Background:

  • The Community Dialogues were sponsored by Avon Friends for Equity, consulted on by CREC, and funded by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

  • The dialogues were open to all community members who live, work, worship, volunteer, and/or attend school in Avon.

  • There were four sessions led by two trained facilitators. Two groups met on 4 consecutive Saturdays and Wednesdays in April to discuss why and how to expand community connection and belonging in Avon. 

Next Steps as of June 2023:

  • There were 4 recommended action ideas that came out of the community dialogues.

    • “I Am Avon / “We Are Avon”: A campaign to raise awareness of the current diversity in Avon to lessen the feeling of aloneness. It would showcase people who live/work/attend school in Avon’s stories and show how we all depict the Avon community.

    • Cultural Competency Training: A mandatory anti-discrimination cultural competency training for town leaders and volunteers (e.g. poll workers).

    • Intergenerational & Cross-Cultural Engagement: A program for high schoolers and senior citizens to connect. For example, students helping senior citizens with technology and/or seniors reading with smaller children.

    • Transportation Equity: A long term initiative to address transportation/safety gaps by adding bus shelters, walking paths, accessibility, and more supportive transit options in town.

  • Currently, Avon Friends for Equity is actively recruiting folks to spearhead and participate in bringing the recommended actions to fruition. The hope and expectation is that the actions will be realized in partnership with existing organizations and initiatives already in place in Avon and Greater Hartford.

  • The community dialogues action planning committee will help guide next steps for each of the action groups but will not be leading them. We’re hoping that new leadership emerges to spearhead the action groups to expand community capacity and community building.

Sign Up for an Action Idea Group!

Fill out the form below if you would like to get involved in any of the four action ideas described above.

 
ACTION FORUM

The action forum was hosted on May 31st at the Avon Free Public Library for the Avon community at large to hear the insights and recommendations that came from over 50 people who participated in the planning and execution of the dialogue series. This event was the first step in organizing to implement recommended initiatives resulting from the dialogues that took place in April. This is how we start to move from dialogue to action and expand community connection and belonging.

WHAT ARE 
COMMUNITY DIALOGUES?

The dialogues provide what is missing in our community life – a process for meaningful, civil, respectful, face-to-face give-and-take between people from different backgrounds and views.

The Avon-wide scope of this activity and the ways it links dialogue to change helps ensure that many Avon residents and community members will participate in this bold initiative.

DESIRED OUTCOMES

  • Explore the Avon experience from a BIPOC perspective (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)

  • Unify the Avon community to evolve mutual understanding and value and respect cultural differences

  • Build an inclusive community where everyone feels they truly belong and has an equal opportunity to thrive

WHAT DOES THE 
COALITION ENTAIL?

A strong and diverse coalition is responsible for leading the community dialogues in close partnership with the Friends for Equity team. Coalition members help organize efforts to make sure the dialogues are successful. Coalition member (15-20 people) will work together on a weekly basis. Time commitment depends on your role and level of interest.

A few specific roles could be:

  • Recruit Avon residents to participate in the dialogues in April

  • Help choose candidates to facilitate dialogues

  • Distribute information about this initiative

  • Help manage materials, food, and drink during the dialogues

 

Testimonials

The effectiveness of these conversations in other parts of the country.

“The biggest thing that I got out of the study circles program was seeing all kinds of discrimination that I had never been aware of before participating in the program.” -MCPS Student Participant

“[Inequity] problems are hard for a school to address because they’ll always be underlying unless everyone beyond the school—parents and students—make an effort to change it (not only in high school but in elementary and pre-school, too).” -MCPS Student Participant

 
Community Dialogues 
Roadmap

Organizing: Making sure an inclusive representation of people is included in the dialogue groups. Participants should reflect the community, diverse in race, gender, age, gender identity, socioeconomics and perspectives. This stage can take 4-6 months.

Dialogues: Many small dialogue groups led by local, trained facilitators, meet weekly for 4 weeks. These generally consist of 8-12 people each.

Action: Groups come together after the Dialogues to share reflections from the conversations and agree on action steps.