Emily Allen Williams | Higher Ed Jobs
This interview with Gwendolyn VanSant and John Bissell is part two of my continuing interview series on the growing emphasis of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) best practices in higher education institutions. VanSant speaks from the vantage of her leadership as chief executive officer and founding director of BRIDGE. Bissell speaks from the vantage of his leadership as president and chief executive officer of Greylock Federal Credit Union. Both CEOs are award-winning regional and national leaders in DEI work. Emily Allen Williams (EW): Gwendolyn and John, over the years, both of you have emerged as leaders in this ever-evolving and necessary work across all sectors -- community, corporate, government, and higher education. I would like to start with some background on your organizations and how you both came to be recognized as two of the leading DEI voices toward positive change in the region. Gwendolyn VanSant (GV): BRIDGE has been around for 11 years. Greylock Federal Credit Union was actually one of the first companies to support BRIDGE’s early work through grants. EW: John, I am very interested in your corporation and how diversity, equity, and inclusion work has become central in your corporate structure. I also am interested in how you and Gwendolyn [through BRIDGE and Greylock] came to work closely together toward increased awareness of DEI best practices and the implementation of such best practices. John Bissell (JB): In my leadership role as president and chief executive officer [of Greylock Federal Credit Union], we are constantly trying to remake a much older organization to stay relevant. Gwendolyn has been a great partner for us in achieving ever-evolving outcomes from the DEI goals that we have set for ourselves as a corporation and as a part of a larger community, which includes higher education institutions.
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Hannah Van Sickle | The Berkshire Edge
Sandisfield -- I was first introduced to the poet Gwendolyn Brooks a scant two decades ago as a fledgling English teacher at Berkshire School. Over the course of that first fall, as I became acclimated to boarding school life as a teacher — the dress code, the Saturday classes, the seemingly endless weekend duty — I began spending time with a slim, orange volume entitled, Selected Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks. Poring over this text, in preparation for my 10th grade English classes, I came across the poem “We Real Cool.” I remember reading it quickly, then again — and several more times after that — struck by the same, seemingly stark simplicity of other poets who had captured my attention prior — among them William Carlos Williams and Ezra Pound. I was drawn to the Imagists, a group of reactionaries who emphasized clarity of expression and precision. Gwendolyn Brooks, on the other hand, made me stop in my tracks. We Real Cool The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel. We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon. Regardless of how I heard this poem, I had a hunch that the bold, declarative voice of the poet herself would reveal more to my students than any analysis I could offer. I ultimately found an audio recording of Ms. Brooks reading this very poem; in the era prior to YouTube, I have fuzzy memories of a cassette tape provided by my department chair being played on the sleek, black boom box I purchased with babysitting money the year I turned 13. Despite the brevity of the poems, eight lines delivered in four, two-line stanzas, the poet interjected something into her rendering of the poem that I had not: space. I remember playing that tape, over and over again, in a first-floor classroom in Berkshire Hall. Class after class of students pondered the poet’s delivery, one that ended each line of her poem (rather than beginning) with the pronoun “we.” Several weeks into the first term, Ms. Brooks visited the Sheffield campus. In anticipation of her reading and book signing, my students and I discovered that Ms. Brooks had written her poem in 1959 and published it in her 1960 book, The Bean Eaters — her third collection of poetry. Together, we gleaned that the poem’s subject was a group of young, Black men — playing pool at the Golden Shovel, set in the south-side Chicago neighborhood from which Brooks hailed — ostensibly during school hours. While the poem could have been about a group of rebellious youth anywhere, the poem’s final line presents a harrowing conclusion that connects it to the Black community: imminent death, despite their youth. On Thursday evening, I finally made it to WAM Theatre’s production of Dominique Morisseau’s PIPELINE at Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox. Omari (Hubens “Bobby” Cius), the protagonist, runs into trouble early on in the play: he has assaulted a faculty member, and is at risk of being expelled from school. What is not immediately divulged is what drives Omari to “slam [his teacher] into the Smart Board.” As that part of the story is unfurled — while Nya (Alexandria Danielle King), Omari’s mother teaches her English class about Brooks’ very poem — I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. We learn — through conversations with each of his parents — that in a discussion of Richard Wright’s Native Son, Omari is asked — point blank — to explain the homicidal rage of Bigger Thomas, that novel’s protagonist. As if, by virtue of his being a Black man, he would know. “You don’t understand, Ma,” is how Omari responds to his mother’s shock at his behavior; by the time he recounts the story to his father, in the latter half of the play, the picture is far more clear: Terry Cowgill | Berkshire Edge
