The University of Central Arkansas Center for Community and Economic Development along with the Arkansas Peace and Justice Memorial Movement and other partners across the state celebrated the National Day of Racial Healing on January 18, 2022.
On January 18, 2022, the day after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the State of Arkansas observed the seventh annual “National Day of Racial Healing.” This was the third consecutive year that this day was observed in our state. As part of Arkansas’s inaugural observance in January 2020, Governor Asa Hutchinson became the first governor to issue a gubernatorial proclamation. To view the proclamation, please go here.
2022 Arkansas Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge
The University of Central Arkansas Center for Community and Economic Development (CCED) has partnered with the Arkansas Black Philanthropy Collaborative (ABPC) and the Arkansas Peace and Justice Memorial Movement (APJMM) to launch the 2022 Arkansas Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge (the Challenge) beginning February 1, 2022. This is the Challenge’s second year and the first year that ABPC has been involved.
The Challenge provides a virtual platform to engage citizens throughout Arkansas to participate in self-guided daily learning activities that aim to educate and help individuals develop more effective racial equity and social justice habits in their personal and professional lives. Each day will present a new action centered around seven different formats including reflections, philanthropy, videos, articles, podcasts, resources, and advocacy.
Learn more about and download the Challenge here.
2022 NDORH Conway Conversation
The mission of Conway Conversations is to provide a space for members of the UCA campus and Conway communities to come together and engage in conversation about social issues affecting diverse groups of community members. For the National Day of Racial Healing, Conway Conversations partnered with the Center for Community and Economic Development and the Arkansas Peace and Justice Memorial Movement to host a conversation around Revisiting Broken Systems featuring the following guest speakers and topics from UCA:
- Dr. Kristy Carter, Fixing Broken Entrepreneurial Ecosystems for Women of Color
- Dr. Taine Duncan, CRT and Critical Theories of Race: How Political Philosophy Can Help Us Identify and Resolve Structural Inequities
- Dr. Marsha Massey, Confronting Bias in STEM Education: Reflections of a Black Chemist
Watch the recording of this Conway Conversation here.
Learn more about Conway Conversations here.
About the National Day of Racial Healing
In 2017, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States, established the National Day of Racial Healing as part of its Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) process, which was a restructuring of its funding priorities to promote healing as a critical path for ending racial bias and creating a society in which all children can thrive. Choosing the TRHT motto “We choose healing over hatred, belonging over bias, and unity over division,” numerous organizations and municipalities through America joined WKKF to host annual events that centered on truth telling and trust building that can lead to racial healing for a more just and equitable future.