PROJECT

In August 2007, the Fetzer Institute and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation committed to support and partner with the Winter Institute, located within the University of Mississippi, in designing and implementing their recently launched program, “The Welcome Table: An Era of Dialogue On Race,” a community-based effort to deepen relationships and communities across the state by providing safe and authentic space for community conversations about race.

The Winter Institute represents and participates in The Mississippi Coalition, involving 21 statewide organizations, and the Alliance for Truth and Reconciliation, involving 55 organizations across 18 Southern states.

Two pilot retreats were convened early in this project to ensure that the design for the statewide community dialogues is informed by people in Mississippi. A harvesting meeting of the project stewardship team took place in Oxford, Mississippi, July 9–12, 2009. Based on these meetings, the two-year series of community dialogues will be scheduled and implemented.