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A new way to give! You can now text us to make a donation. Text "Justice" to 1-(844)-386-4891 to make a donation!  Dear BRIDGE friends and family: We hope you are well and want to invite you to join us in sharing the joy of the holiday season! This #GivingTuesday we are raising loving kindness, money, and holiday gifts for the BRIDGE Food Sovereignty program, and your contribution will make an impact, whether you donate $5 or $500. Every little bit helps. And on Giving Tuesday Nov 30, Meta will match $8 million in qualifying donations. Here's some information about our mutual aid work. We serve 106 families bi-monthly with fresh locally grown food, supporting local businesses, farms and families. Serving 448 individuals with monthly grocery/gas/pharmacy gift cards in $25 increments per household. All constituents from clients to partners to board members and staff support the program as one community serving all of our collective vision and need. We primarily serve the BIPOC community with over 90% participation of the BIPOC Berkshire community members in mutual aid with education, resources on COVID, local assistance, fresh local food (CSAs), etc. ! We also have a keen eye for individuals falling through the cracks, in transition, and in caregiving scenarios. We continue to spread mutual joy, abundance, knowledge, and good health! Distributing resources in our local community where most needed. We could use your help! We are raising funds and most importantly we are seeking in-kind support this holiday season. Keep reading! We are asking for gift cards for tweens and teens in $25 increments. All pledges go to donations@multiculturalbridge.org. If you would like to adopt a family, please contact donations@multiculturalbridge.org. You can also make a one-time Giving Tuesday cash contribution here - that will sustain our mutual aid this winter! As we work on systems change and mutual respect and understanding, BRIDGE is working tirelessly to spread love and kindness, lovingkindness, to families to cultivate and steward healthy, thriving communities for us all. This Giving Tuesday is about giving our time, attention, and love to one another. Help our mutual aid continue next year with this one-time gift between now and Tuesday! Please share this link! https://www.facebook.com/donate/1576668892687662/?fundraiser_source=external_url And between now and then please be in touch with holiday gifts you can share for our BRIDGE youth. Here is our wishlist:
HISTORY OF NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE DAY - November 26thDr. Arthur C. Parker of the Seneca nation first protested for National Native American Heritage Day between 1912 and 1915. At first, he was fighting for an “American Indian Day” to be recognized within the Boy Scouts of America. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed into law the legislation introduced by Congressman Joe Baca, to designate the day after Thanksgiving as American Indian Heritage Day. The law was established on November 28 as a day to pay respects to the Native Americans for their numerous contributions to the United States. The American Indian Heritage Day was supported by the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) and 184 federally recognized tribes. The Native American Heritage Day encourages Americans of all backgrounds to appreciate the indigenous cultures appropriately, with ceremonies and activities. Schools are also encouraged to enhance their students’ awareness of Native Americans by providing classroom activities focused on their history, contributions, and achievements. The United States House of Representatives initially passed the Native American Heritage Day Act of 2009, with technical adjustments made by a collective consent in the United States Senate. The House of Representatives unanimously voted to pass the legislation again, including the Senate’s adjustments. The legislation was then signed into public law by President Barack Obama on October 30, 2009. Native American Heritage Day and Month is a huge platform for Indigenous people to educate society about their communities. On this day, more than ever, they lead the discourse on culture, celebrate their heritage by donning traditional footwear (“rocking the moccasin”) and shed some light on the diverse tribal communities. Excerpt from the website, nationaltoday.com. Please visit the website for a rich timeline of our Native American Heritage Day: https://nationaltoday.com/native-american-heritage-day/. Upcoming Trainings!
2021 December Engagements with BRIDGE:
 We are grateful to be in community with you all everyday! In the struggle for justice & humanity together - Your friends & community at BRIDGE claim your special gifts this holiday season!We appreciate you and have small ways to show you this season. Between our annual giving appeal arriving early December and Giving Tuesday, we have a special token of our love and appreciation for our one-time and sustaining pledges.
