Faculty and Staff Invited to the Cookout: Kinfolk Community Gathering
Registration for this virtual event on March 19 is open to faculty and staff both in the Division of Academic and Student Affairs and across the university.
NC State Prevention Services will host The Cookout: Kinfolk Community Gathering on Friday, March 19 from noon 1 p.m. This virtual event is open to faculty and staff both in the Division of Academic and Student Affairs and across the university, and registration is now open here.
The Cookout is intended to be an event for conversation about issues impacting Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC). Recognizing the power in community and collective healing, its purpose is to provide fellowship for BIPOC staff and faculty to speak more intently about their own experiences, strategies and resources for navigating them.
This space will be facilitated by BIPOC Prevention Services staff members Domonique Carter and Whitley Grant.
How The Cookout Came to Be
Last year Prevention Services and the Women’s Center presented The Collective, which brought together womxn of color students, faculty and staff to build community, break silos and deepen relationships through facilitated dialogue centered on truth-telling and testimonials for students. The Counseling Center and Prevention Services also launched “Black and Boundaried” to address the Racial Trauma that Black students experience while navigating places and experiences involving a white majority. These conversations were well received by BIPOC undergraduate and graduate students, and this work prompted faculty and staff to inquire about similar opportunities specifically for BIPOC-identified faculty and staff to engage in open conversations on topics meaningful to them.
As is part of its passion and purpose, Prevention Services places its energy into checking in with students and ensuring that the university is providing a safe, comfortable and welcoming campus community in which they may flourish. Currently, there are no opportunities for BIPOC staff and faculty to unpack various events from the past year that have resulted in personal impacts. Prevention Services staff saw an opportunity to connect, meaningfully engage and build community around the focus of collective well being through The Cookout Kinfolk Community gatherings, and looks forward to this being the first of many events of its kind.
