June Newsletter
With summer off and running, we couldn’t be more excited about the rapidly developing plans for the inaugural Shreveport Reconciliation Dinner on August 27. What began as a notional idea to recreate the Charleston Nat Fuller dinner featured in the Spring 2015 issue of the national Slow Food magazine, has now evolved into a uniquely Shreveport event to raise awareness and celebrate strides in racial justice, social equity, creative endeavors and culinary creativity.
As our website states, our community is nurtured by diverse cultural traditions and united by our conscious choice to understand, reconcile and forgive. We celebrate this mission by embracing open communication and breaking bread together. To learn more about the Shreveport Reconciliation Dinner, visithttp://www.reconciliationshreveport.com/.
Nominate a Reconciliation Dinner Honoree
The Shreveport Reconciliation Dinner will be an invitation-only gathering of 80–100 residents, each of whom represents lives that are interwoven into the cultural and racial fabric of our city’s growth and history and who represent the spirit of reconciliation. Do you know someone who would benefit the discussion because of his or her record of working to encourage this spirit? Nominate them here.
Nominations may be made through the website.
The deadline for nominations is June 18, 2016.
Criteria for Nominees:
- Nominee’s achievements through their community involvement, profession, or creative and culinary expressions must demonstrate ongoing effort/involvement towards achieving social (racial) justice and reconciliation, not simply a one-time accomplishment. They should be evaluated based on their body of work, not a single act.
- Nominee’s actions must have been results oriented, not simply to call attention to injustice. They must have a clear, demonstrated record of achievement or effort to promote solutions to injustice and inequality, not simply recognition as a spokesperson for injustice.
- Persons should not be nominated solely on the basis of their title or elected office. During their tenure in that position, they must have been the impetus of positive change toward social justice and reconciliation, going above and beyond simply carrying out the duties of the office or title.
- Organizations may be nominated, but there must be a person representing that organization listed. It is up to the nominating person to determine that.
- If you don’t know your nominees email address or phone number at present, your own contact information will suffice.
Emerging Leader Essay Contest
Emerging Leaders are those who may not have yet had time to build a significant body of work in the social justice arena but have made strides toward improving this community and are under 40 years of age.
Five seats will be reserved for these leaders. An essay from an emerging leader sharing his or her vision for what our city could become if we developed a stronger spirit of reconciliation is required to be considered.
Essays must be submitted to essays@ReconciliationShreveport.com no later than June 18.