BRIDGE pin for gifts $1000 or more Restorative Justice Gift box for gifts over $500 and Aunt Elsie's cookies for donations over $250. For Donations $250 and under we will send you our BRIDGE and Not in Our County swag! Raising up Indigenous Peoples Day, Du Bois Legacy & Justice EffortsDear BRIDGE Community: We hope everyone is enjoying Fall as much as we are! This is a wonderful season in our Berkshire home. This month we are going to do things a bit differently and invite everyone to join in an “action in solidarity” in the place of our regular Racial Justice convenings. There are several ways to engage with Indigenous Peoples' Day this month and we have shared some of our Southern Berkshire-based outdoor and virtual offerings. (See below)  Also our partner WAM has a play that you won't want to miss directed, written and acted by Indigenous women. On the weekend of October 17th the Town of Great Barrington Du Bois Legacy committee invites you to pass by, leave reflections and take a walk on the interpretative trail at the Du Bois Boyhood Site at 612 S Egremont Rd, Great Barrington, MA 01230. On October 18th in honor of the 52nd anniversary of the dedication of this site, we will gather with members of Town of Great Barrington Du Bois Legacy committee, Du Bois Middle School, BRIDGE Youth corps from Happiness Toolbox and Real Talk, and community members to lift up Dr. Du Bois and his legacy in education, civil rights, economic justice and race equity. Join us!   Additionally we are supporting the Cultural Appreciation Week of the Massachusetts Trial Court and hope you can all join in a community dialogue about justice and safety on Oct. 20th as well as a community-building event on Oct. 22nd at 9 Gilmore Ave, Great Barrington, MA 01230. (Read more below.)  BRIDGE is proud to be a partner in all of this work as we honor our Black Indigenous and all People of Color’s heritage in our Berkshire County. We are also celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month September 15th - October 15th and we invite you all to find a way to intentionally celebrate and honor our Hispanic Berkshire community. We must all work and activate together in solidarity to create connection in our lived experiences as we advance toward equity and justice.
Congratulations for the 25th Annual Festival Latino! Attention! We would like you all to celebrate our CEO’s 50th birthday by meeting Gwendolyn’s request to make a contribution and testimonial to BRIDGE. We invite you to make a donation to her annual birthday facebook fundraiser in increments of 50 cents or dollars. Second, we are asking for you to join our mosaic project by sending us a testimonial. We invite you to send one word about BRIDGE’s impact in your life, your work, and/or your community to adminsupport@multiculturalbridge.org or BRIDGE, 17 Main St. Ste. B3 Lee, MA 01239 Re: Mosaic. We are building our next mosaic of our BRIDGE community and hope to include your voices. Your sharing your one word with a photo and a brief explanation is our second Birthday request. This mosaic project was launched last Sunday at our SJIA and we cannot wait for you to join the chorus! Please enjoy photos from our intergenerational SJIA thank you event for staff, volunteers, youth leaders, and donors this past weekend! These submissions are due by October 18th, 2021! Warmly, The BRIDGE Team  Great Barrington Community to Observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day Drumming, traditional Native American songs, speeches, and a procession culminating in a ceremonial blessing of the Housatonic River will mark the local observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Great Barrington on Monday, October 11 2021. This will be the centerpiece of a four-event program organized by Alliance for a Viable Future, a local grass-roots organization. The aim is to acknowledge and heal the wounds of our past, honor the Native American ethic of respect and care for the natural world, and integrate indigenous values into our response to climate change, according to Lev Natan, organizer and founding director of the Alliance. “The commemoration is inspired, in part, by Randy Weinstein and Gwendolyn VanSant of the W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee, who, in 2019, asked the Town of Great Barrington to join a growing movement of towns, cities and states around the country who are recognizing the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” said Natan. The Oct. 11th event will begin at the Gazebo behind Town Hall at 11:00am with Aaron Athey, the Master of Ceremonies for powwows in the Berkshires, playing his drum and singing traditional songs. From the gazebo, the gathering will proceed down Main St. to the RiverWalk via Dresser Ave. It will continue to the