By David Fortier

The Third Annual Community Conversation will be a little different than previous conversations, focusing on a specific theme rather than rotating between different stations led by community stakeholders, said Kyana Anderson, the co-chair of the committee planning the event.

“It’s more of a question-and-answer engagement piece,” Anderson said in a phone conversation this morning.

The theme, cultural humility, will be taken up by keynote speaker Kamora Le’Ella Herrington, founder of Kamora’s Cultural Corner, and cultural humility presenter and educator who began as a teacher in Hartford’s Early Learning Centers. After introductory comments, Herrington will speak for about an hour and then facilitate a Q&A session.

Herrington is a member of the National Black Justice Coalition’s Leadership Advisory Council, a founding member of CT Black Women, and the 2018 Advocate magazine’s Champion of Change recipient for the state, according to her website.

“Cultural humility is opening your mind to be able to understand others’ identifies, recognizing you have different identities and you have different points of view,” said Anderson, the Bristol Parks, Recreation, Youth and Community Services (BPRYCS) Youth and Family coordinator and co-chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.

“Once people are able to have that self-reflection, they can start making changes as individuals,” she said. “Oftentimes, we have to look within ourselves, then people are able to implement change in however way they want to change things.”

Last year’s event drew 150 people, who rotated among three groups each led by a different stakeholder, either the Bristol Police Dept., the Diversity Council or the Bristol Board of Education.

The event received the Inclusive Program of Merit Award from the Connecticut Recreation and Parks Association in 2021, which honors outstanding, ongoing inclusive or adaptive programs which demonstrate a conscious effort to service people of all needs and abilities.

While the format is different this year, Anderson said, there will be time for people to mingle before the formal program begins. The program is open to everyone, and Anderson encourages people of all ages to a participate.

It’s important for teens to participate as well as adults of all ages, Anderson said.

“It’s important that we have young adults as part of this conversation because they are just as much a part of the community as adults,” she said. “It’s important for them to learn to cultivate a space where they are comfortable engaging with public officials in public places.”

For adults, she said, Bristol is the place where they have chosen to live and raise their families.

“It’s important to attend, even if you do not want to share,” she said. “It’s a place to learn about connections.”

For retirees, she said, Bristol has been a place they have been a long time and are proud of. Here’s a chance to make it even better.

“These are difficult conversations,” she said, “and they can be uncomfortable but allowing yourself to learn and engage, they will be better for it.”

The DEI committee will be following up the conversation with a survey via BPRYCS social media, she said. Results of the survey will be shared with the community as well as city organizations, such as the Diversity Council, for their own initiatives, via the BPRYCS newsletter as well as social media.

Toward that end, participants are asked to register when they arrive at the event, providing names and emails which will be used for the follow-up survey.

This year’s Community Conversation will be held Wednesday, Aug. 3, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Rockwell Park Amphitheater. It is co-sponsored by BPRYCS, Bristol Boys and Girls Club, Bristol Eliminating Substance Use Together (BEST), and Primo Press.

Food trucks will be on site at 5:30 p.m. and the first 100 participants will receive a free food voucher and Community Conversation t-shirt. Participants are encouraged to bring their own chair. A rain date will be announced, if necessary, closer to the event via the BPRYCS website and social media.

For more information, please visit www.BristolRec.com.

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