Message from Heather Cleary, CEO – Peninsula Family Service

Thank you for your interest in our Thought Leader Series event: Advancing Justice: Confronting Anti-Black Racism.  Our event facilitators were Cherine Badawi and Christopher Darby, experts in diversity, inclusion, and facilitation. Thank you to our Event Co-Sponsor, San Mateo County, for the leadership you have provided by declaring racism a public health crisis, and creating a County Office of Equity and Social Justice.

This event was the sixth Thought Leader Series event, created to raise awareness, inspire dialogue, and galvanize action and innovation on topics of great importance to our community.

People have questioned why PFS hosted this event topic? Is racism too political of a topic for a community service provider to address? My answer to that is that racism is at the root of every inequality we see, from education to health care to banking. If we didn’t have racism, our vision of a community where opportunity, financial stability, and wellness are secured for all, would be fully achievable.

As a follow up to this event we have the following resources below for further study and learning, including the 21-day challenge where each day you consciously take action – read an article, journal, listen to a podcast, or other approaches – to continue to learn and reflect about this issue.

We hope our reflections and learning will galvanize all of us to take positive action in our community.

Heather Cleary
CEO Peninsula Family Service