Memorial Park baseball field, where a ceremonial blessing for the Housatonic River will also honor the ongoing legacy of the people who were displaced by the colonists. “The purpose of this entire program, a four-event series that stretches from September 22nd thru October 17th, is to establish a deep connection with the indigenous history of our place. By acknowledging this part of our past, we are able to bring healing to our community, in the present, and move forward into the future, with greater trust and unity,” says Natan. WAM Theatre presents the US Premiere of KAMLOOPA: An Indigenous Matriarch Story by Kim Senklip Harvey. This hilarious transformation story, and winner of the 2020 Governor General's Award for Drama, is presented LIVE in a COVID safe production at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre at Shakespeare & Company from October 7-24, and streams digitally from November 1-7. KAMLOOPA is high energy comedy that follows two urban Indigenous sisters and their encounter with a lawless trickster, as they explore what it means to honor who they are and where they come from. Learn more at wamtheatre.com. As a BRIDGE partner, WAM Theatre has some complimentary tickets to offer to BRIDGE community members for our Thursday October 7, Friday, October 8 and Saturday, October 9th performances. Performances are at 7pm. Please email our General Manager, Dori Parkman, at dori@wamtheatre.com by Friday, October 1 with the names and email addresses of anyone who would like tickets. Please feel free to contact us with any questions. Sending warm wishes to you from all of us at WAM and hope to see you at KAMLOOPA. Fourth Annual Cultural Appreciation Week: Justice, Culture and Community Hosted By: Southern Berkshire District Court Cliff Flynn, Assistant Chief Probation Officer & Cultural Proficiency Champion with community partner, BRIDGE and other County-wide Collaborating Partners at local Police Departments and District Attorney Office Justice, Culture and Community Day in Great Barrington: Bridging the Gap in Social Justice” Community Dialogue, “A Conversation about Restorative Justice & Promoting Equity, Trust & Safety in Berkshire County, pt. 2 We are partnering for the 5th annual statewide Cultural Appreciation Week 2021 (CAW) on Justice, Culture & Community, October 18-22 led by Pamerson Ifill and the Cultural Proficiency Team of the Massachusetts Trial Division. Locally Probation Officer Clifford Flynn is working with BRIDGE for the third year in a row to collaborate in community on the design of the week. The first year BRIDGE supported the Pittsfield Court in their appreciation and awareness building week. This year, BRIDGE will facilitate pt. 2 of the Community Dialogue “A Conversation about Restorative Justice & Promoting Equity in Berkshire County, pt. 2 that we started last year. We gathered to think about Justice in Community working through accountability, trust and safety in our community. This year our constituents want to make strides in community policing, restorative practices and making cultural connections. We will continue to work to develop relationships with the courthouse. This year the Southern Berkshire Regional District Courthouse is running a food drive once again for the next three weeks to benefit BRIDGE Food Sovereignty, People’s Pantry in Great Barrington and Lenox Ecumenical Food Pantry. On Wednesday, 10/20, from 2-4 on Zoom we will co-host the virtual community dialogue and on Friday,10/22, there will be the lawn event at the Courthouse in Great Barrington. The Courthouse and Police Department will have a meet and greet from 1-4 with police cars, trucks and the therapy dog and BRIDGE will have children's activities and "to go" snacks for everyone. We will have our not in our county pledge for signing and renewing on the lawn and do bubbles & light snacks for afterschool. So Co will do ice cream. Wednesday, Oct. 20th 2:00-4:00 PM Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0rfuqhrjIqHNxtGiAVb-2-hCKBAr7SLIg9 Friday, Oct. 22nd 1:00-4:00 PM Great Barrington Courthouse Food Drives Oct. 4th - 22nd  2021 October Engagements with BRIDGE: Race Task Force and Toward Racial Justice are canceled for October due to our Indigenous People’s Day events
 MUTUAL AID: 2nd Annual Introduction: Canning & Jarring Class:
 Last Chance to Sign up!Join us for the Cultural Competence Foundation Fridays, starting TOMORROW, Friday, September 10th, 2021!  IDEA Institute: Cultural Competence Foundations FRIDAY, Sept 10 & FRIDAY Sept 17th 9- 1PM Meeting ID: 895 5176 5971 Passcode 010930 Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0ocuivqD4jHdV0GSchaeNm6sXF_RF4ckiG Happiness toolboxHere are some recent photos from the Happiness Toolbox 2021 Summer Program! Our youth had a great time! 
