The 1 person you're missing at your coalition table

Maybe I've worked with your coalition directly and maybe I haven't and maybe we haven't even met -- whichever group you are, I know someone you are most likely missing at your coalition table: a local historian.

Here’s the thing -- none of us can do work in our communities effectively without being grounded in our communities. And understanding local history is a big part of that.

I have the fortune this year of being part of the Seeding Disruption fellowship in DC through my work on school mental health in the city. And our very first set of readings and discussions last month were a deep dive into DC history -- from the Native American communities that first lived here to redlining to the fights over desegregating city swimming pools to the stories of specific high schools. What struck me most in reading all this history (for the first time, I might add) is that the history of DC feels like a tale of divisions: between black/brown and white, between native DC residents and transplants, between communities “below the river” and “above the river”, between local and federal, between public schools and charter schools. These divisions still show up in DC today and shape our work in a myriad of ways. How can we do our work effectively without being grounded in this?

One of our facilitators made a joke at one point in the conversation, noting that given the number of folks in the room who worked in and with DC schools, certainly we’d heard this history before. Everyone looked around the room at each other like, “Um, that’s a joke, right?” And sadly, yes, it was a joke. But it shouldn’t be!

An understanding of local history ought to be part and parcel of training and professional development at any community-facing organization and a local historian ought to be a permanent fixture on any community coalition, health focused or otherwise.

In some of our work in DC, we've seen DC public schools add to their New Educator Orientation a local history focused set of outings and conversations, which is a powerful way to ground those new to your area in a sense of place, history, and community.

And having a local historian at your community coalition table is a powerful way to make sure that your plans and actions are not disregarding the history of your community or failing to learn from that history.

So, if you don’t have a historian on your coalition -- what are your next steps?

And if you do have one -- you’re one of few, so please tell me everything! How did a local historian come to be on your coalition, what do they bring to your conversations, and what can we learn from your experiences? Hit reply and let me know.

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