Category Archives: Access

Community Health Supper Club

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Thursday, March 23 6pm -7:30pm

Mental Health 101 with Ellen Krag, LPC

Click here to RSVP or to get on the email list

Ellen Krag, LPC, has been working professionally with families and children in crisis for over 20 years, and has extensive grassroots experience connecting community members with appropriate mental health support.

What is Community Health Supper Club?

Supper Club is a chance for our community to come together to discuss and share individual and community health and safety concerns. Our goals are to normalize open conversations about health concerns, and share practical strategies and community resources. We are a kind pro-Queer, pro-Black, pro-immigrant, pro-trans, pro-human, anti-racist space. We are all learning together. 

What’s the format?

From 6 until 6:15:

  • Gather,
  • Say hello, 
  • Order food and/or drink (participants are responsible for their own tabs, but purchase is not required)

6:15-6:30

  • Speaker presentation

6:30 until

  • Chatting and connecting

Why?

We keep us safe. Health professionals are critically important to our communities, and each of us can be better informed about how to take care of ourselves and our loved ones. 

Why us?

If not us, then who? Seriously though, as a community we have a wealth of experiences to share. Our team– including Laura Galgano, Dolly Joseph, Ellen Krag, Toni Barskile, and many more– have years of experience providing service to this community through CLAW, Building Experiences, the response to white supremacist rallies, Community Matters, and many, many other offerings. We want to make sure that our community is more resilient, loving, and just. This starts with us. 

We reserve the right to ask anyone to leave if they are causing harm. 

Facebook event here

Guiding Questions for Improved Community Engagement

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Before Engagement

Before heading into a community or an experience — for an internship, volunteering, seeking employment, whatever, it’s a good idea to situate yourself in relationship to the new project. 

Feelings

Check in with yourself about how you are feeling– nervous, excited, timid, enthusiastic, apathetic… It’s okay to feel one or all of those feelings, and it’s also important to think about how the display of those feelings might be received by the community member(s) that you’ll be interacting with. 

  • What am I bringing to the community/experience? 
  • How may I be received by this community? How do I feel about that? 
  • What will be challenging? What will be easy? 

Skills

It’s also a good moment to take a skills inventory of yourself. What do you feel like you know how to do well? What could stand some improvement? What skills are you hoping to practice or develop with this opportunity.

  • What am I bringing to the community/experience? 
  • What relevant skills do I have? Is that enough? Where should I grow? 
  • What am I expecting to get out of this interaction? 
  • What am I expecting the community to get out of this interaction? 

Information

It’s important to understand the context of the community that you will be engaging with. Do you have the needed information to engage in a positive manner? Have you gathered information from trusted, accurate sources? 

  • What am I bringing to the community/experience? 
  • How have I educated myself about the community? 
  • What assumptions have I made? Are those fair? 
  • What expertise already exists in this community? 

Resources

Resources can cut across these 3 categories– Resources can be related to access to information, time, money, emotional labor, etc. Often when we do community engagement in the form of volunteering we forget about the resources that are required to accommodate us as volunteers. It’s incredibly important to consider how resources are used when we engage with the community.

  • What am I bringing to the community/experience? 
  • What is the balance between what I will bring to this community (skills, open-mindedness, readiness to work, etc.) and what I will take (time, energy, etc.) 
  • What is the community [giving/sacrificing/risking] by hosting/partnering with me? 

During Engagement

While you are within your community engagement, it’s important to consider how things seem to be going– both good and not-so-good. Remember, none of us are perfect. Often we get into the trap of thinking that there is no room for error. You will make mistakes, and then grow and learn from that practice. Reflecting and adjusting during your community engagement is a great way to improve your current and future experience. 

  • Am I effectively paying attention to direct and indirect communication? 
  • Am I engaging in effective, positive and/or productive interpersonal interactions? 
  • Am I using my skills in an appropriate, effective, and respectful way? 
  • Am I balancing my needs and other people’s needs?

After Engagement

Even if your most recent community engagement was a “one off” commitment, you will have another experience in your future. It’s important to reflect on how things went so that you can be more effective next time. 