Congratutions to Gwendolyn and the BRIDGE team on this amazing award from #CAPCON21! September engagements
Read all about it! We are back after an enriching restorative pause! Thank you all for your grace and patience so our team can reboot in service to our mission! We have an abundant amount of good news to share! For today, we want to share with you that our CEO and Founding Director, Gwendolyn VanSant, has been published in a book compiled by Dr. Emily Williams on IDEA work. Get your copy here!  Also our partners at BCAC nominated our fearless leader for our community action award to have made the pivot to impactfully and intentionally activate in support of communities facing poverty issues. We will be honored alongside our client and partner Greylock Federal Credit Union who also was one of these National Community Action Awardees. Be in touch if you want to join in the Boston celebration in September! Keeping the Berkshires on the map with our collective Equity and Inclusion efforts!  Our summer program Happiness Toolbox is relaunching for its 12th consecutive year! We have several enriching programs in person and online. We are thrilled to have Drive Forward back with us online—clowns that focus on empowerment and joy. Don’t forget to visit our online video library from last year! We will have Spanish, French, Coding, Foraging, Yoga, HANDLE, Bookmaking, photography, Berkshire legends, Character strengths Sports, dance and activities with youth leaders. We will be celebrating Mother Earth! Join us. Financial aid available! Register here!!  Special thanks to Canna Provisions for our Pride month SJIA raising $1415. Also deep gratitude to our partners at Three Sisters Farm and Sweet Freedom navigating our stormy weather and supplying our mutual aid goods for our families. Big thanks to First Congregational Church for supporting our second year of mutual aid. We want to also congratulate Colleen Goewey on our team on her promotion as mutual aid coordinator. Growing our team step by step!  2021 August Engagements:
Please rsvp@multiculturalbridge.org to attend any of the above events!  With love,
JV and the BRIDGE team! 🤎 We appreciate your support, sustaining pledges and engagement! Thank you! Donate here! This month we are collecting for Happiness Toolbox and Mutual Aid Food Sovereignty program! 💕 Dear BRIDGE friends: We are going in to a holiday weekend and asking that you all consider what Independence and Liberation is for all. We are writing to you to invite you to revisit the classic Frederick Douglass speech which our BRIDGE community read in 2019 with Shakespeare & Co. And what was most important is that we read the entire piece.  A way BRIDGE is practicing our values is we are taking a break! Our offices will be closed for a planned restorative retreat. We will be closed July 12th - July 23rd. I was thrilled to see this notion of a resilience retreat be captured here in Vu Li’s article. We have made this suggestion to several of our clients that kept working through the pandemic and a few have found meaningful ways in both 2020 and 2021 for a resilience retreat for their employees. This is a way to honor the labor of our teams. We all need time to restore and reboot. If you have urgent needs, please contact allison@multiculturalbridge.org during 7/12-7/13 AND if you are able to help us with our mutual aid distribution on 7/16, please email rsvp@multiculturalbridge.org by July 9th! Many hands make light work. While we are away, we hope you spread the word about our hybrid Happiness Toolbox program and join us for a fun day on July 30th.  Our Race Task Force will be meeting in subcommittees on July 12th. We will use the same Zoom Link.
Also, we have just finished up our IDEA Institute Cultural Competence Foundations and we will resume with Systems of Oppression on July 30th. If you have taken BRIDGE’s Cultural Competence, we invite you to sign up for these three sessions or a deeper dive into a race, gender and poverty analysis. Also, we begin the Foundations course again in September followed by Systems of Oppression which are prerequisites for our Train-the-Trainer course in the Fall hosted in partnership with Berkshire Community College. Here is a sneak peek into our IDEA Institute Inclusive Leadership Cohort to see the topics covered as we begin to design our community projects. Thank you to Canna Provisions in Lee, MA for celebrating Pride Month with BRIDGE and thank you Hop Brook Community Club for hosting a Social Justice in Action event on Juneteenth and raising consciousness about white privilege and its impact. “joy is an act of resistance” ~ Congresswoman Pressley We have had an eventful Spring so far with Happiness Toolbox and our Climate Action work! Enjoy our Earth Day celebration photos here! As our Happiness Toolbox families and friends gathered together again (reunited!), we went foraging in an original “Trailgrazing” program with Maya Richards at Bartholomew’s Cobble. Also, we returned with our BRIDGE youth leaders and team and played games, challenged ourselves with trivia about our Mother Earth, made herbal remedies, practiced our Spanish, and positive psychology & growth mindset skills in person and over Zoom in our hybrid program. Stay tuned for our summer dates.  