As a part of our RE·Imagine blog, we want to highlight the wonderful people who we work with, and who make the work possible. Feature of the Month is a series dedicated to shine light on members of the RE·Center community and highlight their contributions both in and out of the work that we do.

Meet Joelle Murchison, RE-Center Board Chair, mother, and entrepreneur. Joelle joined the RE-Center board in 2017 and became the Board Chair in January 2019, following a six-month tenure as Vice Chair.

Although Joelle’s awareness of RE-Center began after her daughter attended Discovery Camp as a fifth grader, her involvement in equity work began back in middle school. Every year, she joined other students and their families on Long Island to advocate for the approval of her public school’s budget.

“I learned very early on the importance of canvassing, organizing, going door to door to get people to support the [school] budget. I knew that it would impact the access that I had to different things and, even as a middle school student, had sights about what I wanted to do and was very driven and knew that once I got to high school that it would really matter.”

In High School, Joelle continued her involvement in equity work through The Long Island Interracial Alliance for a Common Future, an organization dedicated to community collaboration across issues on the island. These early beginnings paved the way for Joelle’s current involvement in diversity and equity work.

Joelle offers her expertise as a diversity and inclusion consultant, speaker, facilitator, and coach through her consulting firm, ExecMommyGroup LLC, and is an Adjunct Faculty member in the University of Connecticut School of Business’ Management Department. Including RE-Center, she is also on the board of the Amistad Center for Art & Culture, here in Hartford, and College Possible, a national organization that works to make “college admission and success possible for low-income students through an intensive curriculum of coaching and support.” Joelle wears many hats and brings a deep commitment and passion to everything she does.

“I got advice from a mentor years ago that said when you’re choosing a board to serve on, it needs to be something that you really love … and you would want to do if there were no benefit at all. What is that piece of you that allows you to experience something that is deep within you [but may not be your vocation]? Finding ways to express those points of passion/joy around you in really tangible ways is what allows you to live a full life.”

Joelle is also committed to practicing self-care and joy in her everyday life though exercise, cooking, hosting, spending time with friends, and raising her four children.

“There’s nothing like a full, deep laugh. It breaks through tears, it can help address some of the most challenging/tense situations—you have got to be able to laugh & enjoy life so that’s what I’m aiming to do.”

RE·Imagine Education

At RE-Center, we are constantly trying to re-imagine an equitable and just world. We asked Joelle what she is re-imagining.

“I think I’m re-imagining what it means to be a professional, working mom … The funny thing about that fairytale is after the happily ever after there’s no more content. You get some clear instructions early on: you go to school, you get a degree, you find a partner and then you make a life. You get a house and 2.5 kids and a picket fence and a dog and what have you—but after that there’s no instruction and no rule book. So, I’m trying to reimagine what that means … I think you just have to be authentically you. And my prayer is that there are younger folks that see that they can do what it is that they set out to do even if there is no one before them that has laid out that specific path, to know with confidence that there’s a path … I’m trying to live in the moment of what is happening. So that is what I’m reimagining, what it means to be someone like me, what I have to give, what I have to offer, and most importantly what am I modeling for the next generation that will help them to do this thing in a more healthy and happy and joyful way.”

It is Joelle’s commitment to her passions and future generations that makes her addition to our team so essential! Thank you, Joelle!

Here at RE·Center, we’re big on collaboration. We have various partners, donors, friends and per diem staff that make our vision and work possible. We think it’s important to give credit where it’s due which is why we want to feature post here on the RE·Imagine blog. This monthly post will highlight a donor, partner, or even a sibling organization that’s doing work we think is important to lift up!

For our first ever “Shout out of The Month”, we wanted to celebrate one of our neighbors, partners and donors, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

The Hartford Foundation was founded originally in 1925 by two bankers named Maynard T Hazen and Clark T. Durant, with the vision of becoming a reliable, charitable resource for local nonprofits, and the communities of the Greater Hartford area. The Hartford Foundation is not only a philanthropic foundation that awards grants, they’re also active in their community, and committed to investing in causes that hold their values, and also benefit local residents in return.

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving is also big on supporting/investing in our youth! In 2018, the Foundation awarded $1.45 million in scholarships to 625 students. They currently offer scholarships for hundreds students, ranging from seniors in high school getting ready to pursue an undergraduate degree, to adult learners returning to college, and vocational or trade schools.

Just this past year, the foundation started something called the Hartford Foundation’s Listening Tour 2018.Throughout the year, they hosted meetings for the 29 towns that make up the Greater Hartford area, and they listened to each community voice needs ranging from affordable housing, and drug epidemics, to needs for community centers and volunteers.

With the foundation’s help, RE·Center has been able to put on programs like our residential camp program in Woodstock CT, our General Enrollment Equity in Education workshops, and even launch our new pilot program Equity Teams for Positive School Change! The foundation’s Nonprofit Support Program has provided invaluable support for strategic planning, human resources, technology, evaluation, and more.

RE·Imagine:

Did you go to one of the stops on The Hartford Foundation’s Listening Tour? What did you talk about? What are topics you’d want to discuss with your local community?

For more information on Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and to see their grants, scholarship opportunities and upcoming events, check out their website: http://www.hfpg.org/