Community
Community building is a powerful tool for creating positive change in society. It helps to bring people together and create a sense of belonging and shared values. Organizations like Community Change Inc are leading the way in building communities that are committed to making a real difference. Through their initiatives they are inspiring individuals to take action and create lasting change in their communities.
Change
Racism is a deeply rooted problem in our society, but it doesn't have to be this way. Change is possible, and it starts with each of us. We can all take steps to reduce racism in our communities and create a better future for everyone. Our organization works to build anti-racism initiatives in communities across the United States.
Connect
Connecting with black communities is an important step in the fight against racism. It is essential to understand their experiences and perspectives to create meaningful change. We must also recognize the unique challenges they face and work together to create solutions that will bring about lasting impact.
Education, Advocacy and Solidarity to organize for Change
Community Change was born out of the Civil Rights Movement and in response to the Kerner Commission which named racism, not merely as an individual bias, but as an institutional problem that White people had a moral obligation to grapple with.
CCI has done what few organizations are willing to do: shine a spotlight on the roots of racism, while specializing in educating and organizing White people for antiracist action.
In this troubled climate of 1968, Horace Seldon founded Community Change, driven by a paradoxical, but profound epiphany. For Horace realized that although racism and its impacts were not merely about individual biases or personal choices, individual White antiracists, educated and organized, could and should work to end racism. Grounded in his work as a minister, Horace realized this while driving home after preaching an Easter morning sermon in Westfield, one week after Dr. King’s assassination. From there he devoted his life to work against racism. Today, we carry on that mission of organizing and education White folks with a similar zeal.
We at CCI understand racism to be more than individual prejudice and discrimination based on race.
CCI accomplishes its mission through education, advocacy and working in solidarity with others to organize for change.
We believe that racism occurs when one group has the systemic power to institutionalize its prejudice in the forms of laws, policies, and ideologies that exclude and oppress other groups.
Historically, and presently in the United States, white men of wealth and property have had this power to create and control the institutions that govern the lives of all who live here.
This has produced a system of advantage for white people who benefit from unearned privilege at the expense of people of color.
We believe that this systemic or institutional racism is largely invisible to the white community.
To counteract some of the devastating effects of systemic racism, many organizations provide essential human services to those in need. While we wholeheartedly support this work, our approach is different. We address the systems that create those needs in the first place.
Meet the Team
CCI works with a multi-racial constituency to equip people with the knowledge and skills necessary to take effective action, to support movement building tied to an action agenda, and to educate policy makers on institutional racism and its public policy implications.
Shay Stewart-Bouley
Executive Director
Jake Fahey
AROS Coordinator
Daniel DeAngelis
AROS Coordinator- MA