Happy New Year!

Thank you for joining us for the first episode of InflexionPoint Podcast in 2024. This the spot where we are dedicated to the art of listening in authentic conversation. We challenge our audience to listen actively and intentionally for the purpose of self-awareness, understanding, personal transformation, and ultimately social impact. As a matter of fact the 2024 Theme is Community Conversations.

So What's the Big Deal With Community Conversations?

Michael Halt, Founder of the Liminal School of Self-Directed Adult Learning defines Community Conversations as a process designed to be a simple and sociable informal conversation in which a small group of people come together to get to know one another, in a more meaningful way than usual, by talking about their sense of personal purpose in their lives and our community and about the issues that are of personal priority and concern.

The mission of the American Libraries Association is to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.

Libraries Transforming Communities is an initiative of the American Libraries Association that seeks to strengthen the role of librarians as core community leaders and agents of change. LTC addresses a critical need within the library field by developing and distributing new tools, resources, and support for librarians to engage with their communities in new ways. One of the ways is through Community Conversations.

The LTC and the Community Conversations Workbook is also supported by the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, which is creating a counterforce in society powered by community-led change. Website quote: "Our task is to get on a more equitable, fair, just, inclusive, and hopeful path forward."

Community Conversation - The Hidden Potential of the Nguzo Saba: 7 Principles of Kwanzaa

Frank Dobson Associate Dean of Students, Vanderbilt University, describes What Kwanzaa Means for Black Americans:  Each day of Kwanzaa is devoted to celebrating the seven basic values of African culture or the “Nguzo Saba” which in Swahili means the seven principles. The principles are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics (building Black businesses), purpose, creativity and faith. A candle is lit on each day to celebrate each one of these principles. On the last day, a black candle is lit and gifts are shared. Kwanzaa is rooted in the struggles and the gains of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements in the 50s and 60s.

Professor Keith A. Mayes, a scholar of African American History at the University of Minnesota said, "For Black power activists, Kwanzaa was just as important as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Kwanzaa was their answer to what they understood as the ubiquity of white cultural practices that oppressed them as thoroughly as had Jim Crow laws.”

Watch Here: https://youtu.be/p2vF1sgcY2k

Episode giveaways:

• Community Conversation Guide https://medium.com/community-conversations/community-conversation-guide-a15d11fa37e3
• The Liminal School https://www.liminalschool.org
• Bates, J., O’Connor Bones, U. Community Conversations: deliberative democracy, education provision and divided societies. SN Soc Sci 1, 45 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-020-00048-8
• 2008 Documentary, “The Black Candle” The Official Kwanzaa Film narrated by Maya Angelou http://mkasante.com/films/the-black-candle/#trailer
• The Hidden Potential of the Nguzo Saba: Unity (Umoja) https://theplacetosoar.com/joyous-kwanzaa-2023/
• The Hidden Potential of the Nguzo Saba: Self-determination (Kujichagulia) https://theplacetosoar.com/have-a-joyous-kwanzaa-2023-self-determination/
• Antiracism Activation Survey https://inflexionpoint.media/antiracism-activation-survey
• Harwood Institute for Public Innovation https://theharwoodinstitute.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl50gd_sRRU