This is an invitation from Frank Anderson, Assistant Director of the Choice Program and LLC student. 

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On January 16th, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) is calling “on colleges and universities across the country to engage in activities, events, or strategies that promote healing and foster engagement around the issues of racism, bias, inequity, and injustice in our society” for a National Day of Racial Healing. 

As a new member of AAC&U’s  Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center network, UMBC students, faculty, and staff will show their commitment to building community and breaking down racial hierarchies through the spirit of service. Join the initiative by volunteering at one of the many service sites hosting volunteers on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Monday, Jan. 15), or by hosting your own service event on Jan. 15th or 16th.  Use Baltimore City’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service Site to learn about and register for multiple service opportunities being held across the city. Or, reach out to afrank3@umbc.edu, to coordinate and learn where members from UMBC are already planning to volunteer. 

Share your work by creating a social media post for twitter, facebook, or instagram, and use the hashtag #Bmore4TRHT. Feel free to tag the Shriver Center, the Mosaic Center, and the Choice Program. If your post receives the most likes within one week, lunch for you and four other members of your group is on us! If you have a group larger than 5 participating in service, consider creating multiple teams of five to submit multiple posts. To be considered, let us know that you posted on your platform by sending an email to afrank3@umbc.edu.  All posts must be submitted by 1/17 at 12pm. 

UMBC’s Truth, Racial, Healing, and Transformation Campus Center is in its early stage of development, but already students are convening, planning, and doing great work. Student organization representatives from the Charm City Connection, Amnesty International, Hillel, Black Lives Matter, the Black Student Union; as well as representatives from the Choice Program, the Peaceworker Program, Service-Learning, and College JUMP are actively thinking about what Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation means for our campus and for community engagement. This winter, student representatives will attend AAC&U’s “inaugural TRHT Institute in Washington, DC, where TRHT Campus Center teams will come together to discuss and refine their visionary plans to engage and empower campus and community stakeholders to uproot the conscious and unconscious biases and misbeliefs that have exacerbated racial violence and tension in American society.” Stay tuned for more updates as the work progresses, and for opportunities to get involved!