Book Discussion of "How We Ended Racism"
2024-01-30 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | IMPACT Silver Spring, 8807 Colesville Rd, Lower Level, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, United States
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Join us on Tuesday, January 30 for part one of a three-part series of facilitated discussions on the new book How We Ended Racism by activists, teachers, and authors Justin Michael Williams and Shelly Tygielski. The book explores the provocative question “What has to happen now to end racism by the year 2050?” The authors offer eight ( pillars that just might show us the way.
Use this link to register: http://tinyurl.com/5n8yn3j3

WHY PARTICIPATE:
During this moment of disheartening backlash that seems to be undermining our nation’s racial reckoning, we believe there’s no better time to dive into a book that offers some hope and actionable strategies. And by joining this series of book group discussions, participants will gain the added benefits of deepening their engagement and broadening their insights through exploring the book’s ideas with others.

HOW IT WILL WORK:
While we’ll be discussing the book across three separate meetings, we want this series of discussions to be fluid for readers.
We will post registration for future discussions of the book (scheduled for February 20 and March 19) closer to those dates. Readers can choose to participate in one, two, or all three of the discussions.

Registration is NOW OPEN for our first meeting on January 30 to discuss pages 1 – 85 (the first four pillars) of the book.
Space is limited for this FREE event, so register soon!
Use this link to register: http://tinyurl.com/5n8yn3j3

Valentine's Day Market
2024-02-10 11:00 - 16:00 | Marian Fryer Town Plaza, 2424 Reedie Drive, Wheaton, MD, United States
IMPACT is excited to be co-sponsoring a Valentine’s Day Market in downtown Wheaton! Don’t miss this opportunity to get yourself or a loved one unique, handcrafted gifts for Valentine’s Day or just because. The market will feature gift items from small, local entrepreneurs–many of them from Wheaton! The Valentine’s Day Market offers the chance to purchase one-of-a-kind gifts and support our local economy!

Many thanks to our co-sponsors: MoCo’s Department of Environmental Protection, El Poder de ser Mujer, and Montgomery County Government (Mid-County Regional Services Center)

Enlace al folleto en español – https://impactsilverspring.org/…/2024/01/IMG_4817-1.png
Link to flyer in English – https://impactsilverspring.org/…/2024/01/IMG_4816-1.png

Impact's 25th Anniversary Celebration
2024-05-16 18:30 - 20:30 | Silver Spring Civic Building, 1 Veterans Plaza, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, United States
Mark your calendars and plan to join us for our 25th Anniversary Celebration on May 16 in downtown Silver Spring. We’ll be celebrating and honoring the resilience, relationships, and evolution of both the organization and our amazing community. We will have an opening reception with goodies prepared by students from our cooking class as well as live entertainment from local performers. The highlight of the evening will be the 2024 Momentum Awards Ceremony. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with your community, honor local heroes and sheroes, recognize Impact’s milestone anniversary, and have a lot of fun! While this is a FREE event, it is also a fundraiser, so please consider making a donation when you register.
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Use this link to register in English: https://impactss-celebrate-25-years.eventbrite.com
Utilice este enlace para registrarse en español: https://impact-celebra-25-anos.eventbrite.com
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2024 Momentum Award Winners:

★Community Builders at Spring Parc: a group of tenants and their supporters at Spring Parc apartments in Silver Spring who are working to improve conditions at their complex and build relationships among tenants.
★Luz Chavez Gonzalez: a community organizer empowering undocumented youth in Montgomery County.
★Montgomery Community Investment Cooperative: an immigrant-led cooperative providing the capital and support needed to create and grow small businesses in Montgomery County.
★Park Montgomery Residents Council Executive Committee: grassroots organizers of a newly launched tenants association in Long Branch.
★Dr. Tasnuva Khan: founder of Faith Alliance for Community Equity & Sustainability (FACES). Most recently, she led the “Building Blocks for Healthy Communities” project, an initiative providing health education resources, access to nutritious food, and physical opportunities to help reduce health disparities in BIPOC communities.
★Víctor Henriquez: an extraordinary volunteer supporting community gardening and youth sports in Wheaton.

Somatic Retreats: Centering in a Time of Chaos
2024-07-09 18:30 - 20:30 | Online Event
This summer, we’re centering in a time of chaos. Join us for somatic retreats in July and August. 💜
Political divisions; a war-torn world; mental health crises; hate-fueled violence; growing dehumanization; and a burning planet. These are some of the harsh realities coloring our daily lives as we try to navigate work, family, and being caring local and global citizens. It’s no wonder that many of us feel overwhelmed, despairing, and exhausted.
At Impact, we don’t claim to have the answers, but we are committed to being part of the solution. Through years of our own practice and experience, we are learning the importance of somatic work (techniques that focus on the body, especially the nervous system) to staying grounded and open in the face of personal, communal, and systemic challenges. We know that it’s from this place of calm and presence that we can be our highest and best selves and most impactful in the world.
That’s why we are offering a three-part, online series called Somatic Retreats: Centering in a Time of Chaos led by therapeutic healer and artist Hiba Haroon. Hiba is the founder of (un)jaan which holds spaces for us to practice being in liberatory relationships with ourselves and others. She has also helped facilitate Impact’s Weaver Learning Lab.
As we thought about this offering, we were inspired by the words of renowned author and psychotherapist Resmaa Menakem who said: “There’s a way out of this mess, and it requires each of us to begin with our own body. You and your body are important parts of the solution.” We hope you will join us for one or more of the FREE sessions described below as we learn somatic tools and techniques for centering in a time of chaos.
While sessions are complementary, they are standalone. Feel free to register for one, two, or all three!