Great Barrington — This Friday, Oct. 18, the town of Great Barrington and the UMass Amherst Libraries will mark an important event in the town’s history as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of the then-controversial dedication of the W.E.B. Du Bois homesite. The Evolution of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Positions in Higher Education Institutions10/1/2019 Emily Allen Williams | Higher Ed Jobs This interview with Gwendolyn VanSant initiates an ongoing discussion on the growing emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) best practices in higher education institutions. VanSant speaks from the vantage of her leadership role with Multicultural BRIDGE. Founded in 2007, BRIDGE (dba Multicultural BRIDGE) is a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing equity and justice by promoting cultural competence, positive psychology, and mutual understanding and acceptance. The organization acts as a catalyst for change through collaboration, education, training, dialogue, fellowship, and advocacy. BRIDGE is a minority- and women-run non-profit certified by the Office of Supplier Diversity of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. BRIDGE connects vulnerable community members with key resources and networks, while also providing education to both local institutions and the community at large. The organization is located in Lee, Massachusetts., a town in the Berkshire Region. In this interview, we discuss the growing presence of DEI executive-level positions at colleges and universities throughout the United States. This is the first in a three-part interview series. Emily Allen Williams: Gwendolyn, thank you for speaking with me today about your work as a leading voice and empowerment agent in your work as a trainer and facilitator in diversity leadership, cultural competence, and coalition building for justice and equity. Please share what this work is about and what it involves for you (personally) and organizationally (Multicultural BRIDGE). Gwendolyn VanSant: With BRIDGE, we wanted to create an organization that would "bridge" the gap in services for underrepresented individuals and communities in The Berkshires and create visibility to their experiences and contributions. We knew this would require training and education, community building, and advocacy work. We provide training in corporate, educational, law enforcement, and public health sectors and offer direct services for community-building programs. BRIDGE's work is rooted in the Berkshires, but we've also worked in Connecticut, Vermont, and New York. EW: Gwendolyn, please talk a bit about the "rooted" work -- the concentration points, if you will, for BRIDGE. GV: It's important to me that BRIDGE's work is rooted in a poverty, racial equity, and gender analysis. For example, we have a "Women to Women" program comprised of three parts: a) local women welcome newcomers and offer community support and networking (stabilizing immigrant or otherwise under-represented women); b) women help newcomer women transfer their professional skills into a new U.S. context; or c) women offer their services toward improving the equity and justice lens or professional skills of donors and allies. The "heartbeat" of this program (and of BRIDGE) is our immigrant women's group where they serve as wisdom council. BRIDGE provides newcomers with all the supports they need to integrate successfully and holistically into our community. We have youth leadership and positive education programs like our "Happiness Toolbox" and "Real Talk" series that teach BRIDGE principles around community, trust, safety, and equity. And we partner with organizations that want to include diverse voices in their own program development. Hannah Van Sickle { Town Vibe
Part of Kristen van Ginhoven’s personality is to challenge the status quo. As co-founder and artistic director of WAM Theatre (Where Arts and Activism Meet), she spent the last decade creating opportunity for women and girls. Today, she is at the helm of an organization poised to engage the power of art in dismantling systems of oppression. “The American theater is rumbling with our responsibility to be civic institutions,” she says of WAM’s partnering with Multicultural BRIDGE to bring Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline, a powerful and thought-provoking examination of race, class, and the American education system. The play opens at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre at Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox on October 24. “This collaboration is advancing a much-needed national conversation on the crisis of the Black family in the U.S.” says Gwendolyn VanSant, CEO and co-founding director of Multicultural BRIDGE. It is through the story of one young Black student’s success and challenges that the long-standing cultural and systemic barriers faced by his family are brought to light. The effects of the school-to-prison “pipeline” stretch far beyond the poor; it is a disturbing national trend that criminalizes youth, effectively funneling them out of schools and into the criminal justice system, where they are isolated and punished. “The constant pressure and trauma of racism can touch any family at any moment,” VanSant says. Van Ginhoven looks at the production, first presented as WAM’s Fresh Takes reading in August 2018, as an example of how unconscious bias is a teacher. “It’s the microaggressions that, over an extended period of time, burst,” she says of