  • How do I know if my interaction was a positive experience for the community? 
  • How did my expectations differ from what happened? 
  • What should I do to have a positive and productive experience next time? 

What skills or resources should I access to improve my effectiveness? 

Fundraising for Donor Diapers

We’re fundraising $3000 for Donor Diapers before their next diaper giveaway on May 17. My former student Marissa Turner-Harris is the founder and driving force behind Donor Diapers. The mission of Donor Diapers is to supply families with free diapering supplies. Each month they distribute free diaper kits to families in the Charlottesville area. Each kit has 45 age/size appropriate diapers and wipes. Each kit can last about 2-3 weeks, greatly relieving the financial strain for the family. Each family can get a kit for each child in their household; other services will only supply one child per family. Donor Diapers serves 75 families each month– about 100 children. The support that they provide make a huge difference in the financial and health prospects of each family.

Venmo: Tzars_Mommy
Cashapp: $TzarsMommy
Zelle: mtharris434@GMAIL.COM
paypal:mzrizz434
Mail Check to Marissa Turner-Harris 402F Garrett St Cville VA 22902 — Make check to Virginia Organizing with “Donor Diapers” in the memo line.
Donor Diapers also accepts diapering supplies. Call 434-214-0345 or email donordiapers@gmail.com to arrange pick up/delivery.
On Facebook: facebook.com/donordiaperscville

Marissa and I met almost 12 years ago when she was in high school. Marissa is a funny, smart, driven young woman. Marissa joined CLAW and wrestled as “Handy Mandy” and the “Diaper Lady” with a natural stage presence and ribald, naught humor. Marissa is always juggling, always hustling. As I was thinking about the past few months and what’s she’s being doing– she’s been doing Donor Diapers, taking the CIC class, had fundraised for her trip to Winneba with our sister-city program, parenting Tzar, and partnering with Tevin. Then I remembered!! Marissa had heart surgery this spring!! She’s crazy busy, crazy inspiring, crazy excellent. Please support this amazing specimen of humanity.

BellAir Goal met

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Dear Donor to Bellair Farm CSA community share, 
Thank you SO much for your support of this project. In less than 4 weeks, we (61 donors!)  were able to raise close to $7000 for 22 weeks of produce for 20 families. (If you anticipate a tax receipt, look for the bold below.) This project created hope and structure for me during these weeks of incredible change. I’m moved by the generosity and trust of our community. This project encapsulated so many of principles by which I organize. 
  • Supporting and Building Community– This came from a conversation from Michele at Bellair, just checking in how she was doing and what needs she and the farm had during this challenging year. I’ve known Michelle for a while at a distance– now she joins the growing list of people with whom I work with. Each of you have built community with me by trusting that I will be a responsible steward of your financial gift. I am excited by the further building of community that will happen as I and others coordinate and distribute the weekly share. Working outside of a nonprofit structure (mostly– see more below)– we can work without titles or tax status. We can see a need, and work toward a solution. Nonprofit structures require boards for governance and accountability. I rely on you and our community to hold me honest and accountable. Anti-Racist Principles of Reparations and Redistribution of Wealth– While not all of our donors are white, the majority of resources (land, formalized power, housing, money, food access, transportation access) in Central Virginia remain held and controlled by white people. The families that receive the weekly shares will be Black and Brown people for the purpose of sharing the wealth that many of us enjoy in local, organic food from CSAs. This work was not insignificant, but we have much, much further to go in assessing and redistributing the wealth we have access to in equitable ways. I hope that this will be but one step for each of us in investigating the resources that we have access to, and how we might do more to share them recognizing our privileges. Minimizing fees and overhead– By using Venmo and PayPal, we collectively avoided the fees that GoFundMe and other platforms use. Individuals can give up to $10,000 as a gift to another individual annually without the recipient having to pay taxes on the gift. So thank you for contributing to the community gift of produce to families. Mindful use of resources– I believe in seeing and appreciating all resources that our community has. Mindful, generous, and equitable application and management of financial resources is a critical (albeit, but one) part of resource redistribution.  If you are able to file taxes in such a way to itemize charitable deductions, and would therefore like a tax receipt letter of your financial donation, please let me know by responding to this email. I am fortunate to have an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which allows me to accept charitable donations. This terms of this MOU include a 5% administrative fee. Additional funds were raised to cover this anticipated fee, so PLEASE do ask to give through this model if you will likely itemize deductions, but if you won’t itemize deductibles, you don’t need this letter. If you are not sure, wait– we have until the end of the calendar year. 

