Community Healing Network

I just learned about an inspiring organization called Community Healing Network.

Founded in 2006, their mission is to put attention on inner healing in the black community, with a particular emphasis on eradicating the myth of black inferiority.  Led by volunteers throughout the United States, this non-profit’s advisors include Chair, Dr. Maya Angelou, Professor Anita Hill and Yale Law Professor Stephen Carter, among other prominent black leaders.

It’s great to hear about organizations that are focusing on change, from the inside out.  While more externally focused initiatives – what most people think of as community activism – are important for transforming peoples’ lives and society, inner focused work is a critical and sometimes neglected part of the change process.

Below is information from the Community Healing Network website:

“Community Healing Network, Inc. (CHN) is building the movement for the emotional emancipation of black people. CHN is the sponsor of the annual celebration of Community Healing Days, on the third weekend of every October, designed to put “time for healing” on the black agenda and to serve as a catalyst for year-round healing initiatives.

We believe that in order to reverse the negative trends in the black community, we must focus our energies on the long-delayed work of liberating ourselves from the myth of black inferiority. We are working to build a nationwide grassroots network of self-help groups focused on emotional emancipation and healing for black people by 2019, the year that will mark the 400^th anniversary of the arrival of Africans on American soil–so that we will all see ourselves in a whole new light by the year 2020.

Our vision is a world in which every black person is joyful about being black.

Our mission is to celebrate healing in the black community and to mobilize black people to overcome the myth of black inferiority and the emotional legacies of slavery and racism so that we can all reach our full potential.

Our strategy is to build a nationwide grassroots network of self-help groups focused on emotional healing and renewal for black people.

Our target date is 2019. We want to engage a critical mass of black people in the movement for emotional healing by 2019, the year that will mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Africans on American soil—so that we will see ourselves in a whole new light by the year 2020.”

Go to the Community Healing Network website or the Community Healing Facebook page to learn more about this important work.

2012: The next Community Healing Days will be October 19 -21, 2012.