Evanston’s YWCA plans to implement a pilot program this fall to create a sustainable dialogue on race in Evanston. The YWCA hopes this will lead to action addressing racism in the city, said Executive Director Karen Singer.
Racism exists at both institutional and interpersonal levels within the city, she said.
“We need to learn to talk about it and take a look at it,” Singer said.
The YWCA’s pilot program will aim to build a community-wide conversation and will likely be modeled after a PBS series on the perceptions and meanings of race called “Race-The Power of an Illusion,” Singer said. The YWCA is bringing in a new staff member who will be responsible for designing the program, Singer said. The new associate director begins work Monday.
One example of a local issue associated with race is the achievement gap of minority students at Evanston Township High School.
At ETHS, a higher percentage of minority students than white students take lower level classes, said Rachel Hayman, president of the school board for District 202.
The school board is reviewing its practices and policies to identify potential barriers keeping low-achieving students from educational resources, she said.
“The fact is, ETHS is where our entire community comes together,” Hayman said.
The YWCA will soon begin reaching out to different organizations in the community, which might include Northwestern student groups.
This could benefit NU students by bringing them together with other Evanston residents, said Tedd Vanadilok, director of Asian American Student Affairs at NU.
On campus, student groups such as For Members Only, Alianza and Asian Pacific American Coalition are beginning to collaborate to address race issues together, Vanadilok said. It’s also important for students to talk to people who don’t think the same way they do, he said.
“The best growth comes from talking with people and sharing different perspectives,” Vanadilok said.
Race is an issue that often comes up during the Evanston Community Foundation’s leadership programs, said Marybeth Schroeder, the foundation’s senior program officer.
Creating a discussion on race is one way of comparing how residents live to the way they hope they do, she said.
“We’re a community that had a lot of injustice around race,” Schroeder said.
For instance, Evanston used to have separate facilities for black residents, such as a hospital and a YMCA on Emerson Street, said Matt Johnson, vice president of the city’s McGaw YMCA. When these separate facilities closed during the civil rights movement to encourage racial integration, many African-American residents felt their community lost its key institutions, Johnson said. Today the city continues to have segregated housing patterns, but an open dialogue about race may help to bridge the gap between black and white residents, he said.
“We’re a community that speaks very strongly about being open and inclusive, but sometimes our actions are not in line with our words,” Johnson said.[email protected]