Sessions:

RESTING TO REMAIN AWAKE

Tuesday, July 9, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Due to the culminating impacts of racism, capitalism and colonialism, we often prioritize and value work and effort over rest and ease due to which many of us, particularly People of the Global Majority and women, experience difficulties with digestion, weaker immune systems, and sleep. During this two-hour gathering, we will reflect on the impact of stress and insufficient rest on our nervous system, immune system, and overall physical, emotional and spiritual health. We will explore what it means to cultivate rest while remaining awake, engaged and present. We will conclude with a gentle movement and guided meditation practice to cultivate grounding and ease in our bodies.
Click HERE to register for “Resting to Remain Awake”

HOLDING OUR ANGER

Tuesday, July 23, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Anger is often viewed as undesirable, something that needs to be stifled or ignored. Depending on our intersection of identities, our anger can be perceived as unattractive, threatening, and dangerous. Very rarely are we taught or encouraged to look deeply at our anger, to hold it and understand it, to be in a relationship with it. During this two-hour gathering, we will do just that, connect with the energy of our anger and explore what’s underneath, how it impacts us and how we can take care of it. This practice is not about overcoming but rather understanding and befriending our anger.
Click HERE to register for “Holding Our Anger”

RESOURCING OURSELVES

Tuesday, August 13, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
We are living at a time of unprecedented exposure and experience to suffering and loss near and far. In addition to anger, frustration and grief, we may find ourselves feeling inadequate, insufficient, depleted. This two-hour gathering is designed to resource ourselves with universal elements (earth, water, fire, air, space), memories/lineage, and our dreams. We will incorporate journaling, reading, meditation, and gentle movement.
Click HERE to register for “Resourcing Ourselves”

ABOUT HIBA HAROON:
Hiba is a writer, artist, healer and consultant. She was born in Karachi, Pakistan and immigrated to the United States when she was 7 years old and was raised in Houston, Texas. Hiba is the founder of (un)jaan through which she applies her training and experiences in many different healing modalities to work with folks in personal and group settings to strengthen, soften, and heal minds, bodies and spirits from the effects of colonialism and white supremacy. Hiba has also worked in the nonprofit sector for over a decade to address racial, gender, and economic inequities–working at a community-based refugee resettlement organization, a national intermediary organization, a national philanthropic institution and now as an independent consultant. She can be reached at hello@unjaan.com.

A New Vision Workshop: Exploring Key Inner Work Practices for Ending Racism
2024-09-09 18:00 - 21:00
REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS CLOSED
Workshop Background
The so-called “racial reckoning” that arose in 2020 in response to mass protests of police violence and hate crimes against Black people almost feels like a long-ago fever dream. Did it really happen? The backlash to that racial justice blip has been so intense, it’s been disorienting. Voter suppression, continued investment in policing and the carceral state, legislation banning historical truth-telling in education, and persistent gaps along racial lines in every quality-of-life measure. It’s all still happening and, in some cases, more intensely.
However, many people, groups, and organizations remain committed to opposing racism, to being antiracist. While there is no shortage of “isms” to abolish, we know that racism is unique in that all of our U.S. systems, institutions, and outcomes emanate from the racial hierarchy—a hierarchy that is hurting all of us, no matter our place in it. (Racial Equity Institute, n.d.)
At Impact, while we’ve been reeling from the backlash too, we’ve also been reflecting on what it might look like to move the goalpost beyond antiracism (a good aspiration indeed) to actually ending racism (dissolving hierarchy). We want to invite others into this reflection. That’s why we’re creating an exploratory space to grapple with the questions: What would it look like to end racism? What do we need to practice to get there?
About the Workshop
Over five sessions (two in-person, three online), with independent self-work and online-platform weekly discussions, we’ll explore inner work that supports (dare we suggest it?) ending racism for good. With that bold end in mind, participants will delve into a curated array of ideas and practices focused on intraconnection, shadow work, and forgiveness. These three key areas of inner work build upon teachings from Impact’s earlier Weaver Learning Labs to deepen individual healing; foster more connections across divides; and support participants in identifying or confirming the heart-centered action(s) they want to take towards ending racism. The workshop content includes ancient wisdom as well as ideas from today’s racial justice and healing thought leaders and practitioners.
At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

Internalize the key concepts and practices of intraconnection, shadow work, and forgiveness and their importance to ending racism
Understand and practice inner work exercises to effectively and more sustainably engage in racial justice work
Germinate a personal passion project aimed at ending racism