Feed 20 families for the summer with local produce

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Hi friends, 

There is a real need to make sure that our local farmers are able to adjust to these new market conditions so that we can ensure that we continue to have local produce and meat available in our region. 

I am fundraising $7000 to have 20 shares available to local families. Bellair Farm is generously providing these shares at a 50% rate– so we are able to feed one family with local produce for 20 weeks at $344.

This solves an administrative problem for Bellair. I (and some yet to be identified teammates) will distribute the food to the 20 families for the summer, reducing Michelle’s and team’s load as they transition to the new distribution model the coronavirus outbreak requires. 

Within 2 hours of launching of this, enough money has been raised to support one family for the summer. This is a reminder that we do not need committees, or nonprofit status, or bureaucracies to keep our community safe. We simply need trust, a will to action, and a willingness to share our resources. Instead of, or in addition to, please contact me with:

  • Other farms/farmers that have identified needs to be satisfied
  • Suggestions for families that could use and benefit from this produce
  • Questions about how I am selecting families

Thank you very much. Thank you for all that you are doing to keep community safe. 

Community Matters: Clare Terni

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Facebook is critically important for how I connect with people who are not in my immediate friend circle. I have a bunch of FB friends that I pay attention to because they are smart, have access to circles that I don’t, and post politically astute information. Clare is one of those friends. We’ve connected over our venn diagram of service work and academia, and apocalypse planning. Clare spoke about her knowledge of the opioid crisis, and harm reduction, specifically Narcan administration. 

Takeaways:

  • The opioid crisis hit in Appalachia and inner cities first, it was only when white suburbia started getting sick and dying did it really begin to be treated in the media and in politics. 
  • Clare had a special talking needle that talked the user how to administer. With insurance and prescription, it was free. Without, it was $4000– this is what disparities in access to health care and insurance means. 
  • There was a lot of talk about the comparative stigma around mental health, substance use disorder, and other health issues, like cancer. What are the things that you feel like you would have the support of employers, friends and family?

Community Matters: Raven Mack

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A handsome white guy with a blackberry bush beard in a customized Adidas tracksuit gestures and speaks to an audience of people in a restaurant setting.
Raven Mack speaking at Community Matters

I’ve been delayed in writing about Community Matters for this week because it’s been such a busy week, and frankly, I’m writing about my guy which has been . It’s been a busy week for the two of us– Tuesday was Community Matters, Wednesday was the first Haiku Slam of the year, Saturday we went to Leni Sorensen’s house for dinner, and Sunday we went to dinner to meet X of the Black Power Station in South Africa– a week full of the things we love most– ideas, community– new and old, the arts. 

Raven and I met in August of 2018. He signed up to be part of the community care response to the one year anniversary. Within minutes I recognized that he was smart and observant and “deputized” him to make decisions. After that weekend we started talking. I went to his September haiku slam and recognized that he had created an environment that felt akin to CLAW and BE, but in 17 syllable poetry battles. A year and a half later, we’ve increasingly become partners in plans– plans for the apocalypse, the arts, community, and some undiscovered empty building. 

