About

Our Mission

AREA is a volunteer led organization and a community of anti-racist people that encourages the transformation of thought through collective learning, meaningful relationships, and community events. AREA strives to bring about systemic change through providing opportunities for learning, dialogue and growth in challenging structural racism and in becoming anti-racist.

Vision

To end racism. We will achieve racially equitable distribution of power across all systems so that all people of the community are celebrated, supported and valued.

Values

As an organization, we maintain radical hope in the face of brutal facts. All of our anti-racist work is community centered and grounded in our collective and individual core values which include:

·  Upholding truth, respect, humility, and justice

·  Encouraging compassion and curiosity

·  Fostering resilience, endurance and courage

·  Improving understanding and accountability

·  Being bold, disruptive, and imaginative

What We Do

The Alamance Racial Equity Alliance brings workshops presented by the Racial Equity Institute of Greensboro to the community of Alamance County, NC. AREA may also sponsor workshops offered by other organizations with a focus on racism, systemic and structural racism, and racial equity.

AREA holds a monthly caucus where the People of Color Caucus and White Caucus meet separately for the first hour and together for the second.  In these meetings, we explore together how we have been impacted by living in a white dominant society and attempt to heal from those impacts. We also seek ways to work together to bring about change.

AREA also puts out a monthly newsletter via email to over 700 subscribers to encourage continued anti-racist education and engagement.

History

The first Racial Equity Institute Phase 1 Workshop was held in Alamance County in April of 2016. After a 2^nd workshop was held in March 2017, community members and leaders recognized the importance of bringing this crucial education on understanding and addressing racism to Alamance County and came together to form the Alamance Racial Equity Alliance (AREA.) They were deeply invested in a vision for systematic, intentional change to eliminate racial disparities in our community.

Since the beginning in 2017,  AREA has continued to bring REI workshops to Alamance County, going virtual in the spring of 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic began. AREA has annually hosted multiple REI workshops, reaching over 700 participants. 

AREA was incorporated as a nonprofit corporation with the State of North Carolina in April of 2020 with 501(c)(3) tax exempt status from the IRS pending.