Through the generous support of the Mellon Foundation and Northeastern University, the Reckonings Project Summer Institute in Social Justice & Community Archiving is launching for summer 2023. The Reckonings Project builds collaborations with community partners, faculty, and students to empower BIPOC communities and residents in the preservation, creation, and curation of their community histories. This Summer Institute promotes the methods and practical application of co-creation and co-curation among community organizations and college teachers across the Boston and New England region. 

Co-creation and co-curation are approaches to community enrichment wherein community partners and college teachers work together to build programming, archives, and exhibits that best serve BIPOC communities. Representatives from partnering community organizations will receive training in digital archival methods as well as gain access to necessary tools they deem fit for their work. They will be paid for their time participating. There will be a space where community and participant members can gather and share ideas in a knowledge-making setting. It is important to have the goals of community members centered that will also highlight the iterative nature of community-engaged work. 

The June workshop is dedicated to training the inaugural cohort of community organizers and college teachers with the skills to go on to lead workshops, presentations, and classes. Before, during, and after the June workshop, the Reckonings infrastructure will support participants. Support will include, but is not limited to toolkits, design capacity, and general help with digital tools. The June workshop will be co-taught by Reckonings staff, our collaborator Professor Dorothy Kim from Brandeis, and community partners.

The 2023 Summer Workshop seeks community-based organizations and college teachers who are actively looking to document the rich histories of community organizations and surrounding communities in the New England region. For this first cohort, college teachers and community-based organizations need not come to the Workshop already having established these partnerships. Rather, participants should be interested in developing strategies together for building BIPOC histories and disseminating new narratives and new knowledge to the public in online and analog formats.  

In 2024, we plan to welcome a new crop of community organizations and college teachers to work with us. For our second summer, in June 2024, participants of the Summer 2023 program will be invited to lead workshops for the second Institute.  

We will be:

• Providing key resources and training for individuals and organizations to incubate this work;
• Building new skills for community groups, college teachers, and students;
• Developing a network of skilled members who will provide research and resources for one another in order to build community;
• Changing the narratives of local histories in order to center BIPOC communities.
  

Summer Institute participants will receive a stipend of $3,000 each. This will be paid in two Installments (in spring 2023 & at the end of the 2023 Summer Institute). Stipends can be used for travel, accommodations if needed, incidentals, compensation for your time, or other expenses. Community organizations can decide how to allocate the funds for the stipend. 

Get more information here & contact <reckoningssummerinstitute@gmail.com> with any questions or concerns. The deadline for this application has been extended to February 28th, 2023 at 11:59 PM ET.

Reckonings Summer Institute Zoom Q&A (Optional)