Leadership Wilmington Class of 2020 hones their superpower in identifying bias

Leadership Wilmington met Tuesday for their fourth session on Human Services. The objective of the Human Services session is to build awareness of the barriers preventing individuals and/or groups of individuals from thriving and the individuals, agencies and nonprofits working to break down those barriers.
 
To that end, we began the day hearing from Mebane Boyd about the creation, progress and next steps for New Hanover County’s Resiliency Task Force. Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are abundant in our community, the Task Force is working to create a trauma informed and trauma sensitive community in New Hanover County. One way the Task Force is supporting this work is in caring for providers that are seeing trauma every day. To learn more about the Resiliency Task Force and how you can help visit their website. We also recommend attending a screening and discussion of Resilience. Screenings are held at the Cameron Art Museum on the first Friday of the month at noon.
 
Following Mebane we learned how identifying your unconscious bias is a superpower. As Joe Conway and Elizabeth Barfield from the Health Equity team at New Hanover Regional Medical Center put it, there is no shame, blame or guilt in bias and when you’re triggered with bias you should PAUSE.
Pay attention.
Acknowledge your assumptions.
Understand your perspective.
Seek different perspectives.
Examine your options and make a decision.
 
Lunch was centered around Work on Wilmington planning time. Sponsorships, project applications and volunteer registration for Work on Wilmington is now live. Please save the date for April 25, 2020!
 
We also wanted to highlight a new nonprofit at the Human Services session. Cape Fear Collective (CFC) brings people together, in a structured way, to achieve social change. CFC exists to support existing nonprofits in the form of data science and analytics, fundraising, and project management. CFC’s introductory podcast explains the work in greater detail and explains how you can help.
 
The highlight of the session came at the end of the day when the class traveled to Creekwood to help support a holiday party for 500 children. The class lent a hand at various stations, including crafting reindeer hats and choo-choo trains, letters to Santa and cookie decorating. Each child was gifted a present or stocking purchased with funds raised throughout the community! We appreciate the invite to join the celebration by Quanesha and Glendora Mullins, the mother-daughter power duo that volunteer at the community center at Creekwood.
 
With the holidays and new year approaching we are now half way through Leadership Wilmington. I have thoroughly enjoyed leading this group and look forward to their continued contributions to the greater Wilmington region next semester and beyond. I hope you’ll continue to follow our journey in the new year!

*Photograph by T. Melvin Photography