behavior so deeply ingrained that it is rarely questioned. She and VanSant are looking to grow together—an approach that builds relationships and plants the seeds for change. Morriseau’s play tells the story of Nya, an inner-city public high school teacher, simultaneously committed to her students and desperate to give her only son opportunities he will never have. When a controversial incident in his upstate private school threatens to get him expelled, Nya must confront his rage and her own choices as a parent. The play is a deeply moving story of a mother’s fight to give her son a future without turning her back on the community that made him who he is. “Our assumptions about the way the world works were created by white men who did not take everyone into consideration,” van Ginhoven points out. But even from her perspective—as an artist, as a woman, as an immigrant from Canada—anything she had previously perceived as a mark against her paled in comparison to the privilege she has. Understanding intersectionality—the varying levels of power/privilege and oppression/discrimination that come with different identities—provides a constant undercurrent in van Ginhoven’s work. And WAM considers itself “another spoke in the wheel” with regard to the comprehensive Cultural Competency work BRIDGE is doing throughout the county, says van Ginhoven. WAM, one in a cohort of seven arts institutions in the area, took part in the yearlong intensive Arts Build Community Capacity Building Program, presented by the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation. The initiative seeks to build trust, cooperation, and unity in a community, while strengthening the arts as a sector. Grant proposals were submitted, aimed at breaking down the barriers of cultural participation for underserved Berkshire County residents—including youth, people of color, immigrants, and low-income communities. WAM was awarded funding for the Pipeline partnership. With that financial support, WAM set out to identify organizations whose missions overlapped with the themes addressed in Pipeline; BRIDGE was a natural fit. The collaboration began with a three-day retreat for members of both organizations. It formed a basis for moving forward—one where time was not an issue—and the decision-making process was wholly collaborative. “BRIDGE became part of the art and [WAM] became part of the social justice piece,” says van Ginhoven. As to the result? VanSant calls it “a whole picture of how to advance racial justice and equity for people who do not select to show up at BRIDGE events.” That means reaching an entire audience who would not otherwise be reached. VanSant and van Ginhoven, both very much aligned in their organizational missions and as leaders, are excited not only to use one another’s respective platforms to advance their own work, but also to model an intentional way for other arts organizations to do this type of work. “Through the arts, we look forward to creating more local opportunities for authentic discussion around the stark ethnic disparities that exist for Black families as we identify solutions through activism,” says VanSant, pointing to this type of collaboration as “helping us enter these conversations with courage.” Hannah Van Sickle | Berkshire Edge Great Barrington -- If we are what we eat, then the 29 young people I met on Thursday morning at the First Congregational Church are Smarties (you know those pastel colored sweet-tart candies in the clear cellophane wrapper?) With morning circle hinging on the sweet treats, Gwendolyn VanSant’s audience was not surprisingly calm and attentive: “If the world were a village of 100 people, did you know there would be 61 Asians? Ten Europeans? Thirteen people from North and South America? One person from Oceania? And 14 Africans?” she shared with the group, most of whom were relaxing on blankets or reclining on yoga mats scattered about the space. The seemingly simple exercise—one that hinges on math and teamwork—paints an effective picture of the world in miniature form, one that children are readily able to consume—literally. The exercise is also part of the 2019 BRIDGE Happiness Toolbox/Real Talk program, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a community open house Friday, Aug. 16. “At the end of circle, you can eat your Smarties, but you can’t eat them yet!” was the instruction from VanSant, who, in her role as CEO and co-founding director of Multicultural BRIDGE, is at the helm of the evidence-based program steeped in positive education designed to engage diverse students to support their success and cultivate their resilience in school, family and community. The core curriculum, developed by Gwendolyn VanSant and JV VanSant, explores positive psychology, diversity, mindfulness and the importance of play. “What we try to accomplish is building the kids’ capacity to understand diversity . . . all in the light of learning how to navigate it, understand their own scenarios, and be good bystanders and friends in the community,” said VanSant in a recent phone interview. The seeds for this program, planted during VanSant’s Capstone project, have blossomed into a curriculum overhaul, one that revolves around an infusion of positive psychology. Broadway World It was a picture perfect Berkshire evening on Wednesday, July 24, as WAM Theatre supporters packed The Stationery Factory in Dalton. They celebrated and supported the company's first decade of acclaimed theatrical productions and support of organizations that work to empower women and girls, at WAM's sold-out 10th Anniversary Gala, hosted by Berkshire favorite Ty Allan Jackson.
