Programs

Young Activist Internship Program

Come join STAR’s internship program! Are you a high school or college student? Are you looking for a way to participate and give back to your community? Do you need help with completion of your school programs and volunteer hours? This is the program for you! We are looking for students who are willing and able to make a change in their communities. Tasks and activities can include volunteer work, administrative duties, technology work, social media management, public speaking opportunities, etc. If you are interested or know someone who would be, please see the Intern Application below and apply, or contact our Intern Supervisor by email.

Intern Application Below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aNsZcgIUtE55innKn4sJPItn9oev3XRPTAQrS-I1IfQ/edit?usp=sharing

Intern Supervisor:

Email: traciafrankbusiness@gmail.com

Expert Consulting to Advance Equity and Justice

Southern Truth and Reconciliation provides public consultations on issues of equity and justice for civic organizations, government and business leaders, educators and activist groups, and other community stakeholders. We welcome projects that call for sensitivity and skill involving ethnicity or race with a focus on trust building and truth-telling. Our commitment is to help you navigate matters sensitively and achieve benefits for all parties.

Public Education and Other Services

STAR offers consulting services at reasonable rates that can be negotiated on an ad hoc basis. For example, we provide curricula review for educators, initial facilitation for focus-groups, forums and workshops, and other event planning and consulting for community building such as memorial events and arts performances.

Trust building with Consulting Support

We seek funding resources to help communities reconcile and achieve social justice. Our own expertise lies in networking and consulting on these sensitive issues. In particular we connect the dots between current issues and a history of racial and ethnic violence. This is including lynching, other killings, massacres, and riots.

Truth Telling and Acknowledgement

More than a decade of civic experience has honed our ability to take on the challenges of racial/ethnic conflict and tensions. We have a proud record of partnering with communities to adapt the truth and reconciliation process to local needs. Our experience and track record substantiates the view that truth-telling and trustbuilding by key stakeholders must precede equity, reconciliation and justice throughout the entire community.

Commitment to Both Individuals and Communities

On the one hand we affirm the worth of every individual and the ethic that everyone is entitled to dignity and respectful treatment with regard to social status, ethnicity or race. On the other hand communities also deserve to reclaim dignity and respect as honorable and desirable places to live and work. With this dual vision we encourage both individuals and groups to foster opportunities for reconciliation while also seeking justice, equity and opportunity.

Statement of Intent

tree_lane Toward our goals of trust building and truth-telling, STAR helps communities’ connect-the-dots between collective histories and current affairs so leaders can manage, leverage and optimize connections between past and present.

In particular our team-building approach promotes a Menu of Options including best practices from which communities can craft best practices for community building events and projects that increase equity and restore justice.

Our Menu of Options include: Truth-telling and statement taking; Story-telling and oral histories; Dialogue and focus groups; Public education and curriculum development; Truth commission formats and processes; Criminal justice connections & implications; Memorial events and arts performances; Public policy recommendations.

Mission Goals and Objectives

Our mission includes: researching truth commissions worldwide; customizing truth-telling and trust building processes for each community context, in the U.S. South in particular; promoting best practices via a Menu of Options spanning criminal justice, social justice and restorative justice approaches–for example mediation, alternative dispute resolution, and conflict transformation; and recommending next steps for client constituencies and community partners.