Through partnerships with the GVSU Office of Multicultural Affairs, Bethany Christian Services, and the National Resource Center for the Healing of Racism, facilitated community conversations will take place with three diverse groups of people, including college students, refugees, and women in transition. Because of their specific life journeys, they stand much to gain, and also much to share with the broader community. In some cases, participants have suffered unimaginable pain in their lives and may be dealing with issues of unforgiveness. This campaign will serve as a catalyst in helping participants move forward in a positive way with their lives and also serve to motivate the broader community to become involved with the campaign, including participating in conversations.
Bethany Christian Services
Bethany is a leader in serving refugees from around the world. The Refugee Adjustment Services and the Refugee Outreach Assistance and Referral programs will partner with WGVU. Their trained multi-cultural therapeutic and outreach staffs cumulatively speak more than a dozen languages and are fully competent in working alongside interpreters. They have more than twenty years of experience assisting refugees with adjusting to a new culture, understanding and overcoming barriers to their new life, and helping them protect their cultures of origin while relieving their painful memories of horrors and atrocities suffered in their journey to their new homes.
Grand Valley State University Office of Multicultural Affairs
The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) is committed to building an inclusive campus that yields social harmony and learning vitality. Through our comprehensive programs, OMA fosters an appreciation and respect for the history, tradition, and culture of all people, and to empower students to be active learners. The mission of the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) is to serve as the flagship for diversity initiatives with institution-wide cooperation for developing policies, practices, and programs that fosters a climate of inclusiveness. OMA promotes a welcoming environment for faculty, staff, students and community partnerships.
Kalamazoo Public Library
Serves over 120,000 people with its central library, four branches and a bookmobile. The central library receives more than 1,000,000 visits each year. Locations include, Central,
Eastwood, Oshtemo, Powell, and Washington Square. New technology and a variety of innovative library resources, services and outreach opportunities are provided.
National Resource Center for the Healing of Racism
The NRCHR addresses social justice issues and emphasize the oneness of human kind. Dedicated to providing innovative materials and training programs that help individuals live the principles of equality that are the promised cornerstone of our humanity. Create community (common-unity) through a transformational process that is based on sharing information that nourishes the mind, opens the heart, and acknowledges the enduring power of human spirit.
WGVU Public Broadcasting
As the public broadcast institution and a community convener, the mission of WGVU is to provide quality programming and community engagement activities reflecting the needs and interests of the people served |
