Grassroots Initiatives
Find information about anti-racism programs and initiatives including the student-led initiative on the creation of a Racial Justice Report Card, our commitment to Restorative Justice, and a pilot anti-racism podcast discussion circle, led by staff members.
Spotlight on Grassroots Initiatives
Student-led Initiative
Racial Justice Report Card
The Racial Justice Report Card (RJRC) is a student-written report assessing fourteen areas of academic medical centers, including diversity, curriculum, climate, treatment of workers, policing, research protocols, and racial integration of clinical care sites. Today, over 25 medical schools have RJRCs, including Harvard, Columbia, Duke, UCSF, UC Davis, and Johns Hopkins University.
Staff-led Initiative
Staff Anti-Racism Podcast Circles
During 10 weekly sessions, participants of Anti-Racism Podcast Circles discuss the podcast, Be Antiracist with Ibram X. Kendi. Be Antiracist imagines what an antiracist society might look like and how we all can play an active role in building one.
Program Goals
- Develop knowledge and skills in the pursuit of being Antiracist
- Create a safe space to share, make mistakes, and un-learn and re-learn truths
- Foster intersectional community at DGSOM
Interested in starting your own anti-racism podcast circle? Download the materials in Box.
If you need help implementing the program, contact the staff leaders of the initiative (pictured from left to right):
Resident-led initiative
Anti-racism Learning Group, Department of Psychiatry
The Antiracism Learning Group (ARLG) is an educational intervention that focuses on group processing and learning in parallel with individual reading and reflection. This method facilitates relationship-building along with individual learning, reflecting, and processing. This intervention is centered on the workbook Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad, a text that is informed by scholarship of primarily Black thinkers. The book is divided into 28 topics and each section contains conceptual reading, examples, and reflection questions. Topics include: white privilege, white silence, tone policing, white exceptionalism, anti-blackness towards Black men, women, and children, cultural appropriation, allyship, white centering, tokenism, and navigating power dynamics that arise when committing to antiracism work.