How are you holding up emotionally and mentally so far this year?
We are a little over two weeks into 2022 and it feels like we have already lived through two years. The pandemic continues to rage. Schools are short-staffed due to COVID outbreaks and our systems continue to fail us in many ways. Then, they blame each of us individually for the failure.
Everything is a lot
This recap has been on my ever-expanding list of things to do since early December. Every time I sat down to write, I was too tired, too distracted, or too overwhelmed to get anything meaningful down. The sheer amount of tasks and work that I had on my to-do list was more than too much. I simply did not have the bandwidth to put this together before the end of the year.
Looking back this probably serves as a summary of our collective experience over the course of an overwhelming year. One more thing on most days seemed like one more thing too much — when we are already traumatized and overburdened with too much on already overflowing plates. In a world that is eager to get back to “business as usual” reclaiming the space to pause, slow down and rest is becoming increasingly difficult.
Honestly do we really want to go back to “normal”
Normal in most cases only works for a select few and for as much as we’ve learned about change, patience, and going with the flow during this pandemic the lessons seem to be short lived. This practice of radical rest, doing less better and saying no are all practices that eluded me last year. As someone that loves the work that I do, I am giving myself grace but I am also taking the lessons that I learned and creating more sustainable practices and routines for myself. Including but not limited to more rest. Trying to balance all the things while trying to prioritize radical rest and self-care is difficult to do in a culture built on exploitation.
How did we manage it all and we keep going? Can we keep our sanity, our kindness, and our grace despite the trauma of the world?
These are questions I ask every day and I am glad to have the mental bandwidth a few weeks into this new year to look back on (and share) all that we accomplished as a team over the course of 2021.
Our Year In Review
Accessible Classes and Programs
540 is all about accessible education and in 2021 we produced and facilitated 45 classes to the community; mostly online but we were able to squeeze in a few socially distanced in-person events. Join us once a month for an interactive workshop at Rochester Brainery.
- we built a community of over 1000+ learners in places near (Rochester, Buffalo, Brighton, and Pittsford) and far (San Diego, Nashville, Mexico City & England)
- created a $15k scholarship fund that gave free access to classes
- funded free classes for 500 students
- provided complimentary ASL interpreting for all classes and events
- produced our (4th) annual hybrid gentrification conference in collaboration with City Roots Community Land Trust (the gentrification conference returns in 2023).
Black Women Roc!
Every year we honor the work of overlooked Black women making a change in the Rochester community.
- this year our campaign was elevated and operationalized in a way that allowed us to tell each woman’s story with more finesse and intention.
- we had the honor of acknowledging three Black women leaders in our community including Tiffany Porter, Tara Banks, and Shamicka Joseph.
- we look forward to our next Black Women Roc! campaign in 2o23.
Program Development
Back in July, we launched Antiracism Facilitator Fellowship (AFF) The fellowship is a 12-month initiative to train and mentor community members vested in facilitating and engaging in difficult dialogue as it relates to race, class, identity, intersectionality, and white supremacy.
- the program has been a huge success read out it in our latest update: Antiracism Facilitator Fellowship Update!
- we hope to run this program biannually.
- with this and future cohorts, we aim to provide continued mentorship, professional development, and skill-building.
- we also continued work on the creation of an accessible play space with funding from Kaboom! at 133 Kenwood in the 19th Ward neighborhood in collaboration with Barbara J. Burger iZone at the University of Rochester and Southwest Rotary Club
Equity & Antiracism Consulting
We offer comprehensive consulting to small businesses and large institutions to help them realize more equitable and antiracist systems, policies, and practices.
- we had the privilege of serving as DEI consultants with twelve organizations and companies throughout the year including the University of Rochester, Memorial Art Gallery, Writers & Books, Flynn, and the Child Care Council.
Growth & Revenue
It is important that we are transparent and candid about the sheer amount of talent, time, energy, and financial resources that it takes to carry our our mission and vision. 540 was funded with no outside capital or major fundraising. Transparency in funding is important for Black and disabled-led grassroots non-profits like ours and we are happy to incorporate community-centric fundraising principles into our work and lead more conversations around pay equity in the non-profit section and decolonizing philanthropy.
- we received over 34K in grant funding.
- unrestricted contributions totaled over $45K.
- our monthly sustaining members contributed to just over $20K in revenue.
- we raised over $20K during our June/July annual campaign.
- we improved our protocols and systems to help us work smarter and with more intention.
- scaled our operating budget to just over $100,000
Why does this matter?
People & Culture
A small and mighty team of highly skilled and talented humans are behind every post, every message, every email & everything we do. We want to continue to give living wages, benefits, and (soon) comprehensive health care to the people that make our work happen.
- we grew our team five-fold
- hired our first full-time staff member
- onboarded 5 new part-time and contract team members
- paid 4 intern stipends
- paid all of our class facilitators, panelists, and contributors for their time and expertise including our Black Women Roc! honorees who each received a stipend of $250
Looking Ahead
2022 is going to look a little bit different. While we spent 2021 teaching the basics of antiracism practice and the history of racism in the United States the coming year will focus on putting education into practice.
- our theme for 2022 is Imagining a Future Beyond
- all classes will center around the theme of imagining a future beyond through policy-driven education, an emphasis on our collective impact, and stories that share not just trauma, but joy, hope, and optimism.
- this year we will be offering 3 class types: in-person, virtual panel-style, and self-guided.
- each month will feature a new course focused on themes such as untold stories, the power we all hold to make a change, and how to take action.
