Discussion

The CRTE’s inclusion of the arts & local stories has a significant positive impact on event’s outcome.

The most salient of these outcomes were:

local stories motivate community members to act on issues of social injustice.
local stories build relationships between community members.
arts-based initiatives help attendees learn a new skill.
arts-based initiatives support mental & physical health.

The arts & local stories encourages active, rather than passive, participation in the CRTE.

The outcomes of the CRTE align significantly with JtoJ’s mission, including raising awareness of US & UK history, bringing different groups together, & galvanizing people to act.

Interviewees praised the successes of the CRTE, including the length of the event, the commitment to neutral and accessible venues, & intensive research of local stories.

Interviewees acknowledged challenges of the CRTE, including lack of volunteer follow-through, lack of community compensation for their participation in consultations, & lack of funding to become more digitally savvy.

Interviewees recognized room for improvements within the CRTE, including increased event advertisement (esp. with local stories), Black representation within JtoJ leadership, & connecting earlier with community organizations.

Limitations

of the research project

Only studied a single social justice organization

Only included interviews with three individuals
- All of these individuals were leaders of the event they spoke about
  - this could have influenced their decision of if / how they spoke negatively about the event
- but, they are from those communities

Difficult to replicate, or generalization to other organizations / similar programs

Suggestions

for future research

Replicate with other organizations

Include additional CRTE locations

Interview community members not involved in the leadership of the event

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