Advocacy Symposium on Structural Racism

During an intensive three day program, we brought together many of the preeminent experts on the subject of structural racism: more than sixty legal aid advocates from across the country. “Structural racism” refers to a framework for understanding the institutional and public policies that, whether intentionally or not, create fundamental barriers to economic and social equality for persons and communities of color. As a group, we identified and explored policies, institutions and practices that result in economic and social inequalities for communities of color; shared practical tools and approaches for addressing and overcoming these; and, made great strides toward further intellectual and community consensus.

The event was not simply an academic exercise. Rather, it successfully achieved its goals of catalyzing individual self-reflection and organizational change back home and ongoing activities to support the work regionally:

• A group of advocates attending the event convened the New England Structural Racism Coalition. Through their efforts, several New England legal aid programs have since initiated race equity projects to identify particular advocacy projects appropriate for them.
• Several Coalition members helped organize a race equity track at the summer 2007 NLADA Substantive Law Conference and will present a similar track at the upcoming national Advocacy Director’s conference in June 2008.
• At the request of New England project directors, CLAE sponsored a second Structural Racism Symposium in October 2007 for project directors and advocacy coordinators – a group whose commitment and buy-in are critical.
• CLAE continues to provide support for this emerging learning community. For example, we now host an active web-based discussion group through which coalition members share ideas and engage in collaborative work.