First-Round Breakout Rooms

3:15 - 3:35

Rooms and Organizations

Each room will have a few social justice organizations and a moderator from The Conversation 253. Enter and leave breakout rooms as you like. Process:

Presentations (3-5 minutes) from two organizations.
Open dialogue and questions.

Room 1

We are the Asia Pacific Cultural Center (APCC) of Tacoma and our sole purpose is to serve and represent the 47 diverse Asia Pacific Islander (API) cultural communities that call Washington State home. APCC provides Youth, Cultural, and Business programs and services bridging barriers of language, custom, and culture that impede access to resources for API communities.
Our Sisters' House provides education, advocacy, and support to people and families experiencing domestic violence. We offer culturally specific care for African American and Black victims and survivors as well. Also see us at Our Sisters' House on Instagram.

Room 2

Black Lives Matter Calendar — For the last seven years we have produced and distributed a calendar that enumerates Black lives lost to police killings. The calendar is sold at near cost to organizations that support Black life for use in fundraisers. Our retail price is low, with profits used to donate additional calendars and as donations to organizations that support Black life. Learn more about their research process here.
Democratic Socialists of America is a grassroots, multi-tendency, socialist organization committed to the radical deepening of democracy and freedom in every aspect of our lives. We seek to create a society liberated from oppression, using tactics rooted in a realistic understanding of how to build workers’ power and how to get free. With nearly 100,000 members, DSA is the largest socialist organization in the US. Our local chapter includes 100s of members working to transform conditions through multi-racial, multi-generation organizing around the most pressing issues. 2021-22 priorities include anti-racism, a Green New Deal for housing, and supporting labor organizing.

Room 3

Faith Action Network is a multi-faith, non-profit organization though which thousands of people and over 160 faith communities across Washington State partner for the common good. Together, we are powerful voices of the faith and conscience advocating for a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world.
The Tacoma Refugee Choir is a loving community of refugees, immigrants, and friends who seek belonging and are committed to creating a more welcoming community. Our mission of creating spaces for authentic expression, interconnection and healing through song and music has included 700+ people from 55 countries. The choir has performed for over 27,000 people at 40+ events including TedX-Seattle and with Symphony Tacoma, been featured on PBS and network television, and produced eight music videos reaching over 130,000 people. Additional programs include “Creating Home Together”- a refugee-centered podcast, community singing events, and group music therapy classes. We may not change conditions for the 90+ million people displaced by wars, famine, and natural disasters, but we can welcome and love those who find themselves in our community.

Room 4

Latinx Unidos of the South Sound (LUSS) is a grassroots group that has been advocating for Pierce County's Latinx community since 2016. We have worked with other agencies to organize large-scale events, such as town halls and festivals that have brought together the community in-person and online over the past 5 years. In 2020, our collaborations promoted the US census, developed numerous efforts to reduce COVID-19 impacts to Latinx communities, and held our annual LUSS Festival Latinx in November. Our COVID-19 campaigns are done through partnerships with school districts, health departments, and radio stations.
South Sound Antiracist Project is building an active community of white people committed to understanding, adopting, employing and promoting anti-racist ideas, policies and actions in all their spheres of influence.

Room 5

Advocates for Immigrants in Detention Northwest supports immigrant detainees, and welcomes them on their release. The AIDNW Welcome Center is in an RV stationed outside the release gate, and the immigrants know this is a place where they can get help. We can arrange for their transportation to the bus station, airport or taxi, and when needed, we provide temporary housing until more permanent arrangements are made.

Room 6

For more than 2 decades, New Connections has helped women get a fresh start, and worked toward a society where incarceration is rare, brief, and non-recurring. We operate Irma's Place (shelter for women) and Annie's Cottage (for women and children) in Tacoma's Hilltop. We work with other agencies to end homelessness in Pierce County and to break the cycle of poverty - homelessness - incarceration.
Tacoma Fellowship of Reconciliation is a local peace-and-justice organization with a commitment to resolving conflict with nonviolence, respect, and care. It is affiliated with the Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation, National and International FOR. FOR began just before the start of World War 1, as an outgrowth of a conference and has a history of supporting nonviolence and disciplined actions against injustice. Its members have been involved with civil and racial justice issues, citizen diplomacy, hosting training for building trust and active communication with those we disagree with, among others.

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