Pictured above: Lark wears a For Everyone Collective “Abolition is Creative: 420 Edition Tee” that shows a police car being overgrown by cannabis plants, with the words “Decriminalize. Decarcerate. Repair.”
After participating in Kevin McGruder’s “Introduction to Social Enterprise” course in Fall of 2023, I asked about working on the local reparations fund that is organized by The 365 Project. The 365 Project is an organization and community of “mentors and activists who support the people of Yellow Springs, Ohio in engaging critically and respectfully in courageous conversations and action that promotes diverse African-American heritage, culture, and racial equity, 365 days a year.” Their Citizens’ Action Reparations Fund offers the opportunity for the Yellow Springs community to account for the ongoing harm that has resulted from the institution of racism and the legacy of enslavement. My role has been to do research in exploring how The Fund can grow in its impact by increasing the amount of donors, the amount of funds coming in from donors, and the amount of recipients who receive a financial award.
My day to day would consist of primarily computer work which I did mostly at the Antioch College library. I met with Kevin each week on Mondays to check in and discuss the course of action and content I would work on, which included:
- Surveys: I researched how to launch a survey to the public as well as surveys to donors (financial contributors), recipients, and committee members of The Fund. I formatted these surveys and sent out three of them.
- Bulk Mailing: I learned about how to go about bulk mailing and developed price estimates for public mailing The 365 Project may choose to send out in the future.
- Presenting Survey Research: I sorted through and presented the survey results with a list of conclusions and suggestions that could be gleaned from them. I made a list of suggestions for how their website could be updated to make it more accessible for people to apply.
- Writing FAQs: I developed FAQs for how The Fund operates and a statement detailing the global conversations about eligibility for reparations and the debate about direct payment as a form of reparations.
- Fundraising theory and approaches: I made suggestions about fundraising and provided reference to a framework of Community-Centric Fundraising.
- Educational Research and Resource List: I made resource lists for learning about the history and current initiatives about reparations, both detailing the case for why reparations are owed and how different reparations initiatives (governmental and local grassroots) are organizing.
- Reparations Music Playlists: And I won’t forget to mention one of my side projects I am proud of which was compiling songs and music videos on reparations for education and positive vibrations! You can find those here: Listen and watch on Youtube or listen on Spotify.
- I also plan to follow up on writing a couple letters to the editor for the Yellow Springs News to provide a snippet of educational content and invite folks to contribute financially to The Fund, as the founder, Susan Harrison, does periodically. (This aspect of reparations work is something I feel a bit stuck on and would like to get support and experience in building skills around. I have recently met with Susan about how she frames her writing. She usually centers it around statistics or events that show how the racial wealth gap is still an ongoing issue, despite misconceptions against reparations, often arguing that “slavery was long ago.” Now it’s up to me to commit and follow through with writing.)
The aim of all these documents in the final report is to provide the committee and board of The 365 Project with resources they can draw on as they continue to manage The Fund. This initiative aspires to grow to the capacity to be able to best support Yellow Springs residents of African descent through such things as buying homes and running businesses that will build generational wealth. Hopefully The Fund can continue to provide more and more community members, donors and recipients alike, with a sense of interconnection, value and empowerment in community.
This co-op has aligned with my personal educational goals in that it has allowed for me to do the work on a local level that seeks to contribute to the collective project of accounting for the impacts of ongoing cycles of racialized violence. It has allowed me to learn about how I work, how to manage my time and create a routine – how 30 hours of independent computer work a week is something I can do but may not want to do again at this caliber because I recognized a strong desire for some more face-to-face interaction and body movement. This co-op has allowed me to value how I show up in the world since it came about based on my specific interests, basic background knowledge of reparations, and my passion for the subject.
I learned to trust myself more, recognizing that, even though I can feel like I am falling short of “doing enough” or working as efficiently as I can, “not doing it right” or at risk of causing harm in the process of trying to contribute to repair – I know I am operating from a place of integrity, as well as a place of openness to receive feedback, take responsibility for my actions, and shift accordingly as I move forward. This co-op has also allowed me to learn more about the scope of reparations organizing through time and across the globe. There is still much to learn and much to do! And the work is urgent. Violence targeting Black and Brown bodies and colonized peoples across the globe continues, violence that hurts us all whether we feel close to the impacts or not. The work goes on. Onward!