The full house was in a great mood enjoying the tasty hors d'oeuvres catered by The Marketplace and the delicious apple cider donuts from Hilltop Orchards in Richmond. Live and silent auctions added to the fun, in an event coordinated by Only In My Dreams Events. The event raised funds for WAM's Education programs and the company's upcoming fall production of PIPELINE by Tony Award-nominated and Obie Award-winning playwright Dominique Morisseau, and directed by Dawn M. Simmons. John Bissell, Peter Taylor, Gwendolyn VanSant: Addressing organizational bias in Berkshires7/26/2019 John Bissell, Peter Taylor, and Gwendolyn VanSant } Berkshire Eagle
PITTSFIELD — As three leaders in Berkshire County, we recognize the unjust and uneven balance of power and privilege right here in our communities. Racial inequality has been built into our country's most influential and interconnected institutions—educational and economic, legal, philanthropic and, yes, cultural. We are writing to publicly commit to addressing systemic inequalities in our county head-on as we aim for equity of access and opportunity. This is why Greylock and Berkshire Taconic helped sponsor, and BRIDGE helped curate, the recent Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conference in the Berkshires at MCLA. It energized over 50 community members through a process that surfaced some of the most persistent systemic indicators and root causes of bias and discrimination. It's also why we are collectively inspired to stand with one of our partners, Jacob's Pillow. We strive to follow CEO Pamela Tatge's example of speaking out about racist and biased incidents when they occur, as she did in her July 10 op-ed for The Berkshire Eagle. Tatge was well prepared to respond to racism when it occurred in the Jacob's Pillow community because her team had invested in a three-year partnership with BRIDGE to build awareness, responsiveness, and inclusivity into their organizational culture. What's more, Jacob's Pillow has also developed several authentic community collaborations like its dance program Pittsfield Moves. Dick Lindsay } The Berkshire Eagle
LENOX — On a sultry summer afternoon on the grounds of Shakespeare & Company, North Adams Mayor Thomas Bernard recited: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights ..." "... that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," concluded Ken Werner, chairman of the theater group's board of trustees. The two men were sharing the spotlight Thursday afternoon reading, arguably, the most famous line from the Declaration of Independence. "It's the line everyone knows," Bernard told The Eagle. "It's powerful to hear the written word spoken, and by all walks of life." "The words are as poignant today — maybe more so — as they were almost 250 years ago," added state Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox. Pignatelli, Bernard and Werner were among the 50 people from across the Berkshires speaking a line or two from the 243-year-old document that would be the rallying cry for colonial America to break away from England. The recitation highlighted Shakespeare & Company's annual Independence Day celebration, appropriately titled, "We Hold These Truths," held in partnership with Multicultural BRIDGE. Terry Cowgill } Berkshire Edge
Great Barrington — Almost 15 years ago, the Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee considered, and ultimately rejected, a proposal to name its brand new regional elementary school after perhaps the region’s most celebrated academic and civil rights leader. To some, it seemed like a no-brainer. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois grew up in Great Barrington; was the first African-American to obtain a Ph.D. from Harvard; and was a world-renowned scholar, writer and leader for social and racial justice. Du Bois was seen by many as a trailblazer who paved the way for Martin Luther King Jr. and was “woke” to racial injustice before it became fashionable. Du Bois was also the subject of two Pulitzer Prize-winning biographies by distinguished historian David Levering Lewis. Moreover, who better to name a school after than Berkshire County’s most legendary scholar? |
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