Wednesday, March 25, 2015

To Talk Or Not To Talk: Considerations

Coffee House Conversations on Race Relations, sponsored by New Horizons Support Network, Inc., also the sponsors of the Possible Society In Motion Radio Show, are giving Anastasia and Jack a vast portfolio of discussion material from which to draw for their shows these days.

In particular, when it comes to talking about talking, even whether or not to talk, Starbuck’s recent and abortive initiative to bring conversations on race relations into their coffee shops have certainly upped the intensity of discussions.

Should people be talking about race relations? And, where, when and how should they do this talking, if at all?

Anastasia and Jack take up these questions on their Possible Society In Motion Radio Show this week.

Please do join us! Listen in to Anastasia and Jack as they explore the issues.





Thursday, March 26, 2015



6:30 p.m.



Listen in to our lively on-air broadcast by dialing 347.237.5351
or clicking on the above link.

Then join us for our Coffee House-like informal discussion forum following the on-air broadcast. Details below.
You do not need to even leave your living room or computer to join in this discussion!
On tonight's show Anastasia, who has been watching a movement intent on race and police relations conversations spreading throughout our country, has observed growing numbers of citizens yearning to find ways to solve serious community problems by talking their way through them, collectively. 

Has Starbucks brought this movement to some kind of crescendo? 

What's your take?

As Anastasia and Jack, once again, take up the topic of community dialogue, pro and con, questions and answers surface. Let's truly make dialogue a community effort with the serious intent of a better world our objective.

Join Anastasia and Jack as they discuss the situation and its implications.

Again, listeners are encouraged to join Anastasia and Jack for the informal discussion forum following the on-air broadcast at: Conference Call in: 712.432.0600, access code 640883.

Also available on podcast. Hear all our back programs on podcast at this link.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

We did it -- again -- at Coffee House Conversations II On Race Relations!

“Moving Beyond Stereotypes: Building Unity in our Community” was our goal at Coffee House Conversation II on Race Relations. 

And we did it! We moved beyond our stereotypes by talking and listening to one another in our local community. What we started was so good people couldn't get enough of one another. So they just continued talking themselves into dinner after our event with one another; all colors!

Sure it’s still just a start!  But what a start it is for our local community to move beyond problematic race and police relations! 

Just take a look below at the faces of some of those who joined our ranks last Saturday;

Frederick City Deputy Chief of Police, Jason Keckler, Herman King, Linganore High School football coach, Angela Spencer, Frederick County Human Relations Commission, Chairperson. (More to come awaiting permission.*)


Jason
You don’t see faces here other than those of Frederick County, Maryland
committed to building bridges across the waters of separation.

Each and every one of these people and more joined together with my volunteer team and myself last Saturday to aid in New Horizons' expansive efforts to build unity in our community.
Herman

The real deal of it all is going to take time. But we are on our way.

I will be back with stories as we go along with building this project, Coffee House Conversations On Race Relations in Frederick County, Maryland, introducing you to some of our participants and key players in the process. And some of the front and back stories people are carrying.

I think you’re gonna love it when you hear more and more about what we are doing in Frederick County, Maryland.

P.S. We are making friends with "our" police!

*Photos courtesy of Paul Morrison.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

WFMD Radio: New Horizons Support Network To Hold Panel Discussion On Race Relations

http://www.wfmd.com/articles/wfmd-local-news-119935/new-horizons-support-network-to-hold-13400381

Posted Wednesday, March 11th 2015 @ 1pm  by Sherry Greenfield

New Horizons Support Network is holding its second panel discussion on the impact of race relations in Frederick County.

The event will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 21, at Dublin Roasters Coffee, 1780 N. Market St., in Frederick.

Anastasia Rosen-Jones, the network's executive director, said the event will touch on the recent tensions between police and the African-American community in Ferguson and New York, along with the racist rants led by two members of the University of Oklahoma's Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

"It will be session number two out of five that are planned," Rosen-Jones said. "We did the first in January. We will be doing it from here forth, once a month through June at the Dublin Roasters on Market Street."

Rosen-Jones said race relations in Frederick County will be the centerpiece of the discussion.

"How could it not be important, after what happened in Ferguson with the young man, the young black man, killed and all that came out of that when the officer was not indicted," she said. 


Saturday, March 7, 2015

Beyond Stereotypes: Saturday, March 21



Beyond Stereotypes


Polarization does not need to be a way of life!

Conversation can be your style.


That’s the “Zones of Peace” way, the exceptional way, the life as art way. 


Conflict and violence can become obsolete.




For Details and Reservations
Contact: Blair Thomas



Email: HarpersFerryNH@aol.com
Cell: 717.451.0669

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

We Are Worthy Of Praise!

As New Horizons readies itself now for Coffee House Conversation II On Race Relations, I knew it was time for us to be getting out our announcments on the coming event, true and proper.

For assistance I asked for editing from two of New Horizons most devoted supporters, Blair Thomas, our new Logistics Coordinator who is a former newspaper editor, and Mike Corrigan, dear friend and investigative reporter extraordinaire.  Blair rearranged a bit for which I thank him much. Then Mike made it gorgeous! 

Here's how it turned out. I hope our combined efforts inspire you to want to join us by participating in this beautifully evolving Coffee House Conversations On Race Relations project in Frederick County, Maryland. You are welcome wherever you live. 

Press Release

New Horizons Conversations on Race Relations To Challenge Stereotyping

With the first New Horizons Coffee House Conversation On Race Relations—held January 31 at Dublin Roasters Coffee—bringing a “can do” message to the fore, New Horizons Support Network Executive Director Anastasia Rosen-Jones and the New Horizons volunteer team are ramping up their efforts for the next level of engagement: guiding participants to move beyond stereotyping. According to Rosen-Jones, participants who successfully handled small group discussions on race, police and general community relations at the first “conversation,” should have no trouble delving further into any one of these themes at the second meeting.

“Coffee House Conversations On Race Relations II,” Rosen-Jones states, “will take participants more deeply into community issues on race relations; specifically the cost of stereotyping and how it creates a wedge in ordinary, day-to-day life in Frederick County.”

Describing the coming event, Rosen-Jones added, “Brief studies of Frederick County attitudes and actions that New Horizons has been conducting—first in 2009 and more indepth since 2012—tell us that Frederick County residents love and respect this community with exceptional intensity. One of our attendees at our first Coffee House Conversation stated that a main insight she took from the experience was an enhanced recognition that ‘Frederick must be exceptional! It matters that much.’”

The second Coffee House Conversation On Race Relations will be introduced and moderated by Rosen-Jones and feature a panel representing minority groups in Frederick. New Horizons’ Coffee House Conversations Format, specially designed for the issue of Frederick County race relations, will then take center stage and remain there throughout topic discussion. This will be followed by comments from the group at-large, and, lastly, plans for community follow-up involvement.

This second-in-a-series of five Coffee House Conversations On Race Relations will be held at Dublin Roasters Coffee, 1780 N. Market Street, Saturday, March 21, 2015 from 2 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

New Horizons Support Network, Inc. is a non-profit organization that offers programs designed to teach community development and violence-prevention skills and strategies through the conversations model of its “Small Zones of Peace” Project initiative. New Horizons hopes that its initiation of the Coffee House Conversations on Race Relations project will lead to the creation of a community-wide coalition along similar lines with other groups and organizations. Information about the project can be found at: zonesofpeacenh.blogspot.com. Also, tune in to New Horizons’ “Possible Society in Motion” radio show: www.blogtalkradio.com/smallzonesofpeace. Ms. Rosen-Jones can be reached at: 240.409.5347 or zonesofpeacenh@aol.com.

-End-