By Dominica McBride, PhD
The other day, I went to an event for the Chicago-area Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) initiative – a national movement around rectifying the false narrative of a “hierarchy of human value.” Dr. Gayle Christopher, the lead architect of TRHT, said that it is through truth that we can overcome this fallacy and heal the subsequent wounds. One might ask, “what is truth?” She conveyed that the truth is “we are ALL an extension of the divine” and that through our connection and realization of a constant undercurrent of “divine love,” we can transform.
Even though we have been working with TRHT on their national evaluation team for nearly a year, this insight deepened my belief in why BECOME is connected to this initiative. We believe that truth and love must be at the center of any effort to change and transform into a reality that works for everyone. We also believe that everyone has potential and the capacity to actualize their potential and flourish, and that it is through humility and vulnerable unity that we can realize this potential together.
Some reject or are distracted when a person or organization uses the words “‘love” and “unity,” as they are often abstract and ill-defined, sometimes even overused without substance. At BECOME, we use research to define and realize abstract yet potent ideas of change, transformation and love. Through tools like evaluation, we not only can clarify terms but track how an organization or group is progressing towards an ideal.
Dr. Cornel West once said that “social justice is love in public.” Many are working towards an ideal of love without necessarily identifying that as a goal. For example, youth development is about the healthy development of the human being; violence prevention is about creating peace and saving lives; community development is about everyone having the resources they need to thrive; the ideal realization of healthcare is vitality and wellbeing – all aspects of the actualization of love.
We work with concerned citizens, organizations and decision-makers in each of the above areas and beyond to cultivate the conditions necessary for thriving communities and ultimately a socially just world. We know that within each person and community is the answer to these complex and persistent challenges and through creating a vision and implementing solutions together, a new reality is birthed. Through grounding our solutions in collective wisdom, culture, science and tracking progress towards our goal, we not only achieve that goal but create effective systems and conditions to realize the loving community everyone desires.
We will work with you – citizen, organization and decision maker – to create a path to success through evidence-based practices that lead to your community flourishing holistically.
