the National Day of Racial Healing and strengthen our collective journey toward racial equity, justice and liberation.
In these challenging times, singing can often speak louder than words in soothing individual and communal suffering.
The University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service Center on Community Philanthropy will host the 8th Advancing Equity Award ceremony and the convocation for Cohort II of the Racial Healing Certification Program on Thursday, February 6, 2025, in commemoration of National Day of Racial Healing.
The Advancing Equity Award is presented to organizations using innovative solutions to address racial inequalities in their communities and advance progress toward inclusion.
The Racial Healing Certification Program is the first designation of its kind designed to provide specialized training, education, and unique experiences that promote skills development and competencies in the targeted area of racial healing.
This will be my third small group listening/conversation with members of my synagogue community because racism impacts everyone. We will share our memories of racism from our childhoods, our personal experiences, recognizing our internalized biases, and how we can participate in and promote racial healing in ourselves, our families, and our community. My first group was on the National Day of Racial Healing in 2024.
The Austin Public Library, African American Cultural & Heritage Facility, and Austin Community College will host our 4th Annual National Day of Racial Healing Celebration and Healing Circle.
Let’s break down barriers and build community through fellowship!
This year’s National Day of Racial Healing at Hope College will feature a screening of the documentary film “T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold” followed by a panel discussion with producer Sue Jaye Johnson. “T-
Rex,” is documentary film about the 17-year-old Claressa “T-Rex” from Shields from Flint, Michigan, who
became the first woman in history to win the gold medal in the 2012 Olympic boxing.
The event on Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 6:30 p.m. in the Knickerbocker Theatre.
The screening is free and open to the public.
In observance of the 2025 National Day of Racial Healing the Hope College Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Campus Center will host a Racial Healing Circle on Tuesday, January 21st that will bring together members of the local community to engage in the sharing of stories, relationship building, and continue to work toward narrative change in our community.
The circle structure incorporates multiple segments, including a circle opening and closing, an introductory segment, group agreements, re-introductory prompt(s), and deep reflection prompt(s). Participants are encouraged to share their authentic stories in dyads as well as in small- and large-group settings.
Registration is required in advance. Please indicate your interest and you will receive a response as to whether space is still available to participate. If space is available, you will receive confirmation for the Racial Healing Circle.
Due to the nature of a Racial Healing Circle, we ask that participants be present for the whole event. 🙂
11:00am – 11:30am Gathering time (light refreshments)
11:30am – 1:00pm Circle Time (circle will begin promptly at 11:30)
The summit is taking place in conjunction with National Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with activities including two blocks of breakout sessions. It is being sponsored the college’s Office of Campus Ministries and Center for Diversity and Inclusion. The theme for 2025 is “Mission Possible: Protecting Freedom, Justice, and Democracy in the Spirit of Nonviolence365”.
Registration is required for the event.
The City of Carbondale hosts their second annual National Day of Racial Healing – Carbondale “At the Table” Dinner & Dialogue event on Tuesday, January 21st at the Carbondale Civic Center.
The National Day of Racial Healing is an initiative by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation that embraces Truth, Racial Healing, & Transformation (TRHT). The day is observed every year on the Tuesday following Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The Carbondale “At the Table” Dinner & Dialogue Series will bring difficult topics surrounding racial healing to the table through facilitated conversations and provide the opportunity for community members to engage in dialogue while enjoying a community meal.
This event is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 5pm and the Dinner & Dialogue will begin at 5:30pm. Seating is limited, and registration is encouraged. For more information, please contact Dianah McGreehan at dmcgreehan@carbondaleil.gov or call 618-457-3282.
The “At the Table” Dinner & Dialogue Series is supported by Healing Illinois. Healing Illinois is a racial healing initiative of the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) in partnership with The Field Foundation of Illinois and the Southern Illinois Community Foundation.