Thank YOU!!! Mutual aid at its best! We cannot tell you enough HOW you as a community lifted up the collective work of BRIDGE during this pandemic and how your collective time, treasure and talent have lifted the health of our community in ways that go beyond basic needs and reach the scale of our local humanity! We ask that you continue to commit to working alongside BRIDGE, making meaningful financial gifts in the form of sustaining pledges for mutual aid, speaking up and against injustice and insensitivity, and that you continually educate yourself and others. “I now genuinely believe that self-knowledge and self-reflection is invaluable to doing good work in this world.” ― Parker Palmer Tomorrow we end one year of our Food Sovereignty and Empowerment Program and renew with Year 2 late May within an expanded network of mutual aid including an expanded partnership of local farms! Thank you to Sweet Freedom Farm, Three Sisters, Indian Line Farm, Full Well Farm, Colfax Farm, Taft Farms/Gideon’s Garden, Random Harvest, Greenagers, Square Roots Farm and Off the Shelf Farm. Many thanks to our sponsors, donors and once again to all of you whose resources flow right through our hearts and hands to the local farms and in to our local families! Finally Celebrate Asian Pacific Islander Month this month- read more here: https://asianpacificheritage.gov Climate. Action. Resilience. Equity!TONIGHT- FIELD TRIP (VIRTUALLY)! Our monthly Racial Justice and weekly Women to Women Meet up for the Town of Great Barrington MVP GB Project 6:30-8:30 PM | Zoom EVERYONE - Feel free to join us for dinner (you can bring your own!) and an engaging session at the intersection of community, environmental justice and racial justice! Together we will decide on priorities for the town’s climate action work! Join us for this series of three to watch our community put our thoughts and wisdom into action  “Climate change is a fundamental problem that we must solve and not merely pass on to the generations to come…We can’t let our children and grandchildren look back on this critical period in time and say that we failed them.” ~Mary Robinson See the 10 priorities that our intergenerational, cross-cultural community members and municipal leaders highlighted in our work to date:
In loving memory of community members Mabel Hamilton and Jahaira deAlto. We will miss you both.
I believe in the power of the human heart—in its capacity for truth and justice, love and forgiveness. ~ Parker Palmer In People Magazine: Transgender activist Jahaira DeAlto "touched the lives of everyone around her with her passion, drive, humanity, humor, and fierce vision." Read here Join us! We have openings in board committee service, our volunteer network, and even on our staff! Also you can join in the fun with fundraising activities like Patsy and Dottie’s Coffee Lounge (see pics below) and also our community navigator, Colleen, offering to all of her clients a free hair shine with a donation to BRIDGE. Email rsvp@multiculturalbridge.org for any questions, suggestions, or ideas you might have.
Member Spotlights: Greylock Federal Credit Union and Guido’s Fresh Marketplace!HOT! Job Opportunities at Greylock! Take time to review the benefits and multiple levels of job opportunities. Greylock, a BRIDGE partner, and client, has committed to equity and accessibility in their diversity and inclusion efforts. Give them a call! https://www.greylock.org/careers.html  Thank you Guido’s for rounding up to support us in March and April!  In case you missed it - in the news Two articles about BRIDGE:
Upcoming Dates:
Wishing you all the best and a Happy Mother’s Day,
- Gwendolyn, JV and the BRIDGE team P.s. Don’t forget to vote in your local elections! It matters! Ayanna Pressley states… "policy is my love language. Because policy has created hurt and harm, but it can also create equity and justice. That’s what we deserve, and that’s what we’re going to need in order to recover from all the hurt that has been caused…” upcoming workshops
Do you shop at Guido's? Well, if you do, be sure to round up at checkout! Details below!
Latest Videos from New Pathways:
Hey y'all, JV here! I'm hoping that you are doing well! I just wanted to pop in at the top of this update to let you know that we've got some various things coming up in the next few months. The easiest way to keep in touch and join our groups is to do the following two things:
I hope this information helps you stay in touch with us! If you need additional assistance, don't hesitate to reach out to JV@multiculturalbridge.org. Best Wishes, JV Hampton-VanSant
This past week, we witnessed violence and more domestic terrorism against Asian Americans and women in it the Atlanta shootings. We commit to our sustained solidarity with Asian American Pacific Islanders and all marginalized, oppressed and terrorized groups.
As an organization dedicated to race equity and Justice, we commit to ending cycles of physical emotional and psychological violence through Education and Training alongside active and engaged disruption. Please join us. Sign these stop hate pledges and recommit to being a positive bystander. Actions: Sign the national stop AAPI hate pledge in alignment with commitment: https://stopaapihate.org Sign the local pledge: Not In Our County Read: https://wwe.cnn.com/2021/03/16/us/asian-americans-hate-incidents-report/index.html
Some folks have decided to donate their Stimulus Checks to BRIDGE, which is greatly appreciated. Here is some testimony from these people. 
