A lot of the programs in Anna Raykov’s sphere of influence in her job as a project analyst with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services have a racial component.
That’s why Raykov found herself attending the third-annual “Just Lead: Advancing Racial Equity Conference” hosted Thursday by New Detroit, a coalition of leaders working to achieve racial understanding and racial equity in Metropolitan Detroit.
The event, which featured several panel discussions and awards in an effort to shed light on racial issues, took place at The Icon in Detroit.
“A lot of my programs have racial equity components,” Raykov said. “There’s a focus on racial equity, and (New Detroit) is a top-tier organization. They have very strong speakers and topics that center on building equity structurally.”
The event featured panel discussions focused on the four tenets of New Detroit’s education program, New Detroit Just Institute, a comprehensive suite of industry-specific training and customized consulting:
- Just Lead – for emerging mid-career and seasoned leaders across industries and sectors.
- Just Place – for the hospitality industry, including restaurants, retail and public spaces.
- Just Care – for the healthcare industry.
- Just Give – a range of services for philanthropic organizations and individuals ranging from training and strategy to every stage of the grants process.
Rebecca Irby, New Detroit’s director of transformational change, said the idea is to create a safe space for everyone.
“One of the key elements of our training is creating a safe space … that is really critical,” Irby told the audience. “When we talk about structural racism, we have to include racial healing.”
In addition to the four panel discussions – each focusing on one aspect of the Just Institute – New Detroit handed out several awards during the “Power of Collaboration” awards luncheon:
- Young Leader – Kaila Page, WomenWork2
- Just Care – Loretta Bush, president and CEO, Authority Health.
- Just Place – Lanay Gibert-Williams, board president, Detroit People’s Food Co-Op.
- Just Lead – LaJune Montgomery Tabron, president/CEO, WK Kellogg Foundation.
- Lifetime Achievement – Alice Thompson, CEO, BFDI Educational Services, Inc.
Marshalle Favors, New Detroit’s director of community engagement, said talks about the issue of racial equity “shouldn’t be had in silos.” That’s the benefit, she said, of having this kind of conference.
“We should be talking about it regionally, we should be talking about it locally; it’s important because we get a chance to bring together leaders from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds,” Favors said. “We are talking about these issues collectively. The benefit of us coming together is that we have shared knowledge together. We have community leaders here from the corporate sector to the nonprofit sector. When you have people who have different perspectives, different mindsets, different experiences, what happens is you have better ideas on how to approach racial equity.”
