YWCA Hosts National Day Of Racial Healing Event Tuesday

EVANSTON, IL — In recognition of the National Day of Racial Healing, which occurs the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, YWCA Evanston/North Shore will host a virtual panel discussion that is free and open to the public.

Titled “Racial Healing and Reparations: Two Steps Toward Transformation,” the panel discussion will take place from noon to 1:30 p.m. Central Time on January 19.

YWCA Evanston/North Shore is encouraging area residents to attend this free event by registering via YWCA’s website: www.ywca-ens.org.

The panel discussion will feature community leaders including:

· Monica Haslip, founder and executive director of Little Black Pearl, a 40,000 square-foot facility on Chicago’s South Side that provides opportunities in art, culture and entrepreneurship to youth, adults and families across Chicago. Haslip also is a national trainer of racial healing circle practitioners for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Health and Transformation Initiative.

· Robin Rue Simmons, strategist, civic entrepreneur and alderman of Evanston’s Fifth Ward. Simmons chairs the Reparations Committee of the City of Evanston.

· Rev. Dr. Michael C.R. Nabors, president of the Evanston/North Shore branch of the NAACP and senior pastor at Second Baptist Church of Evanston. Nabors will serve as moderator of the discussion.

The event also will feature a Q & A session.

The panel discussion is funded in part by a grant from Healing Illinois, a statewide racial healing initiative of the Illinois Department of Human Services, in partnership with the Chicago Community Trust, a foundation working toward equity, opportunity and prosperity to achieve a thriving, equitable and connected Chicago region.

This release was produced by the YWCA Evanston/North Shore, which works to end domestic violence, advance economic security for women, and achieve racial and gender equity. Located in Evanston, the organization serves more than 10,000 people annually in Chicago, Deerfield, Des Plaines, Evanston, Glencoe, Glenview, Golf, Kenilworth, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northbrook, Northfield, Park Ridge, Skokie, Wilmette, and Winnetka. The views expressed here are the author's own.