When a series of racial hate incidents occurred in our community in the Spring of 2008, a group of citizens and community organizations convened to take action. One of those actions was to organize a Future Search Conference in early February 2009 to move towards a community that is free of discrimination and prejudice.

Future Search Conferences have been conducted all over the world to address many issues, including racial incidents like the ones Brattleboro recently experienced. The Brattleboro area conference, entitled Future Search: Building a Community That is Free of Discrimination and Prejudice, will take place February 6-8 at the Brattleboro Retreat Education Conference Center.

Over those three days, sixty-four representatives from our community will discuss the past, present and future of discrimination and prejudice in our community. During the conference participants will share their perspectives, identify common interests and come up with practical ways to move towards the vision of a community free of discrimination and prejudice. The conference work will form the basis of a plan that will help guide community actions. Local community members Evangelina Holvino and James Cumming will facilitate the event and draw on their experience nationally and internationally in running similar conferences.

This conference is an effort to move from dialogue to collective action. The sixty-four participants come from all walks of life representing a variety of racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, political beliefs, various faith, education levels and income levels in our community. One of the principles of the conference is to get the “whole system in the room”. Participants are selected according to which part of the community “system” they represent. These stakeholders are people with resources, expertise, formal authority and need. They include neighborhood activists, social service and local government representatives, business owners, religious groups, and more. In our Future Search Conference, youth are important stakeholders. It is expected that after the conference the participants will share their experiences with their school, neighborhood or faith community, and will mobilize the larger community to participate in future actions.

The conference is based on the assumption that the future doesn’t just happen - it results in part from what we do (or don’t do) today. The organizers want this conference to help us realize what the most desirable future for fairness and diversity looks like to a cross-section of community members—so that all of us can shape our actions accordingly. Together we can build a strong community where everyone is treated fairly.

An eight member Planning Team consisting of community representatives and members of the Racial Issues Steering Committee are organizing the Future Search Conference. They each represent different sectors of the community and are in the process of reaching out to participants to attend:

Funders - Konstantin von Krusenstiern, former Executive Director, United Way
Education - Ron Stahley, Superintendent, Windham SE Supervisory Union
Government - Barb Sondag, Town Manager, Town of Brattleboro
Non-Profit - Julie Cunningham, Executive Director, Families First
Business & Labor - Steve Steidle, President, Meetinghouse Management
Faith Community - Rev. Thomas Brown, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church
Neighborhood & Service Associations - Curtiss Reed, Executive Director, ALANA
Youth Coordinator - Diana Wahle, former Administrator, Alliance for Building Community (ABC)

For further information on the upcoming Future Search Conference, please contact Diana Wahle at abcwahle@sover.net or 254 9469.