The Leadership Team has established a set of values, goals, and commitments to guide our process.

VALUES:

• Authenticity. To speak the truth about our nation’s history and recognize that the patterns of discrimination and racism we live with today are a legacy of our nation’s not-so-distant past.

• Respect. To create a fair and safe environment for everyone to express different perspectives.

• Courage. To endeavor to stand firm despite fear and resistance.

• Open-mindedness. To stay free of prejudice and be receptive to all perspectives.

• Equity. To ensure that everyone has everything they need to be successful.

GOALS:

• Create a safe environment for community conversation 

• Facilitate restorative truth-telling

• Promote healing

• Educate the community about the history of racial terror

• Champion change

• Safeguard the social memory of Robert Williams, Ira Johnson, Tom Keith, George Green; our national history; and our experiences as a coalition. 

• Bring home the Greenville County monument

• Work with city, county and state governing bodies to have resolutions passed that acknowledge and apologize for the racial terror that has taken place in our community.

COMMITMENTS:

DECISION-MAKING

• Make decisions for the CRP based on the overall benefit for everyone. 

• Employ a combination of methods that will help get the most out of the group and leave people feeling their best about the results.

• Utilize a consensus model where there is agreement among coalition members.

DIALOGUE:  

• Draw on collective wisdom

• Allow others to speak without interruption

• Invite and encourage diversity of thought

• Listen to understand

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT: 

• Encourage giving and receiving honest feedback

• Communicate concerns with diplomacy and tact

• View every conflict as an opportunity for all to grow, develop and learn

• Seek collaborative solutions

COMMUNICATION: The Leadership Team will employ an effective communication strategy through various mediums – email, Google platform, monthly newsletter, minutes for meetings, face-to-face, workshops, subcommittee reports, website, and social media

• Maintain transparent and open communication to move public conversations toward a collective vision of restorative truth telling and healing.

• Listen to understand different perspectives and remain open to discussing racial differences in all their complexities, and look for possibilities to create change.

• Promote goodwill to build relationships that ensure the long-term success of CRP.

• Send monthly committee updates to the Leadership Team.

• Pursue opportunities for Leadership Team dialogue and relationship building to operate more effectively.

ATMOSPHERE:  

• Create an inclusive and respectful work environment

• Enlist, empower and encourage full participation

• Focus on what’s going right

• Promote good will and build trust

• Raise racial consciousness, understand differences as the center of the coalition, and create a safe space where Blacks and Whites can directly learn about others’ experiences

• Offer professional development opportunities for all Leadership Team members to create a more harmonious relationship.

ACCOUNTABILITY:  

• Work closely with EJI’s support team to ensure the Leadership Team meet its goals and stay true to our values.  

• Monitor CRP efforts by periodically reviewing this Coalition Agreement to ensure we are staying true to our mission.  

• Seek feedback from the broader coalition/community on the effectiveness of CRP events and make appropriate adjustments as we move forward.

• Work with the Committees to establish priorities and then empower them to do their work.  Committees will bring recommendations to the Leadership Team for final approval before actions are taken.