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Cascade Community Foundation Hosts "Race In The Suburbs" Forum

pic of Race in the Suburbs
youtube.com

The Cascade Community Foundation that serves Cascade, Ada and Forest Hills is kicking off its first part of an ongoing series, entitled, “Community Q & A”.  The first feature tackles “Race in the Suburbs”. 

The idea is to promote an open dialogue and even education about race and culture.

“It really came about because of what was happening this spring, in the public as an opportunity for someone to step up and start dialogue that’s non-confrontational, free of judgment, no politics involved but really give an opportunity for people to come to the table for conversation.”

And that conversation takes place Thursday morning, as a panel discussion about race presented by the Cascade Community Foundation premiers on its YouTube Channel starting at 9 a.m.  Foundation CEO, Justin Swan says it’s part of their new series entitled “Community Q & A”. 

The first episode tackles the often-difficult topic of Race… this episode more specifically deals with “Race in the Suburbs.” 

“You know, what it’s like to live where we live and understand what a person of color to live in the community that we live. Because that’s very important information to know, before drawing a conclusion after watching CNN.  If you know what it’s like for a person of color in your neighborhood and what they’re experiencing and you get a lot of that from the panel, you’re going to see that coverage on the news a little differently.”

Swan says this all got started by residents in the Cascade community who wanted to start a dialogue… but needed a platform.  Swan says after much discussion they developed an online, confidential and safe space to anonymously ask questions.   Anonymous because Swan says that would promote the opportunity for the really hard questions to be asked.

The forum is pre-taped and the finished product is what will be revealed on Thursday. You can tune in tomorrow morning at 9.  Just go to RaceInTheSuburbs.org to watch.

Swan says they’re already planning other Community Q & A segments delving in to topics like healthcare and possibly public safety.

Jennifer is an award winning broadcast news journalist with more than two decades of professional television news experience including the nation's fifth largest news market. She's worked as both news reporter and news anchor for television and radio in markets from Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo all the way to San Francisco, California.