Our Programs

Pictured above: SIS Founders clockwise from the top: Trish Le Net, Gina Barclay McLaughlin, Joanne Mason and Bettie Eubanks.

In May 2020, we asked: How can we better understand our neighbors of different races? We decided it should start with conversation. 

Seeking Insights for Solutions (SIS) began in May 2020 when we formed a discussion group within the University Women of Flagler to explore, understand and find solutions for racial equity. We paired up cross-racially to interview each other using questions about the neighborhoods in which we grew up, our educational and career experiences, racial encounters and conversations about race with older and younger family members. The purpose was to increase our understanding of the role race played in our personal lives. Throughout our first year, as members joined SIS they also took part in the interviews. By that point, SIS had over 40 members, almost equally Black and White. 

A review of the interviews and discussions revealed interesting patterns. One such pattern is that the majority grew up in either Black or white neighborhoods. The white women frequently described their experience as a “bubble” where race was seldom mentioned and where they rarely encountered a person of another race until later in life. 

On the other hand, the Black women, even if they grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood, had to navigate a white world which controlled schools, employment, business, housing, health care and the criminal justice system. 

We wanted to share what we had learned with others so as to foster conversations that can lead to greater understanding and positive change. We took vignettes of our lived experiences and we complemented those vignettes with research in the areas of housing, education, health, economics and criminal justice from various sources. We put all of that together in a video. It is entitled Seeking and Sharing Insights: Race and Equality. 

We have since produced a second video with male participants: Through My Brother’s Eyes: Race and Equality. The videos are 35 - 45 minutes in length. We have shown these videos, followed by facilitated discussions with the audiences to groups and organizations. The positive feedback we have received from the presentations encourages us to continue.

SIS members continue to discuss and learn from others both within and beyond our group, from books and dialogues with authors, from films and documentaries, and from visits to pertinent sites. Members frequently express their excitement from discussions and exchanges. We have learned so much and still have much more to learn as we continue to seek insights for solutions for racial equality and equity.