Jeff Lowenstein:
When I got my first stimulus check, I decided to donate most of it to local nonprofits, including BRIDGE. As an anti-poverty worker, I've seen firsthand how badly many folks in our community are struggling and how much help is needed, and I wanted to use that money to give some extra help to someone who needed it more than I did. COVID has highlighted how deeply interwoven we are with everyone else in our communities - if we want to succeed we have to look out for one another, not just ourselves. That goes for how we use our resources just as much as how well we follow precautions to prevent the virus. COVID has also highlighted the systemic racism in our society, and who gets left behind and suffers the most when times get tough. BRIDGE is deeply connected with the communities of color and immigrants who are among our most vulnerable folks, and I was happy to support BRIDGE's efforts to reach, engage, and support these communities. BRIDGE's work has made an enormous difference in helping keep these families safe and stable through the pandemic. When I receive my next stimulus check, I plan to donate again to support this critical work, and I hope you will as well! If we can stand together as a county and those of us who have a little to spare can help those who need it the most, we'll come out of COVID as a stronger, more connected, and more just community! 
Tim & Lily Ellis:
My family decided to donate our stimulus check because there's no better way for us to 'spend' that money and support our community. COVID is stretching an already fractured social service network even thinner. Plus, not everyone is eligible to receive a stimulus check due to immigration status or other factors--and often the people who are left out are the same folks who are excluded from other social services, and are at greater risk. But BRIDGE remains true to its mission, no matter what--during the pandemic, BRIDGE pivoted to providing food, resources and care for hundreds of people throughout the county. As someone who works in public health, I'm confident that by listening and responding to the needs of vulnerable families with care and humility, BRIDGE has helped to keep people healthier--keep our entire Berkshire community healthier--and save lives.
We would like to highlight our Food Sovereignty and Sustainability Program.
More information located here.
Connect with BRIDGE this month! Visit our events section for upcoming events.
Happy February!
February is the month to honor African American Heritage in the US. Please find intentional ways to do so both for your local community and the country at large! I hope you all are doing well! We want to remind you of a few meetings coming up and also have you see some of the reorganization that has happened at BRIDGE! We are excited to expand our BRIDGE team with individuals that have been engaged with BRIDGE in several ways over the past years. We look forward to working alongside you. Best, Gwendolyn idea institute
IDEA Institute at BRIDGE launches the first annual Berkshire Inclusive Leadership Cohort fo Social Change starting February 9!
Read more here: https://www.multiculturalbridge.org/online-training.html Co-sponsored by Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, BRIDGE, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Berkshire Bank Foundation, Berkshire United Way and Berkshire Community College Please welcome our Cohort Leaders for Justice and Equity in the Berkshires from Berkshire Health Systems, Berkshire Bridges- Working Cities, Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, Berkshire Community College, Berkshire Interfaith Organizing, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Berkshire Bank, Berkshire Museum, Art Omi, IS183, WAM Theatre, Jacobs Pillow, BRIDGE, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, MCLA Institute for Arts and Humanities, Mass MoCa, Hancock Shaker Village, Williams College, Chesterwood, General Dynamics, the Mount and Shakespeare and Company. February dates
Food Sovereignty and Sustainability
Gibran Riviera Keynote from the New Pathways Conference
Dear Friends of BRIDGE, BRIDGE is hard at work today (re)launching our Mutual Aid for 93 families in our Berkshire Community for 2021. This is made possible by the generous end of year contributions and our ongoing and deepening collaborations in our community to make this a safer, more inclusive place for vulnerable families, especially the underrepresented and underserved Black and Brown Communities and our elders. Some families are new recruits due to the COVID impact on work security, education stability for their children or have been directly impacted by having members of the family COVID positive in the last few weeks and some families this community has seen through the rough spot to stability. We are learning daily as a staff, volunteer and community what it means to live in mutuality. We also are still mourning the events of January 6th at Capitol Hill and stark racism and white supremacy stronghold in this Country. Nationally and locally, we have seen a multitude of events that have threatened safety and justice in our community and the only choice each of us have is to act with commensurate power leveraging your influence, resources and energy for the good of all communities. Please find an opportunity to join us in community to co-create an MLK day of service in honor of Dr. King’s birthday and several civil rights giants’ contributions, learning together and planning for the safety of our Berkshire community on Monday. Join our BRIDGE staff