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YWCA Elgin is excited to announce the launch of the Stand Against Racism Challenge on April 4, 2022.

What is the Stand Against Racism (SAR) Challenge?

The SAR Challenge was created to help people better understand how racial inequity and social injustice impact our community. The challenge is designed to provide participants with daily tasks through the Challenge website or app (Apple, Android) that include activities such as reading an article, listening to a podcast, and reflecting on personal experiences. By addressing issues of race, power, privilege, and leadership we can connect with others to identify ways to dismantle racism and other forms of discrimination.

What is Racial Equity?

It is both an outcome and a process. As a process, we apply racial equity to policies, systems, structures, and institutions by analyzing data so we can identify, uncover and remove barriers that produce disparate (unfavorable) outcomes based on race. As an outcome, racial equity is the condition that would be achieved if one’s racial identity no longer predicted, in a statistical sense, how one fares in society.

Why the Challenge?

It is said that it takes 21 days to form a habit. By taking small actions and participating in a conversation about racism and social justice, we can create momentum and unity in order to build new and positive habits to change our communities and ourselves.

Why Should I Engage My Company or Organization?

The 21-Day Challenge provides a framework for meaningful action through daily emails allowing leadership to offer employees the power and platform to take action for racial justice. The psychological impact of public events regarding racial violence and racist threats carries over into the workplace. How organizations respond can either help employees feel psychologically safe or contribute to feelings of isolation, fear, and sadness. Leaders seeking to create an inclusive environment for employees can help to address these topics by being a part of the challenge.

Who Created the Challenge?

The 21-Day Equity Challenge was created by Dr. Eddie Moore Jr. (Black Mind) and co-developed with Debby Irving, and Dr. Marguerite Penick (Diverse Solutions). The plan has been adopted by organizations, associations, and corporations all over the nation/world. Dr. Eddie Moore Jr. is the Director of the Privilege Institute in Green Bay, WI. Dr. Moore created the Challenge to not only help people better understand issues surrounding equity, inclusion, privilege, leadership, and supremacy but also to do so in a way that would build a habit of learning by stretching it over 21 days. We are excited to be offering you this Challenge in partnership with Dr. Moore. The Stand Against Racism Challenge is now an official program of YWCA USA.

2022 TOPICS

The Stand Against Racism Challenge runs for 21 days. New content will be published daily (except for weekends) for the duration of the challenge. Each week we cover a different topic relating to equity and social justice. Below are the four topics we plan on covering this year, although not necessarily in this order.

YWCA is committed to antiracism and a key part of this mission is to ensure that children learn a truthful accounting of our country’s history of systemic racism and how that legacy continues to impact our lives today. This week will explore what Critical Race Theory is, the misconceptions surrounding it, and what participants can do to act.

  • What is Critical Race Theory?
  • Racism in School Curriculum
  • Teaching the Next Generation
  • Legislative Backlash to CRT
  • Truth and Healing

Over a quarter of America’s workers make less than $15 per hour. Women of color are disproportionately likely to make less than a living wage. We are going to talk about how raising the minimum wage to a living wage could be a powerful tool for closing the racial and gender wealth gaps, the history of the sub-minimum wage, and why paying a living wage is key to an equitable workplace.

  • What is a Living Wage?
  • Minimum Wage
  • Racist History of Tipping
  • Closing the Racial & Gender Wealth Gap
  • Organizational Values

Film and television are powerful mediums and have been instrumental both in perpetuating racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia, as well as breaking ground and helping Americans envision a more equitable world.

  • Racism & the Origins of Film
  • LGBTQ+ Representation
  • The War on Terror & Islamophobia on Screen
  • Colorism
  • Power of Representation

For more than fifty years, YWCA USA has supported the reproductive freedom of all people to make fundamental decisions about whether and when to have children. Abortion bans could push young women out of the workplace and limit their education and careers, with lifelong consequences for themselves and their families.

  • Period Poverty
  • Sex Education
  • Legal Restrictions
  • Impact
  • Police Violence & Reproductive Justice