Who is the Facilitating Racial Equity Collaborative?The Facilitating Racial Equity Collaborative (FREC) is a loose collective of organizations and individuals committed to overcoming racism in Minnesota. We organized the Overcoming Racism: Why IS It So Hard? conference in 2009, Recognizing and Challenging the Legacies That Oppress Us in 2010. Our most recent conference took place November 18-19, 2011: Overcoming Racism: Listen, Connect, Commit. The theme of the first day was Framing Racism. The second day focused on antiracism work in organizations, institutions and communities.
This year, in addition to planning for the 2012 Overcoming Racism conference, we have a year-round film and discussion series in the works.
You or your organization can be part of this work!
Join us for our monthly planning and coordination meetings, on the 2nd Friday of each month, 9-11 am at at Cherokee Park United Church 371 Baker St. in St. Paul. The next regular meeting will be February 10th. We generally begin our meetings with time for shared learning related to racial equity.
Thank You to the following individuals and organizations who helped make the 2011 conference a success:
John Bell (Minnesota Private College Council)
Pastor Chris Berthlesen, Brenda Olson & Heavenly Day Café (Saint Paul First Lutheran Church)
N. Jeanne Burns (Writer and Activist)
Mike Costa (Concord Printing)
Sidney Gardner (Metropolitan State University Gender & Sexuality Student Services)
Sharon Goens (The Saint Paul Foundation)
Sarah Gleason (Side by Side Associates)
Jim Golden (Golden’s Deli & Market)
Mimi Goodwin (Community Volunteer)
Sue K. Hammersmith (Metropolitan State University President)
Mariam Hannon (YWCA of Minneapolis)
Gloria Honda (Community Volunteer)
Anne Hodson (Photographer/Videographer)
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre
Pastor Tim Johnson (Cherokee Park United Church)
Mitchel Judkins (Graphic Designer)
Sunny Kase (Minnesota Private College Council)
Bill Keatts (Saint Olaf Catholic Church)
Maggie Lorenz (Metropolitan State University VOICES)
Lawrencina Mason-Oramalu (William Mitchell College of Law) Julia McBride-Bibby (Higher Education Consultant and Activist)
Metropolitan State University’s and University of Minnesota’s Disability Services Offices for coordinating the ASL Interpreters and providing accessibility consultation
Metropolitan State University LGBTQ Student Coordinating Committee
Metropolitan State University Diversity Learning Task Force
Metropolitan State University students, staff, faculty and administrators
Metropolitan State University VOICES
Becky Montgomery (Ramsey County)
Joy Sorensen Navarre (Cherokee Park United Church)
Margery Otto (ASDIC Antiracism Study-Dialogue Circles)
Art Owen, (Prairie Island Dakota Elder)
Herbert Perkins (ASDIC Antiracism Study-Dialogue Circles)
Anne Phibbs (University of Minnesota)
Raúl Ramos (Change Agent Consulting: Each one, Reach one, Teach one LLC)
Leon Rodrigues (Bethel University)
Beryl Rourke (William Mitchell College of Law)
Yolonda Rogers (Metropolitan State University TRiO Upward Bound)
Barb Rose (Side by Side Associates)
Sally Ruvelson (Community Volunteer)
Guadalupe Sánchez (Metropolitan State University Equal Opportunity and Diversity)
Lou Schoen (Discussions that Encounter)
Rowzat Shipchandler (The Saint Paul Foundation)
Jill M. Sondergaard (Events Consultant)
Melani (Lani) Suarez (Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women)
Nicki Tait (Day One Services)
Truly Webb (Metropolitan State University Equal Opportunity and Diversity)
Antonia Apolinário Wilcoxon (Minnesota Department of Human Services)
AND, to our keynote speakers, workshop presenters, conference participants, volunteers, and the diverse array of talented artists/activists
Thank You to the following organizations for partnering with FREC to widely promote the conference, and sending a number of people to the conference (list as of Nov. 1, 2011):
Metropolitan State University Student Senate and SAFAC, Minnesota Department of Human Services,
Minnesota Minority Education Partnership, Minnesota’s Private Colleges, and Ramsey County