January 2014 - For the third year Me2WE MLK Jumpstart was held at the YMI Cultural Center. Students from City of Asheville Youth Leadership, AVID, MANOS, Youth OUTright, and the Jewish Community Center participated in an all day training to increase their Upstander skills with trainers from the Greensboro National Council for Community and Justice along with other local trainers from Asheville, SarahNuñez and Tyrone Greenlee. Me2We also meets each June for a two day conference on Social Justice and Leadership.
February 2014 – Good Fortune: The Asian Lunar New Year and Global Trade. CDE began with Festivals of Light at the Jewish Community Center in 1995. That year, 700 students learned about holidays around the world. 19 years later, Festivals is one of three Road Shows including Seasons of Gratitude and Good Fortune (pictured). This year Road Shows was presented to over 6,000 students in 50 school across WNC.
March 2014 – Dr. Shaun Gabbidon is a scholar on Consumer Racial Profiling at Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg and visited Asheville to deliver a lecture on “The Black Thief Stereotype: Consumer Racial Profiling in the 21st Century”. Dr. Gabbidon’s talk was in response to an encounter of Cheryl Johnson who was falsely accused and worked with CDE to bring a greater awareness of the issue to the larger community. Visit her website at www.stopracialprofiling.net.
April 2014 - Stand Against Racism is sponsored yearly by the national YWCA and takes place each year all across Asheville during the last week of April. The local YW has been a national leader in the number of partners it brings to the table. This year the YW and Mission along with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Center for Diversity Education at UNC Asheville cosponsored a lecture by Tim Wise, pictured second from right above. Wise is a noted author and lecturer on White Privilege. Also pictured from the left are Dr. Rebecca Bernstein and Leslie Counts with Mission Health Systems, Dr. Catherine Frank with the UNC Asheville OLLI , Wise, and Beth Mackza, Executive Director of the YWCA.
May 2014 – The Center for Diversity Education worked with the 7 anchor institutions to form the WNC Diversity Engagement Coalition. Members include AB Tech, Buncombe County, Chamber of Commerce, City of Asheville, MAHEC, and UNC Asheville. The mission of DEC is to foster an inclusive work environments that realize the benefit of a fully engaged workforce. Initiatives include professional development, mentoring, and accountability standards.
July 2014 – UNC Asheville and the Center for Diversity Education signed an agreement to merge the two entities. After almost 20 years as an independent non-profit the Center is now known as the UNC Asheville Center for Diversity Education. Thank you to all the donors and volunteers who have helped the organization reach this milestone. This merger insures the longevity and stengthens the mission for years to come.
August - Each year, CDE recruits 7 or so UNC Asheville interns to work on specific projects. The year begins with an outdoor leadership training adventure in the woods across from UNC Asheville. Pictured are left to right Sam Singer and Kai Thomson (Equity Interns), Hannah Rohed (Peace Studies, Holocaust and Genocide Intern), Declan Lockheed (Media Intern), Ayelet Reiter (Tzedek Resident for Social Justice), Emma Anderson (Peace Studies and Bullying Intern), Melissa Castillo (Global Education and Exhibit Intern).
September 2014 – Mi Historia: Contemporary Latinos in WNC was created with the help of UNC Asheville Student Laura Simmelink in 2004. After 10 years, much has changed about the Latino community as well as technology. It was time for an update. The new Mi Historia Exhibit is in an easy pull-up form and was created with the help of Sarah Nuñez, Maria Lomeli – Garcia (pictured above – UNCA student),and Sandra Brown (graphic designer). The opening was at the UNC Asheville Intercultural Center and Gallery and is now available to travel for a two week loan to area K-12 schools at no charge and a modest fee to other institutions.
October 2014 – Everybody’s Environment: Conversations about Community and Conservation took place on October 10 at the Wesley Grant Center. With the help of the Conservation Trust for NC (CTNC), US Forest Service, Dogwood Alliance, Sierra Club, Riverlink, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Green Opportunities, and the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, over 85 attendees learned what they could do to increase equity and inclusion in the environmental movement. Melanie Allen (pictured), was the featured speaker. Allen is the Director of Conservation and Diversity for CTNC.
October 2014 – Following the discovery of a treasure trove of pictures in 2006 taken by Andrea Clark in the 1970’s, a community group got together to preserve and work to learn more about the impact of urban renewal. In October, representatives of the group went to Wake Forest University to receive the Harlan Gradin Award from the NC Humanities Council. Pictured from left front row DeWayne Barton, Harlan Gradin, Karen Loughmiller, 2nd row Priscilla Ndiaye, Andrea Clark, and Deborah Miles.
November 2014 – The UNC Asheville Center for Diversity Education partnered with the NC Holocaust Education Council to host 94 educators for a day long seminar on the Holocaust. Local survivors Lotte Meyerson (center) and Eric Wellisch ( right) shared their stories.
November 2014 – Ruth Messigner, Executive Director of the American Jewish World Service, spoke with “Essy” on the situation facing the GLBTQ community in Kenya and around the world at a lecture at UNC Asheville and later for an evening community event.
December 2014 - Everybody’s Environment now meets monthly preparing for additional goals and next year’s conference. Pictured from left front row Deborah Miles (CDE), Leanne Joyner (Appalachian Trail Conservancy), Iindia Pearson (Green Opportunities), Dewana Little (Greenworks), Lindsay Majer (Green Opportunities), Angela Shepherd (Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy), Sarah Nunez, Barbara Bryant (Blue Ridge Parkway), Erica Johnson, Kana Miller, Emma Greenbaum (Sierra Club), and Allison Williams (Appalachian Trail Conservancy).
December 2014 – Festivals of Light completes the program cycle for the year. Above, far right, Melissa Castillo, CDE Intern and UNC Asheville Teaching Fellow, presents on Inti Rami (Peru), Diwali (India) and Chanukah (Israel) at a local middle school.