and local clergy partners in making this a day of beloved community in 2021. In honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday, we are offering a series of community gatherings from 10-3. We will start with a Day of Service where we will gather to create projects, sign up for stations for family tech help and have an “I Have a Dream” corner listening to Dr. King’s Speech in community and also reading a children’s book of his incredible life story. For the noontime, Rev. Sloan Letman IV of BRIDGE, BIO and Cathedral of the Beloved will join BRIDGE for a noontime service. We will end the day with our first New Pathways Lab of the year with DA Andrea Harrington, Director of Community Engagement Bryan House, Assistant US Attorney Scott Garland (Hate Crimes Specialist) and Community Outreach Specialist Cara Henderson to discuss safety in our community, what has been threatening it and what we want to do about it? Here is the registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUsduurqTkjGdcV_tbXGRaualBQxWxbJQSZ. Community challenge: Tell us your dream for 2021. What will you do to get us there in our shared community? Take pictures and post on social media and tag BRIDGE. Find us at #BRIDGE413 on social media, on IG multicultural-bridge and friends of BRIDGE, on Twitter at BRIDGE413, tag us on Facebook. Use hashtags #bridge413 #revdrmlkjr #ihaveadream #allhandsin. Tag us and let us know at BRIDGE your dream ~families and children welcome!  Also in this bulletin, you will find a message from our BRIDGE board and finally, we do want to celebrate the work in GA and the many milestones it represents for protecting our rights and democracy as well as the work of strongly dedicated community organizers and leaders and Black women under Stacy Abrams guidance. Locally, we have the Du Bois Middle School sign installed and also I want to alert you all to the Du Bois Legacy Committee working with the Town of Great Barrington to create the country’s first Du Bois Day on his birthday, Feb. 23rd! Read one of the articles here. In all of the darkness there is light. We look forward to celebrating Dr. Du Bois on February 23rd with the Town of Great Barrington W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee. Stay tuned!
Happ(ier) New Year and see you soon! In the struggle together, ~Gwendolyn Board Response to the terror and injustice of January 6th, 2021We, the BRIDGE Board, condemn the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. The flagrant White Supremacy on display and lack of police response was a revealing window into the injustice at the heart of who we are as a country, particularly contrasted with the violent, militarized responses to last year’s Black Lives Matter protests. While the violent events of January 6th were disheartening and infuriating, they are not a surprise to BRIDGE. This was the natural outcome of our continued failure to address White Supremacy’s hold on our society and to hold those who are actively encouraging White Supremacy to account. We recognize that this failure is deep and foundational and goes far beyond this administration or these specific events; White Supremacy has ripples of impact throughout our country and shows up in every community, including the Berkshires, in the most oppressive and harmful ways. There can be no call to action for unity without first a call to action for accountability. We wish to highlight this recent quote from Gwendolyn VanSant, our Founding Director and CEO: “I’ve been really pushing white counterparts ... to see how really extreme things can get when everyone’s just waiting for someone else to address it. Really, everyone can participate in disrupting … the biases day to day in a workplace or any other type of institution.” This is not over - and it will not end until we all take action to hold ourselves, our institutions, and our communities accountable to reckoning with and dismantling White Supremacy. Reflecting on our Black Lives Matter Statement from last year and the commitments that we made as a Board, there are several actions that we feel are necessary. We need to use our influence to interrupt, challenge, and dismantle the cultural systems that created and maintain disparities between White people and People of Color, at every level. We need to have authentic and painful conversations about how White Supremacy culture shows up in ourselves, our community, and our country. And we need to prioritize care and support for BRIDGE staff and other Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in our community, holding the impact of these recent events on their health and safety, both physical and emotional. We call on everyone to take action to confront White Supremacy in our community and to stand firm for justice, accountability, and equity. We must be vigilant in holding those who are intent on harming African American and immigrant communities accountable. Sincerely, The BRIDGE Board: Rev Sloan Letman IV, Jeff Lowenstein, Veronica Fenton, Esq., Steve Glick, Gabriela Cruz, Alexis Claytor, Elizabeth Adams, Erica Barreto, MaryAnn Norris, and Gwendolyn VanSant, Founding Director I have a dream that we won’t have to talk about ‘restorative justice’ because it will be understood that true justice is about restoration, and about transformation. I have a dream. ~Howard Zehr Also if you missed Greg Watson’s Keynote Presentation, Greg Watson, "Radical Civics and Civil Anarchy", at our New Pathways Social Justice Conference, you can find it here! Inspiring as always~ Spotlight
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