Hello

this is WACAN's page about Catalyst Project.

CLICK HERE to go to Catalyst Project's web site.
Look for the DonateNow button in the left hand column on their main page.

WACAN and Catalyst Project go back at least to the 2002 White Anti-racist Leadership conference in New Orleans. That conference actually led to WACAN itself being established as an organization. We met again while carrying out the first White Anti-racist Summit in 2005. In between we've kept in touch as organizations do, by email, announcements, and word of mouth.

Catalyst is the sucessor to CWS, which many people know. CWS was a comprehensive curriculum for white anti-racists developed by Sharon Martinas that inspired white anti-racists both near and afar. The CWS collection of anti-racist source materials remains the outstanding source for white anti-racists on the web.

Is training needed? History tells us in 1834 Theodore "Weld chose Lane Seminary at Cincinnati, Ohio, for the ministerial training of other Finney converts and studied there until the famous antislavery debates he organized (1834) among the students led to his dismissal. Almost the entire student body then requested dismissal, and it was from these theological students that Weld and Henry B. Stanton selected agents for the American Anti-Slavery Society. The “Seventy,” as the agents were called, gave character and direction to the antislavery movement and successfully spread the abolitionist gospel throughout the North." [from Infoplease.com]

Education and leadership training is called for in our times. Catalyst Project is stepping up to that need. Check out their Anne Braden Anti-racist Training Program.

The program opens in February 2008, a matter of weeks.

Catalyst Project is raising funds now to sustain the program.

CLICK HERE to go to Catalyst Project's web site.
Look for the DonateNow button in the left hand column on their main page.

p.s. There is plenty of information on Catalyst Project's Anne Braden Anti-racist Triaining Program on their web site, but the following endorsement from Tim Wise is not there yet as far as I can see. So I repint it here.

Dear friends and allies,

It is with great excitement that I write to tell you about (and wholeheartedly endorse) the Anne Braden Training Program, initiated by the Catalyst Project. Imbued with the commitment to change that animated Anne during her life, the folks at Catalyst have developed a first-rate analysis of how racism operates, how it damages the larger struggle for social justice, and how whites acting as allies to people of color can help to dismantle it.

Unlike much antiracism training today, the Anne Braden Training Program combines analysis with action, placing participants with social justice organizations so as to provide them with the hands-on experience needed to both understand and ultimately change the system. By mentoring white antiracists, the Anne Braden Training Program also recognizes the importance of white allyship in the struggle to dismantle white supremacy. Catalyst understands what Anne herself understood: namely, that white supremacy is a white people's issue. It is our job as whites to work for its eradication. Leaving that burden to people of color is both unjust and impractical.

It is my hope that you will become a part of the Anne Braden Training Program, and that together we can continue to build the movement for social and economic justice: a movement that requires that the problem of white supremacy be confronted directly. By blending analysis, an understanding of history, and practical experience in the community, the Anne Braden Training Program will prepare those involved for the vital work to be done in coming years. It will no doubt prove to be an invaluable contribution to the freedom movement.

You can sign up to be a monthly sustainer or make a one-time donation at www.collectiveliberation.org or send a check made out to Catalyst/Tides Center to 522 Valencia St. #2 San Francisco, CA 94110.

Thank you so much,

Tim Wise

CLICK HERE to go to Catalyst Project's web site.
Look for the DonateNow button in the left hand column on their main page.