Welcome to the Stand Against Racism Challenge! To those who are new to the challenge, we hope it will be a helpful tool and create space for you to learn and grow. To those who joined us last fall, welcome back. We hope you find this challenge just as impactful as the first.
We’ve chosen to focus the first two weeks of the challenge on topics key to YWCA Cass Clay’s work in the community: Homelessness & Housing and Gender-Based Violence. The second half of the challenge will focus more broadly on race as it’s portrayed in film and television and its effect on an institute we’ve all been shaped by in one way or another– education.
We’re so glad you’re here and can’t wait to embark on this anti-racism journey together.
Day 01: Intersectionality & Anti-Racism
As we move through the challenge, two key concepts will be important to understand and keep in mind: intersectionality and anti-racism. Review the resources above to familiarize yourself with these concepts before beginning the challenge. For more on these topics, check out Day 3 and Day 13 of the 14-Day Challenge last November.
Watch this video
for a quick explanation of intersectionality
(3 minutes)
Watch this video
that outlines the intersections between key components of YWCA’s work in our community
(3 minutes)
Watch this video
for a quick definition of anti-racism and the actions we can take to eliminate racism around us
(1 minute)
Watch this video
to learn more about what it means to be anti-racist with this segment from Good Morning America
(6 minutes)
Day 02: Intersection of Homelessness & Race
What does homelessness have to do with racial equality?
We tend to think that homelessness and housing insecurity are caused by poverty, that they are simply due to a person’s inability to pay rent. But consider the data: Cass County’s racial composition is 1.5% Indigenous and 6.4% Black or African American. Yet a staggering 56% of individuals served by YWCA Cass Clay in 2020 were people of color, reflective of historical racial and economic disparities.
Watch this video
summarizing how racism and homelessness intersect
(2 minutes)
Listen to this podcast
featuring an open dialogue between Jeff Olivet and Marc Dones, as they tackle the complexities and paradoxes of race as it relates to homelessness
(20 minutes)
Read this Report
that details how people of color are excluded from equal access to housing, community supports, and opportunities for economic mobility.
(5-30 minutes)
Day 03: Diving Deeper
We delve deeper into housing, homelessness, and racism for our third day of the challenge.
In addition to African Americans, systemic racism also impacts Latinx, Indigenous, biracial, multiracial, and other historically disenfranchised populations. Today, we’ll explore how homelessness disproportionately impacts people of color.
Read this article
on how racism and homelessness are interconnected
(5 minutes)
Listen to this podcast
on why homelessness hits black Americans hardest and the protective factors that make white people less likely to experience homelessness
(9 minutes)
Read this article
on why LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience homelessness in American and how racial factors magnify this risk
(30 minutes)
Day 04: Segregation & Cities
Today is all about the systems that create unequal access to housing and enable discrimination.
Read this article
about how where you live can impact your health, income, and chances of incarceration
(8 minutes)
Read this article
about how federal government policies created racial segregation
(15 minutes)
Listen to this podcast
on modern housing discrimination and how where you live can dictate the quality of your health, education, and public service
(55 minutes)
Day 05: Racial Wealth Gap
Learn how generations of discriminatory policies and practices created and reinforce racial disparities in homeownership.
Read this article
with nine charts explaining how income inequality, earning gaps, homeownership rates, retirement savings, student loan debt, and lopsided asset-building subsidies have contributed to these growing wealth disparities
(10 minutes)
Read this article
on the policies and practices that reinforce racial gaps in wealth and homeownership
(15 minutes)
Watch this video
to learn how the racial wealth gap was built
(16 minutes)
Week 1 Action Steps:
- Identify organizations in your community who help prevent homelessness
- Look at who lives in your neighborhood. Where do you see diversity?
- Connect with your neighbors–especially those who don’t look like you!
Week 1 Discussion Questions:
Once you have completed this week’s challenges, we encourage you to take a moment to reflect.
- What was the most impactful piece of content you read this week?
- What was the most challenging thing you learned this week?
- What did you learn about who experiences and what causes homelessness?
- What, if anything, surprised you about this week’s content?
- Do you own your home? Why or why not? Discuss the factors that have helped or prevented you from homeownership.
- Have you or anyone you know experienced homelessness? What factors came into play?
Share each challenge online with #YWCAEquityChallenge