- (215) 279 7060
- nsm@sanctuaryphiladelphia.org
- Mailing Address: PO Box 46242, Philadelphia, PA 19160
ANTI-RACISM - NSM’s Racial Justice Initiatives
NSM’s anti-racism work is an ongoing practice as an organization and community. We are committed to continual growth, leaning into discomfort, and challenging each other in our growth.
Staff Anti-Racism Training and Praxis
In 2022 NSM continued our anti-racism trainings and practices. Staff attended BD101 with Niyonu Spann and implemented a practice of Noticing at staff meetings, which provides space and time at the end of each meeting to reflect on group behavior and discuss strategies to collectively build a more egalitarian work environment. NSM organizer Lauren Moyer led a staff workshop on anti-racism where we continued to build our understanding and gained strategies on how to implement anti-racism practices in our work.
African and Caribbean Organizer
In 2022, NSM stepped up its organizing efforts within the Caribbean and African communities. We employ a new organizer to focus exclusively on organizing within the community; support Christianity for Living Ministry in its work with Haitian immigrants, who face some of the most inhumane immigration policies in the country; and support newly arrived immigrants with housing resources.
WOC Wellness
NSM’s WOC Wellness Group is a holistic wellness space for 20 BIPOC women (which includes NSM staff and members) who are fighting for immigrant justice in Philly. Group members have participated in safe circles where they listen and support each other, gone on group outings, such as going to the beach together with their families and having BBQ’s at the park, and received a small stipend to use on an activity that improved their sense of wellbeing.
WPPRJ
NSM’s White People Practicing Racial Justice program is focused on building community around identifying patterns of white supremacy in individuals, communities, and society, as well as practicing how to intervene so that white members can show up in multi-racial work differently. As of 2023, NSM has graduated two cohorts through our WPPRJ Program.
Haverford College Collaboration
In 2022, NSM partnered with Dr. Lina Martínez Hernández and her students at Haverford College to co-create a multifaceted anti-Blackness curriculum. Students created curriculum on a wide range of topics, including the history of anti-Blackness in Latin America, feminism and anti-racism, the relationship between labor, capital, and race, the undocumented BIPOC experience, and identified points of solidarity between Latinx and Black communities. The curriculum created through this partnership will guide NSM’s Political Education programming in the coming years.
Win structural change
Committees - they are plugged into committees that fight for concrete changes. Long-term change - short-term reform and long-term system. TO: Ensure that values of dignity, justice, and hospitality are lived out in practice and upheld in the policy.
Anti-racist practices work
We do all this with practicing anti-racism because the immigration system is not broken but works as designed: to keep white people in power and hoard resources by denying the humanity of Black and Brown people.
Faith Rooted
Our faith teachings and traditions guide us in our work -- challenging us to act, inspiring visions of living together in community, showing us how to engage our opponents, and guiding us as we plan our actions. We creatively bring our faith traditions and practices into the public sphere to call for a more loving and just world.
All this moves us toward a broader vision