Roundtable on Community Change

Peer Learning Forum

A Resource for the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change's Project on Structural Racism and Community Revitalization

Welcome to the website for the Racial Equity and Society Peer Learning Forum.

This site supports those who have participated in the Racial Equity and Society Seminars in their work to dismantle structural racism and build racial equity. We hope to do this by keeping new and relevant information flowing to you, by providing an online forum for participants to keep abreast of each other's work, by maintaining a list of people and organizations who have developed expertise in relevant areas, by posting case studies that feature on-the-ground racial equity work that has applied a structural lens, and by providing a easy way to post comments and questions to the Roundtable staff and to fellow members of the Forum.

The Peer Learning Forum provides seminar alumni with a number of resources, enabling them to revisit course content, and communicate and share information about their local efforts.

The site features a link for each of the cities and national organizations that have been represented at the Racial Equity and Society Seminars. We hope that you will submit information that can be posted in this section, such as summaries of work that you have undertaken, links to important organizations, and articles relevant to building racial equity in your city. Available information on racial equity work in these cities and national organizations can be found here:

Structural Racism Resources

This page provides an array of resources on structural racism, including:

• Publications on structural racism from the Roundtable
• Recent research on emerging practices in the racial equity field
• Syllabi and selected reading froms the racial equity seminars
• Information on structural racism and racial disparity in various policy domains
• Resources for talking about structural racism and advocating racial equity
• Organizations working toward racial equity
• Documentarties on race and racism

Case studies

The Roundtable staff have been conducting case studies of groups that work for racial equity in a particular area with a structural racism analysis. One of the studies concentrates on a project to promote racial equity in the child welfare system, and another concentrates on a project that has been working to promote racial equity and living-wage employment for public housing residents in New York City. Both of these case studies will be posted as powerpoint presentations in the near future.

Database of Experts and Contacts

The Forum offers a contact list of leaders, advocates, and researchers in the field of racial equity.

Communication, Comments, and Questions

The Peer Learning Forum provides several tools to facilitate communication between seminar participants, and between seminar participants and the Roundtable:

• The Dismantling Structural Racism Google Group enables seminar participants and Roundtable staff to share data, articles, and insights. Through the group, the Roundtable will be able to contact seminar participants and keep them posted on upcoming events, developments in the racial equity field, as well as updates to the Peer Learning Forum. Roundtable staff and seminar participants can also use the group to post documents and media relevant to their local racial equity work, and share them with other group members. We intend this group to work in tandem with the Peer Learning Forum to provide continued support, communication, and knowledge building between seminar participants.
• You may also contact the Forum's moderator using the Comments Form, or Gretchen Susi (gretchens@aspenroundtable.org) with comments and questions, or if you have something specific that you would like to have posted on the Forum site.
• Relevant media, articles, questions, and comments received through the google group, or comments form, or by email will be posted here as a resource for seminar participants, and others engaged or interested in racial equity work.