Racial Healing Initiative
In 2022, CHL held a leadership role in implementing the Racial Healing Initiative (RHI) to foster racial healing and systemic change in retreat centers around the nation. Retreat centers can be refuges of healing, renewal and discovery, but most are historically white-led with majority-white participants. The RHI initiative works to help structures mature beyond nominal inclusion so that BIPOC people can experience full and authentic belonging on an energetic level, and wholeheartedly engage in rest, renewal and exploration in retreat center settings.
RHI is a project held in partnership with Commonweal, the Fetzer Institute, and the Retreat Center Collaboration (RCC). It is funded through a Kellogg Foundation grant. In 2022, guided by CHL, the RHI team delivered trainings in six retreat centers and offered racial healing community calls and workshops for RCC members, overall serving an estimated 300+ people. The multi-year initiative is being developed in phases and could ultimately be scaled to reach thousands of people. In 2023, after helping to successfully establish this initiative, CHL stepped back from direct RHI involvement while continuing to offer our strongest support.
Building a Global Anti-Rasict Movement
In October 2022, we coordinated a panel discussion called Building a Global Anti-racist Movement, with proceeds benefiting The Social Justice Agency in South Africa and CHL. Anti-racism movements around the world operate in different cultures and contexts, yet there is fundamental common ground in the work of liberation. We brought together an international panel of racial justice leaders to ask: Living in this body, this place, this moment, how do we cultivate healing and resilience, meet the immense challenges of our time, and grow the anti-racist movement locally and globally? Facilitated by CHL Director Victoria Santos, panelists included leading voices in the profound conversation around racial justice in our time and for future generations: Resmaa Menakem, Nova Reid, Dr. Robin DiAngelo, Leticia Nieto, Esther A. Armah, and Edwin Cleophas.
Consciousness Lab
In partnership with the BIPOC ED Coalition of Washington State, we led a group of Black changemakers in an ongoing multi-month Consciousness Lab series with author and healer Orland Bishop.
Sabbatical Support
We also supported two Black women who are antiracist changemakers in taking much-needed sabbaticals for renewal, rest and reconnection with their vision.
Orland Bishop: A Message of our Time
In February 2021, CHL hosted an online gathering with friend of Commonweal Orland Bishop, author of The Seventh Shrine: Meditations on the African Spiritual Journey. This gathering was for Black folks exploring a collective vision of healing and transformation, asking what that looks like for Black people in the US at this time. This gathering invited participants to reflect deeply on what is possible for Black Americans in today’s world as our time relates to MLK’s prophecy of the mountaintop.
White Supremacy in the Global Context Panel Discussion.
October 2021. CHL facilitated this panel discussion with racial justice leaders Resmaa Menakem, Nova Reid, Leticia Nieto, Robin DiAngelo, Edwin Cleophas. While the institutionalization of white supremacy originated in the U.S., it now circulates globally. The Black Lives Matter movement also originated in the U.S. but galvanized antiracism movements worldwide. This panel addressed the similarities and the differences across cultures and countries, the challenges and opportunities of this particular moment, and how we might move forward at the local and global levels. Our panel of international racial justice leaders offered a deep and multifaceted reflection on where we were at that time and how we can advance healing and cultural transformation.
