We are pleased to announce that the Coalition on Race's program Conversations on Race 2020 with author and professor Jelani Cobbis is supported by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the federal CARES Act*. The NJCH works in partnership to provide humanities programming to the residents of New Jersey. This program is also supported by Seton Hall University.

Encouraging conversations on race has been part of our organization’s mission for over 20 years. We believe that when we talk about race, we have the opportunity to increase understanding, build relationships across racial and cultural divides, and thus create a stronger community. Our annual event is a community-wide conversation on integration, inclusion, and race-related issues of concern to our community and our nation.

While we engage the community throughout the year in smaller group discussions on emerging race-related issues, we have used the annual Conversations on Race to bring in speakers who are experts in their fields who can challenge our thinking and raise our understanding in ways that can support community change. Our goal this year is to learn about, discuss, and develop ways to address the threat of white nationalism and white supremacy in our community. These ideologies are a threat to our community values and beliefs. Knowing that those who perpetuate racial myths are still hard at work and even taking full advantage of the pandemic, we must continue our community's pro-integrative work and our activism. 

Conversations on Race for 2020 was moved from our usual time frame of May because of COVID19 to October (date and time TBA) and will be a virtual event. Check back in September for RSVP details. Once again, we are grateful for the grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. Read more about the awards here: NJCH awards nearly $650,000 in COVID-19 Response Grant funding.

*Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed at Conversations on Race do not necessarily represent those of the National
Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.