This week has brought devastating news. The Black community is reeling.
So much to process, to grieve, to incorporate.
For most of us, however, there is no space for processing emotions and reactions.
We have to work, and to hold it together in workplaces ignorant or even hostile to our pain and our needs.
I, as a Black woman, feel this acutely, and also feel it for women who cannot take time off, who have jobs that are not amenable to making room for this tragedy in Black women’s lives.
That is where we come in. Lace on Race is developing a fund that will allow Black women to find time for themselves in authentic, healing self care. To be able to stop, to reflect, to rest. To be able to grieve, to mourn, to commiserate with their sisters.
Their workplaces will not afford them this. But we can. The Lace on Race Emotional and Mental Health Fund we are establishing this week is another Rapid Response. Your community members are devastated and hurting. We have seen so many offerings of nebulous shared grief and support. This is a way to look sisters in the eye and stand with them in a tangible way.
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Lace and her Team would like to welcome new walkers! We hope you find your time here challenging, exhorting, and that you find durable and reliable community here, all in the service of the North Star of Lace on Race which is to lessen and mitigate the harm endured by Black and brown people perpetuated by white people. Be sure to read the Guidelines; they will help you to navigate this space best. We also want to welcome our newest Sustainer Circle members. Sustainer Circle members don’t get more; more is expected of them, as they lean into enhanced roles in the LoR community.
Part of adding more transparency and ease as you walk with the Lace on Race community is our desire to post a regular update. Each update will highlight the prominent posts that are important for you to read and engage with, the status of budget for the month, and our featured organizations for the month.
Our Latest Website Posts:
bit.ly/LoRCafeAsk
bit.ly/RighteousDissent
bit.ly/LaceSeptemberReflections
We have a NEW PAYPAL ADDRESS that we’d like everyone to start using asap. Please follow paypal.me/LaceonRace for your financial engagements going forward.
August Budget Numbers: $8,000/$8,000 goal
August Featured Organizations:
| Community Partner Organization | Amount Distributed |
| Amani Community Services | $1,000 |
| Dignified Learning Project (Lace’s FB Birthday Fundraiser)*total amount given to fundraiser (not actually disbursed by LoR) | $5,125* |
September Budget Numbers to date: $7,640/$10,000 goal
September Rapid Response: $1,100 to Kinfolk Kollective for September rent initiative
September Featured Organizations:
This month we have four Community Partners to support. Please read about them below. If you have already sent your regular contribution to LoR and would like to contribute an additional amount to one or more of the organizations listed below, please make a note in your PayPal contribution specifying where you would like it to go. Alternately, you can leave it undesignated and we will divide the undesignated funds between the organizations. We may choose to carry some or all of these partners over into the next month in order to more fully support their work.
| Community Partner Organization | |
| The Louisville Community Bail Fund $1,000 goal | The Louisville Community Bail Fund exists to not only bail out folks, but provide post-release support to get them from jail, fed, and to a situation of safety. LCBF also maintains a focus on preventative measures for those targeted by law enforcement and threatened with incarceration. While we work with national networks, we are also one of the only bail funds that rely entirely on support from individuals in our social justice community. |
| The Lace on Race Emotional and Mental Health $1,000 goal | The Lace on Race Emotional and Mental Health Fund will allow Black women to find time for themselves in authentic, healing self care. To be able to stop, to reflect, to rest. To be able to grieve, to mourn, to commiserate with their sisters |
| Black Trans Advocacy Coalition $1,000 goal | The National Black Trans Advocacy Coalition is a social justice organization led by black trans people to collectively address the inequities faced in the black transgender human experience. |
| Pillars of the Community $1,000 goal | Pillars of the Community is a collective movement, based on faith, positivity, and a need to build a better world. We will partner with this organization to distribute funds for inmates in California working to fight fires. |
For those of you who want to become Sustainers, or who consider yourselves Sustainers but have yet to fill out the form for 2020, let us know, and we’ll walk you through the process.
A sustainer is someone who has been consistently in the Lace on Race Community for 6 months or more and is committed to financially sustaining this space and regularly engaging in the community. Our Sustainer Circle is not about perks or access to exclusive content. Rather, it is about another level of accountability and responsibility. As a Sustainer, you have spent time in the community, practice Kind Candor, and are ready to walk consistently with fellow community members.
bit.ly/SustainerForm
If you do not meet the criteria of a Sustainer because you have not been a consistent committed community member for 6 months or more, but you are still interested in becoming a Sustainer, please fill out our Sustainer In Training form below. Sustainers In Training of 2020, we are thankful you are committed to join us as we learn together to walk with intention, grace, and respect. As a sustainer in training, you are dedicated to monthly contributions, wrestling with deeper content, and engaging with purpose for a minimum of 6 months before signing up to be a Sustainer. We look forward to another year with you!
bit.ly/SustainerInTrainingForm
We are giving thanks for your generosity, which allows Lace on Race to act in concert with our ethos.
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