Our Mission
To guide youth to reach amazing levels of connection with the self, with their peers, and then ultimately with the world. In this, we aim to provide tools to help youth understand intersectionality and how the history of racism and white supremacy has shaped the current policies and practices in the US, manage and lower their stress levels, regulate their emotions, and understand their role in dismantling racism.
Our Vision is to build a movement of radical and structural thinkers. From this movement will emerge a core of racial justice practitioners that will be devoted to collective liberation and undoing the trauma that racism has caused.
Our History
In 2008 Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center (SJPHC) participated in a regional learning collaborative with 16 other grantees of the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), participating in workshops and lectures on the impact of racism on health, as well as racial justice, policy development, and community engagement. SJPHC took the lead on developing a neighborhood health equity strategy. The JP Racial Justice and Equity Collaborative identified the social determinants of health inequities in Jamaica Plain, developed a shared understanding of the role of racism in shaping those factors, and worked on a policy agenda to make sustainable change.
While continuing to lead the collaborative work, SJPHC was given additional funding for Racial Reconciliation and Healing (RRH) via the BPHC and Kellogg Foundation’s Racial Healing and Reconciliation initiative. RRH continues to be housed at SJPHC in its eighth year. The project provides a framework and tools to support the healing that must happen on the individual and community levels.
