FORJ (Families Organizing for Racial Justice) is a coalition of school-aged families in Newton coming together to teach our children – and ourselves – how to stand up for racial equality. Please feel free to reach out to Lincoln-Eliot FORJ Liaison Lanni Isenberg at Lanni_harris@yahoo.com for more information about FORJ and how to get involved.

The next meeting is coming up this Wednesday, June 10th.  Details below.

We also wanted to share a few resources we hope might be helpful:

First, this great list produced by the Brown Bookshelf following their recent kid-friendly Rally for Black Lives, including a link to a recording of the rally (organized by authors Kwame Alexander, Jacqueline Woodson, and Jason Reynolds), places to donate, and resources for further conversations with our children about anti-racism: https://thebrownbookshelf.com/2020/06/04/kidlit-rally-4-black-lives-anti-racist-resources-for-children-families-and-educators/

CNN and Sesame Street organized a town hall, Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism: you can watch the whole thing here.

And here is a list of Social Justice Books for children, YA, and educators, organized by Teaching for Change.

FORJ City-Wide Meeting: Symptoms of COVID-19: Racial Ills in Newton Schools & Community
Wednesday June 10th meeting 7:30-8:30
Zoom password required please RSVP HERE

COVID-19 has brought not just illness, loss, and disruption of normal life, but also an increase in racial incidents.  Our Newton community continues to work on addressing the ills and injuries of COVID-19 race-related incidents in Newton.  Our hardest hit spaces are virtual classrooms.

Please come join us on June 10th as we talk with school and community leaders.  We’ll hear from community members most impacted — our students of color, their classmates and teachers.  How can we help our community to take steps toward addressing — and preventing — these racist attacks.