The workshop is geared to an audience of racial justice activists and advocates, as well as anyone on a racial justice/healing journey. Graduates of Impact’s Weaver Learning Lab and participants in our other racial equity and justice spaces are encouraged to apply. The workshop will have a cohort model of up to 25 participants.
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Workshop Schedule and Topics
Monday, September 9 | 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm | Mini Visioning Retreat (in person)
Monday, September 23 | 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm | Exploring Intraconnection (online)
Monday, October 7 | 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm | Exploring Shadow Work (online)
Monday, October 21 | 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm | Exploring Forgiveness (online)
Monday October 28 | 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm | Seed-to-Action Celebration (in person)
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CLICK HERE TO APPLY
We ask that accepted applicants make a donation, with a suggested starting point of $50. We welcome all accepted applicants, regardless of their ability to contribute financially.

MEET THE WORKSHOP FACILITATION TEAM:
Keren Korman Cabral (she/her) is a project consultant, certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, White Awake board member, and a founding member of a local Muslim-Jewish Sisterhood and The Many Paths Collective. A former IMPACT staff member for six years, Keren has developed and supported anti-racist educational programming, and has organized with Showing Up for Racial Justice Montgomery County, Transit Immigration Assistance Silver Spring, and the Montgomery County Racial Equity Network.
Molly Jackman has been on a long journey to understand racism, equity, justice, and liberation. An experienced presenter, facilitator, and content developer on issues of race and racism, anger and conflict, in corporate and non-profit settings, she is also a trained mediator. In 2019, Molly completed an intense two-year contemplative studies program based on teachings from many spiritual traditions. The program called for deep inner work and daily ongoing practices, through which she finds hope that the entrenched racism and divisions in this country can be overcome. She believes all beings are connected and that love is the most transformative force of all.
Oswaldo Montoya (he/him) has a master’s degree in educational psychology. He has been a trainer, curriculum developer, researcher, and network builder for more than 20 years. He comes from the tradition of Popular Education, which was developed in Latin America as an instrument for consciousness-raising, community mobilization and social justice. Working with different NGOs in Nicaragua and the US, he’s been involved in pro-feminist men’s activism, anti-racism work and advocacy for children’s rights.
Lanita Whitehurst (she/her) currently serves as a Senior Organizer for IMPACT Silver Spring where she has worked as a trainer, facilitator, designer, and project manager for many of the organization’s key racial justice and healing programs and events. She’s completed a variety of trainings focused on racial justice and healing such as Wildseed Society’s Liberation Logic, Racial Equity Institute’s Groundwater Training, and Dream Bigger Foundation’s Liberation Experience. She is also an active member of the Wade in the Water Racial Justice Ministry at Grace Episcopal Church in Silver Spring. Lanita holds a B.A. in English and has completed 70 hours of coach-approach and mentor training approved by the International Coach Federation (ICF). She is a part-time leadership coach for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

Film Screening and Community Convo -- Dying to Vote
2024-10-09 08:00 - 17:00
Join Us for a Powerful Film Screening and Community Conversation: “Dying to Vote”
We invite you to a special screening of Dying to Vote, a short documentary created by the Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Foundation, dedicated to educating people about the Civil Rights Movement and empowering communities to take action. This eye-opening film sheds light on the ongoing issue of voter suppression in the U.S. and the brave individuals who risked—and lost—their lives fighting for the right to vote, including civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer. This is a FREE event.
Date/Time: Saturday, October 19, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm Location: Silver Spring Civic Center, 1 Veterans Pl., Silver Spring MD
The screening will be followed by a community conversation where we’ll reflect on the stories shared in the film and explore ways we can make a difference in our own communities.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn, connect, and take action!
RSVP and invite your friends to join this important conversation. Registration link: https://artsontheblock.networkforgood.com/…/77668-dying…
Co-hosted by: Arts on the Block, Impact Silver Spring, MoCo Office of Human Rights, The Civic Circle, and Action Youth Media.

Long Branch Green Festival | Festival Verde de Long Branch
2025-10-28 08:00 - 17:00
We are delighted to invite you to the Long Branch Green Fest, taking place on Saturday, November 1st, from 12:00 PM to 4:30 PM at the Long Branch Library, 8800 Garland Avenue, Silver Spring MD.
Join us for an afternoon dedicated to sustainability, community, and environmental action! Activities will include a park clean-up, a reflection and discussion on environmental stewardship, and a planting session to help make our neighborhood greener and more vibrant.
Nos complace invitarte al Long Branch Green Fest, que se llevará a cabo el sábado 1 de noviembre, de 12:00 p. m. a 4:30 p. m., en la Biblioteca de Long Branch, ubicada en 8800 Garland Avenue, Silver Spring, MD.
¡Acompáñanos en una tarde dedicada a la sostenibilidad, la comunidad y la acción ambiental! Las actividades incluirán una jornada de limpieza del parque, una reflexión y conversación sobre el cuidado del medio ambiente, y una sesión de siembra para ayudar a que nuestro vecindario sea más verde y vibrante.
Green Fest (2)
