Amherst launches ‘Liberatory Visioning Project’ to promote inclusivity

As part of an ongoing effort to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in Amherst, the town has launched a project to help residents envision a more welcoming community.

The town’s Department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion recently kicked off Amherst’s Liberatory Visioning Project, seeking to create a community that is fair, just and equitable for everyone. The effort includes both communitywide and targeted listening sessions, as well as a survey to gather residents’ ideas. For the project, Amherst has been working with Barbara Love, a longtime Amherst resident, author, speaker, consultant and professor emerita of social justice education at UMass Amherst.

“What we are hoping will happen through the listening sessions is that people will share what they think that Amherst would look like,” said Pamela Nolan Young, Amherst’s DEI director. “What are their priorities? What things are important to them? And the goal is to hear from as many voices as possible.”

The idea for the sessions grew out of a recommendation from the town’s Community Safety Working Group, which issued a report following the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, with the goal of making the town more inclusive and equitable by dismantling white supremacy and addressing its harms.

“All voices are vital in shaping a community where everyone feels valued and empowered,” Town Manager Paul Bockelman said in a statement about the project. “Together, we can work toward dismantling barriers and fostering an environment that embodies the principles of equity, justice, and liberation.”

In February and March, Amherst held three, 90-minute hybrid sessions around town to gather residents’ insights. Young said she heard several common themes in the sessions, including a desire for a place in which people can gather, talk and feel a sense of community; concerns about financial constraints facing the local schools and the potential effects on the community; concerns about political divides over the war in Gaza; and housing unaffordability that excludes people from Amherst.

“We want to make sure that everyone at the table has a voice, and that people are respected,” Young said, “even if they’ve voiced an opinion that we may or may not agree with.”

Amherst is also conducting a survey to gather feedback from a wider segment of the community on how to create a community that works better for everyone.

Now that the general visioning sessions have been held and the survey is underway, the town is also holding a few more sessions with specific groups — including high school students, the Jewish community and seniors — to make sure it has heard from a diverse range of voices, Young said.

Working with Young’s department, Love will then analyze the feedback in a report for the town manager, department heads, and the Town Council before the end of the fiscal year in June, Young said.

The visioning project is one of numerous DEI-related initiatives underway in Amherst — efforts that include establishing a $2 million reparations fund, holding regular meetings and workshops with staff, and planning a multicultural celebration, the Amherst Global Village Festival, for this month.

As federal actions target DEI initiatives in both government and the private sector, municipalities have confronted questions over the future of their programs to promote equity and inclusion. Amherst’s leadership has maintained its strong commitment to DEI work, Young said, although the attacks on DEI do create a chilling effect for programs.

“Overall, folks who might be on the fence about coming to a workshop now probably feel like, ‘Why am I bothering to do this?’” Young said, “which is why I feel like it’s really important in each of our workshops to address what the executive orders mean for the municipality, as well as what they mean more broadly for the country and this area of work.”