Community Relations

 

 

A Change Maker Opportunity

 

The Atlanta Shambhala Meditation Center has an opportunity to partner with the NAACP DeKalb to support the Equal Justice Initiative in the Community Remembrance Project.

EJI’s Community Remembrance Project is part of our campaign to recognize the victims of lynching by collecting soil from lynching sites, erecting historical markers, and creating a national memorial that acknowledges the horrors of racial injustice. The NAACP has been approved to bring to DeKalb County the marker and the monument.

We are seeking people to fill the following positions to carry out this project. All positions are unpaid volunteer opportunities. Whatever skill you have and whatever cause you care about, you can change the world by becoming a Change Maker. You can help to make it happen!

 

1) Volunteers to assist with Fundraising activities – mailing out letters and follow-up tracking of donations

2) Volunteers to assist in the activities for the Educational Committee

3) Volunteer to oversee the Publicity and support the Social Media Specialist

4) Volunteers to support the Events Committee in the planning and implementation of the Lithonia Events

6) Volunteers to assist the Committee Chair in the planning, implementation and support of the Theatrical Events

7) Independent Researcher will travel to a small town in Ga.

 

If you are interested in any of these positions, please contact Brenda Collins at [email protected]. Put in the subject of your email: NAACP Remembrance Project.

Thanks

 


The Community Relations Team

Proposed Principles

Engage in three levels of practice:

  1. Personal Practice & Study
  2. Interpersonal Practice – awakening in relationships
  3. Collective Practice – revisioning our social structures

Working with ourselves, working with others, working for positive social change

Being true to our practices and values

Proposed Committee Objectives

  • Creating a Culture of Kindness within our sangha and beyond
  • Creating and strengthening relationships
  • Engaging in and hosting conversations that matter

 

Proposed Strategies

Creating a Culture of Kindness

  • Engage in community building activities (routine potlucks, home visits, one-one contact, hiking trips, talk show, interfaith forums/ speakers) (these could be done in cooperation with other committees)
  • Make effort to make everyone feel welcome regardless of differences- reduction of cliques

 

Creating and strengthening relationships

  • Hosting events that foster cultural understanding- arts of diverse groups, for example
  • Getting to know and working with individuals and groups that our view of enlightened society might have affinity with

 

Engaging in and hosting conversations that matter

  • Conversations both inside and outside sangha about:
  • Race relations/environmental issues/ economic disparity/ gender issues/ criminal justice system/ sexual orientation/ education/ etc.

 

Resources:

Race relations

Buddhist ‘People Of Color Sanghas,’ Diversity Efforts Address Conflicts About Race Among Meditators