[Music]
[Applause]
when I reflect on my childhood I just
really say that I thought my mother had
a drug problem that's because I got drug
to church every Sunday drug to Bible
study every Wednesday ha reversal was
Tuesday then there was race team
practice on Thursday and then we had
Sunday school in Vacation Bible School
in y'all I seriously thought my mother
had keys to the church I didn't
understand why we just didn't do our due
diligence go on Sunday call it a day but
what I know now is that she was
instilling things that are so tightly
close to my core I don't know that I
would exist without him it was not just
a Bible but it was its principles of
compassion equity and justice these
principles have served as my moral
compass for my entire life and they show
up in my roles as a wife a mother and a
psychologist you see I've been working
in the field of mental health for about
10 to 12 years but it's been in the last
3 years that my personal and
professional passions have collided and
given me the unique opportunity to bring
compassion equity and justice to the
delivery of mental health I work for
Momentis Institute we're a local
non-profit committed to rebuilding and
repairing social-emotional health and
children and families we've been around
for about a hundred years providing
services in a pretty traditional way it
hasn't been until recently that we begin
providing services in the southern
sector you see this was a new and
uncharted territory for us but we were
excited to bring our training assessment
therapy skills to a part of our city
that didn't have access to these
resources now I'm here to tell you
there's a right way and a wrong way to
enter into community unfortunately for
me but fortunately for you all I went
about this in some of the wrong ways
learn some lessons about how to lead
with compassion equity injustice and to
avoid the pitfalls of fake it what's
fake equity well really it's just a
made-up word from a blog that I follow
but if we think about it if equity is
fair and just treatment for all think
equity is the opposite of that it's fake
it doesn't exist - elevator benefit
people
it exists to benefit you we'll talk more
about that in a minute
the first lesson I learned was learn to
listen listen to learn again that's
learn to listen listen to learn we first
started in this endeavor bringing our
mental health services into southern
Dallas we had a challenge someone told
us that we could fit the city of Atlanta
inside what is considered to be southern
Dallas that's to say the southern Dallas
is huge so we had to figure out where do
we even start my colleagues and I we sat
down and we looked at a map and we
looked to see where are the residents of
southern Dallas most likely to
congregate guess where this took me oh
it's at church when we looked at the map
there was often four to five churches
put them in the same block so we made a
list we divided it up amongst ourselves
and we went out and marked on a
listening tour we wanted to hear from
the residents of southern Dallas about
their parts of town now when we're out
and we came back and we debrief it
turned out I had a whole lot of luck
meeting with folks you want to know why
I went to I went after church on Sunday
I went after choir rehearsal on Tuesday
I went after Bible study on Wednesday
thanks mom
we also went to schools and community
centers and Neighborhood Association
meetings now here's what we talked a
little bit about fake equity often time
we try to pass our projects off this
equity work but really they're about us
you see if your project perpetuates
existing power dynamics where
traditional groups hold all of the power
and the people that you intend to serve
hold none
that's fake equity
so remember I told you we had this idea
we wanted to bring our mental health
services in the southern Dallas so when
we were on this listening tour I was
listening but I wasn't really listening
you see I thought I've had something
that they needed and if I built it they
would come well when you're listening
that way you miss so much it becomes
about you and your infinite wisdom not
about the people about their stories
about the emotions that they connect to
their experiences so I reflected on this
misstep I went back I'm back in the
community I'm on the listening tour and
I found myself sitting with a pastor he
was talking to me about his congregation
and that they had a large group of
grandparents raising grandchildren and
the joys that that brings when a couple
of blocks down the road and found myself
with another pastor that was talking
about they had a large elderly
population that was struggling to keep
up with the ever changing trends of
Technology so in response they developed
a bimonthly meeting for the folks in
their congregation to learn more about
technology particularly social media now
if I hadn't been learning to listen and
listening to learn I would have missed
this opportunity to connect people in
the community to resources in their
backyard that they identify they needed
to make them better sometimes learning
to listen and listening to learn is
about being helpful even when it's
outside of your scope that takes me to
lesson number two lesson number two is
see value see value in people places and
experiences seeing value means honoring
the history it means acknowledging both
the struggles and the triumphs
it means appreciating the resilience it
also means respecting the joy you see so
often we and I say we because I'm
included we go about the business of
community engagement and when we do so
we show up wearing all of our privilege
dripping with our entitlement well what
do I mean we host listening sessions
with no follow-up
we had events at times and places that
aren't you
accessible to the residents they intend
to serve we have all of our materials on
our talks in English only we use jargon
and acronyms that only we understand I
don't think I need to explain how that
spake equity at its best but I will for
the people in the back you see here in
Dallas there are stark differences
between the north and the south and a
growth south report put out by former
mayor Mike Rawlins and noted that
southern Dallas comprises 45% of the
population but only 15% of the taxable
income on the flip side the north side
has 55 percent of the population and
eighty-five percent of the taxable
income and wait for it 95 percent of the
jobs let that sink in for a minute
you see we didn't have time here today
to talk about all the history and
systems that created those differences
