Support feedback in the fight for racial justice

As a nonprofit working to shift the feedback field to be more equitable, Feedback Labs commits to leveraging our privilege and platform to amplify the voices of historically excluded communities. The Listening for Justice blog series highlights BIPOC activists' and leaders’ experiences in listening to their communities and using feedback to make meaningful change.

Since our last project report, we have published four new Listening for Justice blog posts. You can view the previous project report here.

In Centering Black & Latine/x neighbors in the former capital of the confederacy, Rodney Gaines and Dana Kiernan from Virginia Community Voice discuss how listening and feedback are integral to their mission and work to uplift historically marginalized communities. They collect community input to design programs, with the ethos that “We don’t stop after listening. We move people toward collective action. We build power.”

For 25 years, Children’s Law Center (CLC) has fought for every child in Washington, DC to be able to grow up with a stable family, good health, and quality education — and to live in a world in which racism, trauma, and poverty are eliminated as barriers to success. In Listening to DC’s children and families to improve legal services, Hannah Strauss discusses how they used listening to shift their work and tackle systematic challenges. Strauss reflects on the question, “What does equitable legal representation look like?” and writes that people “are experts of their own lived experiences and therefore have expert insights that can help shape our services”; by making their services more client-centered, CLC is creating opportunities for families to be their own "decision-makers and leaders." 

In Black art and artists matter, founder Tatiana Rice writes that “consistently adapting based on feedback has been essential” to BlkArthouse’s mission: “to empower Black artists who have been underrepresented in the visual arts, and that required an artist-first approach”. BlkArthouse employed an artist-first approach to focus on building a community before launching their platform, BLKMKT. By listening to the community that they seek to serve, BlkArthouse learned more about the “barriers Black artists face to achieve racial equity in the visual arts” and how that shapes “new ways and better outcomes to empower Black artists”. 

Black Girls Hike RVA was founded in 2020 by Shara and Nicole, two friends and educators, who also found joy in hiking. While out on the trails, they noticed the lack of diversity. With a vision and passion for wanting to create a space for women of color to enjoy the outdoors, BGHRVA was born. Creating a safe space for women of color on hiking trails shares how BGHRVA is creating safe outdoor spaces for women of color in the former capital of the confederacy with a goal of seeing more "brown faces in green spaces."

Thanks to support from donors like you, we were able to recognize, honor, and compensate these activists and leaders for their time and labor relating to this blog series. If you know of a leader, activist, or organization who would like to contribute to the Listening for Justice blog series, please get in touch by sending an email to Corey via corey@feedbacklabs.org. 

Thank you again for supporting us in the fight for racial justice in the feedback field! 

Links:

• Centering Black & Latine/x neighbors in the former capital of th
• Listening to DC's children and families to improve legal service
• Creating a safe space for women of color on hiking trails

As a nonprofit working to shift the feedback field to be more equitable, Feedback Labs commits to leveraging our privilege and platform to amplify the voices of historically excluded communities. The Listening for Justice blog series highlights BIPOC activists' and leaders’ experiences in listening to their communities and using feedback to make meaningful change.

Since our last project report, we have published three new Listening for Justice blog posts. You can view the previous project report here.

Some would say that 2020 was a year of reckoning and upheaval. In Remembering George Floyd a year later and how a group of regular people changed the world, Feedback Labs Community Coordinator, Roderick Griner, reflects on racial justice in the past year and Derek Chauvin’s trial verdict. He writes, “As we remember the life of George Floyd on the anniversary of his murder, our thoughts remain with those who loved him and too many others like Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor who have suffered loss due to our 400-year-old legacy of systemic racism. We hope this verdict will reignite the calls for change and continue to fuel the community-led reimagining of our society”.

In Investing in Baltimore City’s next leaders, The Initiative: Baltimore shares their vision for a community-led future by “listening to the needs of our youth from them” to design their youth education and mentorship programs. They not only support youth to become leaders in their own communities, but also provide them with “a sense of ownership about their neighborhoods and the city”.

Following the tragic death of Freddie Gray, a Black resident killed while in custody by Baltimore City police officers in 2015, “many of the youth in Baltimore City expressed that they felt they didn’t have any opportunities to voice their opinions politically and advocate for change publicly”. Baltimore City youth are breaking down boundaries to create brighter future highlights the efforts that No Boundaries Coalition has put forth in amplifying Baltimore City youth voices, including the formation of the No Boundaries Youth Organizers program that provides “inner-city youth with the opportunity to partake in community organizing to make their voices heard”. 

Thanks to support from donors like you, we were able to recognize, honor, and compensate these activists and leaders for their time and labor relating to this blog series. If you know of a leader, activist, or organization who would like to contribute to the Listening for Justice blog series, please get in touch by sending an email to Corey via corey@feedbacklabs.org. 

Thank you again for supporting us in the fight for racial justice in the feedback field! 

Links:

• Remembering George Floyd a year later and how a group of regular
• Investing in Baltimore City's next leaders
• Baltimore City youth are breaking down boundaries to create brig