Fierce Urgency of Now: Activism and Mentorship

This event will connect professionals of color through small group discussions. Participants will get to:

• Explore the link between meaningful relationships and one's confidence and courage to advance racial equity and social justice
• Examine different strategies for building effective mentoring relationships
• Connect with one another in peer-to-peer mentoring small groups
• Outline a personal plan to build a mentoring relationship or better leverage a mentoring relationship that already exists
• Have an opportunity to sign-up to become a Big Sister

Activism: a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue.

At the heart of every mentoring relationship, is the social- emotional support needed to build the confidence and courage needed to advance goals for oneself and the greater good. These relationships are even more important in this time of heightened movement for racial equity and social justice within organizations and throughout the community.

Conversation Leader :

Councilor Julia Mejia , Elected to the City Council of the great city of Boston starting in 2020, Julia serves with the reminder that nothing about us, without us, is for us. Julia is a graduate of Dorchester High School and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Ida College. She lives in Dorchester with her daughter, Annalise, and their little Shih-Tzu, Toby.

Panelists:

Charmain Jackman, Big Sister Boston Diversity Board member, and former Big Sister who will be talking about her activism in mental health. She has created and is expanding a community of mental health care professionals of color to provide counselling to those who want support from mental health professionals from their racial/cultural background.

Diana Hwang, Executive Director, Asian American Women’s Political Initiative. Diana is the Founder/Executive Director of AAWPI. In 2020, Diana was the first Political and Organizing Director for She the People, a national network of women of color working to transform our democracy.

THIS EVENT IS HOSTED BY: Big Sister Association of Greater Boston

Big Sister Association of Greater Boston is celebrating its 70th Year Anniversary this year. Our mission is to ignite girls’ passion and power to succeed through positive mentoring relationships with women and enrichment programs that support girls’ healthy development. Ultimately, our vision is to create a mentor- rich community in which every girl has access to the individual nurturing, guidance, and support she needs to become a confident, competent and caring adult. We are a national model for gender- intentional mentoring for youth who identify as a female which can be replicated in other mentoring programs. In 2020 we served nearly 3400 girls and women in 69 towns and cities in Greater Boston. 90% of the girls we serve are girls of color.