Announcing “We Here: Dream-Shaping Our Community”
You can find a PDF of this press release here.
Contact: Becca Quon
us@wehere.space
January 30, 2024
Baltimore, January 30, 2024 — Project and program leaders at We Here® are excited to announce they have received $500,000 from the Mellon Foundation. The grant is directed to We Here’s fiscal sponsor, the Greater Washington Community Foundation in support of the three-year initiative, “We Here: Dream-Shaping Our Community.” This funding will facilitate the expansion of professional development, peer mentoring, and continuing education programs for library and archives workers who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC).
Over the next three years, We Here’s project and program leaders will embark on several endeavors:
Develop a new virtual leadership program (We Lead)
Explore innovative press models
Analyze data pertaining to BIPOC publications
Release a podcast centered around highlighting BIPOC media and cultural creators
Expand the impactful mentorship program (We Together)
The grant will also enable the team to convene in person for the first time. This marks a significant shift for the team, which has collaborated virtually for the past five or more years. In the upcoming months, We Here will issue calls for various contract positions to support the above work, including researchers, program coordinators, and data visualization professionals.
We Here’s initiatives respond to deep-seated structural discrimination within the library and archives professions. Recognizing the historical inequities faced by BIPOC individuals in the field, We Here aims to forge dynamic pathways for knowledge sharing and community building, anchored in a commitment to radical accountability.
In the words of the Dream-Shaping proposal narrative, “For decades, the library and archives professions have attempted to diversify the profession, and while some methods have helped, some are performative and even cause more harm than good, leading to lower retention rates for folks who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color. Our proposed projects address these injustices by creating dynamic new pathways for knowledge sharing and community building, all rooted with an ethos of radical accountability. We see these projects as catalysts for systemic change across the field, honoring the full spectrum of library and archives workers within their professional, creative, and personal lives.”
With joy and gratitude, Team We Here extends acknowledgment to the members of their private communities, Patreon and Seed Circle supporters, and fiscal sponsor Greater Washington Community Foundation, who have been essential allies in shaping a more equitable future for BIPOC in library and information science.