but we will talk about the actions and
the attitudes that sustain them you see
those numbers paint a picture and create
a narrative that there's nothing of
value in southern Dallas I'm here to
tell you that's a lie
I want to introduce you to a group of
folks that we met on our listening tour
they're neighbors of the deep lore of
the deeply neighborhood they have been
residents for over 40 years
and prior to that time the neighborhood
had been predominantly white well then
the neighborhood started to shift the
demographic started to change to be
primarily African American and they were
slowing in the city's response time to
residents concerns these residents were
concerned about a dump
an illegal dump the biggest illegal dump
in Texas you see in 1981 trucks moved in
and out of their neighborhood all times
of day and night dock dumping toxic
cancer-causing waste in their literal
backyard this dump caught on fire twice
once in 1980
88 and burned for six months filling the
neighbourhood with smoke and then again
in 1996 this went on for twenty years I
want you guys to imagine
you you step out on your porch you're
hit in the face with smoke poison
filling your lungs
this was their reality for 20 years they
ended up suing the city for not imposing
their own rules related to code
compliance at the time that the dump
closed it contained enough trash to fill
a standard city block and it would have
been as tall as a reunion Tower in
downtown Dallas
in 2003 the city reached an agreement
under the Trinity River project and
decided to build an Audubon Center on
top of this reclaimed landfill in 2008
the Audubon Center opened as a teaching
and event space free to the residents of
that zip code also constructed on top of
the reclaimed landfill it's a Trinity
Forest Golf Club now how do you all hear
this story and not hear the strength of
the people in southern Dallas how do you
hear that story and not see the beauty
in the land of southern Dallas how do
you also hear and not hear the unfair
and equitable treatment of the people in
southern Dallas it's a narrative that
there's nothing there you see guys my
friends in the community say that
do-gooders come down and pet the poor
make themselves feel good we have the
opportunity to do so much more we can
walk with communities advocate for
communities help them unleash their
super powers to use their strengths to
conquer their struggles but we can only
do that if we see value in people places
and experiences now along with my mother
and her faithful church attendance my
father always impressed upon me of the
fact that we are all blessed to be a
blessing and with that you should leave
a place better than the way that you
found it that's lesson number three
leave a place better than the way that
you found it let me tell you about a
group of folks that I've had the great
fortune to work with over the past
that's doing just that leaving a place
better than the way that they found it
that places bond time farms it's
literally a farm in the now those of you
all that know me know that I would
rather be anywhere in the world besides
the farm but this isn't just any farm
it's an urban farm in a food desert
which means that the residents that
surround the farm has up to three hour
round-trip commute on public
transportation to the nearest grocery
store then they can only buy what they
can carry and they can only buy things
that are gonna withstand an
hour-and-a-half bus trip ride home often
in the Texas heat so the farm is
providing fresher food options closer to
home they're also providing jobs and
housing and hope see I told you this
isn't just any farm at the time that our
paths cross they were looking for a
community partner to help support the
wellness program parched portions of
their program and Momentis came
alongside to support that endeavor let
me pause for a minute and tell you an
example of what not to do so remember we
talked about doing community engagement
and we show up dressed in all of our
privilege dripping in our entitlement
that was me so I showed up my first
meeting at the farm
we're in 3-inch heels and a pantsuit for
a meeting that largely took place in a
go pin people come to the farm from all
walks of life formerly incarcerated
doing drugs selling drugs homeless and
they're looking for a change in a chance
momentous has been able to come
alongside them and provide therapy
services so the people that come to them
for help we've also been able to provide
both training and consultation to their
staff and their stakeholders to teach
them about how trauma and poverty
impact the brain and change behavior and
you see that's important because when
you're on the farm you might meet
somebody who was born in a generational
poverty
witness community and domestic violence
daily got kicked out of the school they
didn't even have enough books and they
thought with no family no resources no
education their only choice was to sell
their body or to sell drugs that choice
landed them in prison now they're out of
prison they're at the farm looking for a
change in a chance but the conditions
haven't changed they still have no
family no education and no resources now
we all want them to make good choices
keep your head down work hard and pull
yourself up by your bootstraps they're
looking at us like but the hello boots
traps you see when you see value in
people places and experiences you build
a farm and on that farm you don't just
give people jobs but you pour into them
the things that they never receive like
love you teach them skills you connect
them the transportation so that when
they launch from the farm to their
real-world career they have a way to
reliably get there you connect them to
mental health services so that they can
start to heal from their traumatic past
and get the skills to be able to play
nice with others you build a farm and
you leave a place better than the way
that you found it you turn a dead-end
street in southern Dallas into a
cul-de-sac of opportunity you see my
sincere hope for all of us here is that
we begin to treat people and communities
with the care and the respect that they
deserve we only can do that if we learn
to listen and we listen to learn we can
do that when we see value in people
places and experiences so we can do the
meaningful work of making community
connections creating narrative change
even doing something as crazy and
courageous as starting a farm in the
hood so that we all leave this place
this space this world better than the
way that we found it thank you
you
[Applause]