The FCC Anti-Racism Committee

History
After years of informal study led by members of the congregation, FCC launched its anti-racism journey on August 19, 2020, with the congregational adoption of our “Statement to End Racism”. During the following 2020-2021 program year, we held congregation-wide workshops to introduce key topics, begin sharing the significance of the journey, and bring more of the challenge to light.

Charge
In May 2021, the Governing Board approved the formation of a self-managed Anti-Racism Committee. The Committee will recommend ways we can bring our “Statement to End Racism” to life and will help us enlarge our capacity to do so faithfully. The timeline is open-ended. The Committee is intended to have a broad scope to help us consider the full range of our life together as a Christian community from an anti-racism perspective: our worship, education, culture, community engagement, staffing, partnerships, alliances, advocacy, policies, procedures, history, and the use and design of our space. The Committee will collaborate with the Congregation and its Boards and Committees, which will follow our usual processes for making decisions.

Stephanie Poole-Byrd, Co-Chair

Anna Carvalho, Co-Chair

Matt Epperson

Fredric Mitchell

Megan Brackin

Joe Hoereth

Karyn Bowman

Jessica Groen

Angela Butler

Chris Dolan

Rev. Julie Van Til (ex officio)

Members
The initial co-chairs were Stephanie Poole-Byrd and Chris Dolan. Chris has since stepped down from the chair role so that he can chair Stewardship; Anna Carvalho agreed to co-chair in his stead. Members are Karyn Bowman, Megan Brackin, Chris Dolan, Matt Epperson, Jessica Groen, Joe Hoereth, Fredric Mitchell, and Pam Rodey. Pastor Julie Van Til is ex officio.

Partnership with CROAR
In May 2021, the Governing Board approved the hiring of an outside resource to support our anti-racism efforts, funded by the FCC Foundation. The Committee is partnering with Chicago Regional Organizing for Anti Racism (CROAR), the Chicago branch of the national anti-racism group, Crossroads. This group has broad experience working with churches and other entities. An initial workshop was held in March 2022 and collaboration is expected to continue despite the unexpected death of CROAR’s leader (and FCC facilitator), Derrick Dawson, in July 2022.

3/19-20/22

5/22/22

7/17/22

9/18/22

12/04/22

01/27-28/23

02/25/23

DATE

ACTIVITY

Meeting

CROAR Workshop

CROAR Consultation

Workshop

MAIN TOPIC

Debrief with CROAR

Impact of Derrick Dawson’s death and Chris chairing Stewardship. Review FCC’s A/R journey to date.

FCC strengths and weaknesses

Formation of individual lens and conflict style

White Hegemony

Start discussion of next steps

Introduction to CROAR’s analytical framework.

OUTCOME

Initial rules of engagement. Establish meeting schedule. Talk further with CROAR.

Await CROAR’s new proposal of way forward. Create web presence for transparency. Transition co-chair role from Chris Dolan to Anna Carvalho.

CROAR consultation redesign

Develop common committee foundation

Analytical Skills & Transformational Values

Themes and initial ideas surfaced

Committee Activity