Activism
Community Collaborates on Racial Equity in Marin
Composed of 23 members, the implementation team will take the lead on accomplishing the goals and priority actions in the plan. Team members will be divided into three action groups that will identify mental health, housing, and economic opportunity initiatives happening in the county that are aligned with the plan’s key goals. Team members will conduct research, evaluate resources and costs for implementation, and keep the community informed of progress.

County launches application for Race Equity Action Plan Implementation Team
Courtesy of Marin County
An exciting Marin County collaboration between residents, community-based organizations, towns, cities, and County of Marin leaders is taking shape to implement the 2022 Race Equity Action Plan (REAP).
Developed by a group of community residents and advocates, the plan identifies specific goals and actions to advance racial equity across the county. The plan highlights mental health, housing, and economic opportunity as key focus areas. Now that the plan is complete, the next step is to implement the priority actions.
The County of Marin Office of Equity is seeking applications from residents, community-based organizations and staff from local municipalities to serve on the Race Equity Action Plan Implementation Team.
Composed of 23 members, the implementation team will take the lead on accomplishing the goals and priority actions in the plan. Team members will be divided into three action groups that will identify mental health, housing, and economic opportunity initiatives happening in the county that are aligned with the plan’s key goals. Team members will conduct research, evaluate resources and costs for implementation, and keep the community informed of progress.
“Working in close partnership with community, and city and County leaders, we can build trust and spark change to address long standing racial inequities,” said Jamillah Jordan, the County’s Equity Director. “Our goal is to create pathways that allow everyone to thrive and reach their full potential, regardless of race, ethnicity, income, ZIP code, disability, gender, immigration status, sexual orientation, or age.”
Implementation team members are asked to make an eight-month commitment of about six hours per month. The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. Friday, April 29. Applications are available online and hard copy in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. Stipends of $50 per meeting will be provided for members based on need.
The 2022 Race Equity Action Plan was approved by the Board of Supervisors on February 8, 2022. The plan weaves together data and the lived experiences of local residents into a set of focused goals and actions to address racial disparities. Recommendations from the plan include establishing a housing security loan program, a minimum wage ordinance setting the hourly earning at $18, a mental health access fund, and new professional development programs specifically for youth and young adults, among other actions.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of March 15 – 21, 2023
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 15 – 21, 2023

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Activism
Richmond Promise Scholarship Application Deadline Closes March 17
Qualifying applicants can receive up to $1,500 annually for four years toward their post-secondary educational goals at a two-year or four-year college and/or while pursuing a Career Technical Education Certificate at any not-for-profit institution in the U.S.

Calling all high school seniors from Richmond and North Richmond: The Richmond Promise Scholarship Application period for the 2022-2023 school year closes on Friday, March 17.
High school seniors and GED students under the age of 24 who reside in Richmond and North Richmond and attend public, private, or charter schools in West Contra Costa County are eligible to apply for the scholarship.
Qualifying applicants can receive up to $1,500 annually for four years toward their post-secondary educational goals at a two-year or four-year college and/or while pursuing a Career Technical Education Certificate at any not-for-profit institution in the U.S.
Students can also petition for an additional two years of extra funding. Throughout the process, the program provides supportive services to participating scholars from high school through college graduation, including support with identifying and applying for financial aid.
Richmond Promise launched in 2016 with a $35 million, 10-year investment by Chevron Richmond. The funds are part of a $90 million community benefits agreement between the City of Richmond and Chevron connected to the $1 billion Refinery Modernization Project.
To apply for the Richmond Promise Scholarship, go to https://richmondpromise.tfaforms.net/81. Need some help? Reach out to Richmond Promise at scholarships@richmondpromise.org. Learn more about the organization https://richmondpromise.org/
Kathy Chouteau contributed to this report
Activism
Bay Area Native Dr. Terri Jett Honored by Indiana’s Butler University
Terri Jett arrived at Butler University in 1999 to begin her teaching career as an assistant professor of Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies after earning her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration from Auburn University. Originally from California, Jett was unfamiliar with the Hoosier state, but was drawn to the energy of the faculty and students she met at Butler and the opportunity she saw for connecting her teaching and research with the broader Indianapolis community.

By Jennifer Gunnels
Butler University Stories
Bay Area native Terri Jett was received a Distinguished Faculty Award at Indiana’s Butler University.
Terri Jett arrived at Butler University in 1999 to begin her teaching career as an assistant professor of Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies after earning her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration from Auburn University.
Originally from California, Jett was unfamiliar with the Hoosier state, but was drawn to the energy of the faculty and students she met at Butler and the opportunity she saw for connecting her teaching and research with the broader Indianapolis community.
More than 20 years later, Jett has excelled at the work she set out to do. Last year, she was named a 2021-22 Distinguished Faculty Award recipient for her profound contributions to Butler University over the course of her career.
In many ways, Jett has been a trailblazer at Butler, including becoming the first Black female to earn tenure, and in 2020 becoming the first Black female to be promoted to full professor. Along with her teaching responsibilities as a member of the faculty, Jett has taken on numerous additional roles over the years including faculty director of the Hub for Black Affairs and Community Engagement (the Hub), member of the Steering Committee of the Race, Gender, Sexuality Studies Program (RGSS), faculty senator, and Faculty Fellow at the Desmond Tutu Peace Lab Think Tank. She also served as Department Chair from 2007-2014, a role she has currently resumed as interim while the current Chair is on sabbatical.
Jett has developed almost two dozen courses — core, departmental, honors, and even taught in our Washington D.C. Semester Program — and is always eager to seize on opportunities to take her students beyond the borders of campus. She has led students on numerous occasions to Selma, Alabama with the Honors course Voting Rights in Black and White: The Case of the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March. She says walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge is always a moving and eye-opening experience for her students that brings the Civil Rights Movement to life in new ways.
Of the many courses she has taught, Jett says one of her favorites to teach is the Politics of Alice Walker, which she teaches nearly every summer. Prior to the pandemic, Jett also offered the course several times at the Indiana Women’s Prison and was able to bring some of her Butler students to visit her class in prison.
Jett is committed to doing good things in the world herself and is known in the Indianapolis community for her service and activism. She currently serves on the board of Indiana Humanities and is appointed by Mayor Joe Hogsett to the Indianapolis Land Improvement Bond Bank Board. She also moderates a series on local PBS station WFYI called Simple Civics, which provides short civics lessons and was nominated for a Great Lakes Region Emmy in 2020 and again in 2021.
Jett says her community activism is inspired in part by a desire to demonstrate how to be an engaged citizen for her students as well as a desire to connect her teaching and research to issues happening within the community.
“And I do it because it’s fulfilling,” she said.
Though Jett has various roles within and outside of Butler, she finds satisfaction in discovering ways to integrate her teaching, research, and service. For instance, her research focuses on agriculture and food justice, and last year she leveraged her area of academic expertise and her role as Faculty Director of the Hub to partner with Indy Women in Food in hosting the organization’s first conference on Butler’s campus focused on food insecurity in the city.
“I’m thrilled when I’m able to do that,” Jett said. “All of the hats that I wear are sort of constantly engaged at the same time, and I like that I get to work like that. I’m not running from one thing to the next, I feel like my work is layered with multiple connection points.”
This article is part of a series honoring the 2021-22 recipients of the Butler University Distinguished Faculty Award. Printed with permission.
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