History
Why we started Monona ARC
The first Monona ARC circle gathered in the summer of 2021, instigated by a group of Monona neighbors who, like many in the community, recognized the opportunity to bring people together. We want to talk about inclusivity and equity at a hyper-local level, and dig into the history of Monona through a racial lens. Hopefully we can all understand how whiteness and other constructs lead to exclusion and discrimination in the community -- and most importantly, explore action items to take.
Based on the study circle model of gathering people together to discuss difficult topics and explore community based solutions, our circles gather 8-12 Mononans together to bravely share, investigate and act to make Monona a better place.
"I have really enjoyed these meetings and found them valuable. It really feels good to become part of a community of people working for improving things after just reading/thinking/donating on my own."
"I'm very grateful to have been included in these Antiracism Community discussions. I'm grateful to the ARC developers and facilitators for the thought provoking questions and to my fellow participants who engaged in difficult discussions about how the homework applies to our specific community."
Who we are
The team behind Monona ARC considers themselves "companions" with our Monona neighbors on this learning journey. We desire to see Monona become increasingly anti-racist but we are not experts in the field nor professional facilitators. We recognize that we are all white, and that our circle participants also tend to be white. The vast majority of the material we use in the circle are contributions from people of color and their learned experiences. We see value in doing the work in these white "caucuses," described in more detail below.
From the Racial Equity Tools site:
"To advance racial equity, there is work for white people and people of color to do separately and together. Caucuses provide spaces for people to work within their own racial/ethnic groups. For white people, a caucus provides time and space to work explicitly and intentionally on understanding white culture and white privilege and to increase one’s critical analysis around these concepts. A white caucus also puts the onus on white people to teach each other about these ideas, rather than placing a burden on people of color to teach them"
We felt a need to start somewhere. Over the last 9 months, the leadership team has had many conversations about how to continue to build and improve upon our study circle method and we welcome all feedback!
Get Involved
Interested in joining a circle, whether now or later? Just want to learn more? Please fill out the form linked here to indicate your interest, and someone will follow up with you.