Tuesday, Raven talked about his vision of how writing and the arts can be a path to healing. Here’s some takeaways from his talk:

  • Thrive vs Survive. Raven talked about how difficult it is to simply survive, and that participating in the arts can push someone over into being able to thrive. 
  • When he was a painter he’d have a stack of 3”x5” cards in his pocket in order to quickly write haiku without getting fussed at for slacking off. Make art in the corners of your life.
  • I’ll be honest– so much of what Raven was talking about wasn’t new to me– repackaged into the format for the evening, but I was so proud to have some of my best friends witness what a brilliant, creative thinker my partner is. 
A white woman smirks lovingly at a gesturing and speaking man
Raven and Dolly at Community Matters

Wednesday night was Raven’s haiku slam. The 3 top finishers were all under 22. The energy was amazing. The room was full of laughter, righteous anger, and wordplay. Having back to back Community Matters and Haiku Slam, made me so proud of how we support each other to foster the community that we desire and need.

Photos by Kristen Finn

DART: Identifying Resources and Relationships

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As homework in preparation for class two of DART, participants made lists of all of their resources (ranging from skills to property, assets, finances) that they have access to, and all of the relationships with Black people they have. These lists were for private reflection and to prime them to think about their own place in the world. Because thinking about race is difficult for many white people, we don’t. It’s easier to maintain plausible deniability about white supremacy if we don’t investigate what structures our lives. The maintenance of  white supremacy is not “other white people”, it is us, unless we activate to restructure our own lives to disrupt this status quo. 

So much of what we see as anti-racist work is geared toward white people. Calling in and calling out white people can be helpful, but without accompanying work supporting Black People, Black Work, and Black Excellence, it is merely white people interacting with white people, maintaining a segregated society that is centered on whiteness. 

The homework of listing resources and relationships was in preparation for individual work on creating a plan to support Black people. Let me be clear. This is not in preparation for “doing onto Black people”. This is in preparation for deepening relationships with Black people so that there is a pathway for you, as a white person, to share available resources with Black people. This naturally occurs in your existing relationships. When you research grants, you forward to people who may want to apply. When a job opens at your work, you share the application with people you know are a good fit. When you think of two people who are doing complementary work, you introduce them via email. When you are in relationship with only white people, you are doing these small daily tasks only for white people. When you know more information about Black people, when you know what their needs, wants, and aspirations are, you can opt them into your daily life. I say opt in, because I always ask for consent. “Please let me know if you don’t want to get these grants.” “I understand if you are too busy to meet someone new. Feel free to say no.” “This seems like something that would be a fit. If it’s not, please feel free to ignore it.” 

While you know that you are intentionally focusing on supporting Black people, you don’t need to announce it. And it’s not random acts. It’s observing, and listening to what Black people say they want, and being responsive. It’s offering, not forcing.

This work would not be possible without Toni Barskile and all of the other Black Thinkers who have led the way.

Hey, Unnamed Annoying Person!!

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I’m like a dog with a bone when I get irritated; I cannot stop mentally wrestling with all the words I want to throw at someone. I often want to have long ranty diatribes at people who say dumb stuff around me. But I don’t think it’s helpful or effective to do it, cuz they’ve already shown me they aren’t ready to listen. I’ve found flipping the script is cathartic for me. I think about how I’d like their behavior to change. It reminds me of my values, and how I hope to act myself. It completes the loop, and makes it so I can turn off the irritation faucet. So, unnamed annoyance, this is my request to you:

  • Show appreciation, gratitude, and admiration for someone doing work that you are not doing. 
  • Avoid suggesting additional work that you are not going to do. 
  • Ask opinions about proposed work, rather than make suggestions of future work. 
  • Value expertise that is unfamiliar to you. 
  • Understand and respect that community exists prior to your arrival. 
  • Recognize that your privileged identity or associations have context and history; if you feel that is unfair or unrepresentative, dismantle by demonstrating growth and change in your actions.  
  • Assume less. 
  • Communicate with respect. 
  • Check for mutual understanding. 
  • Listen to feedback.
  • Respect boundaries and requests.
  • Understand it’s not others’ job or responsibility to create or disrupt your experiences, particularly if you don’t share a mutual community.
  • Reject hierarchical thinking that includes notions of charity or help. 
  • Realize that you exist in communities of mutual aid and support.
  • Have clarity about the lack of correlation between formal education and intelligence and wisdom.