Subject: GenUnity | Grief, Persistence, and Action | Join us in Community

Dear GenUnity Health Equity Community Partners,

Our hearts and minds are with the families in Buffalo, Uvalde, and across our communities who are grappling with the loss of loved ones and the perpetuation of injustice and inaction. As we give ourselves space and grace to process these tragedies in our own ways, one thought bubbles to the surface for us.

With each tragedy, we see starkly the vicious cycle that imperils our wellbeing and democracy. Our shared humanity compels us towards justice, but in the face of our broken, complex systems, we resign ourselves to the belief that change is impossible. We accept the self-fulfilling prophecy that we have no agency to effect change. And when we do that, we sacrifice not only a just future but our civic wellbeing - the part of our soul that tells us humanity deserves better and calls us towards an inescapable truth, we can do something.

This is one of the existential challenges of our time. To shift our civic culture from being overwhelmed by the magnitude of our systemic dysfunction to being engaged co-creators in building our more perfect union.

We know this is possible because we see it everyday through our members’ journeys. Yesterday, as we concluded the final module of our Health Equity program, the Change module, one of our members shared, “One thing I feel constantly is overwhelmed by life…so I am trying to keep my action plan actually accomplishable and something that I feel I can do.”

This subtle shift from “I’m not sure what I can do” to “How much can I do?” is momentous. By committing ourselves to our fellow community members, claiming our agency, and deploying strategically the capacity we have, however limited, we fill ourselves with intention, compassion, and hope and take the first step into a better world.

Words often fall short of describing this civic transformation so we invite you to experience it for yourself! Next week, we will be coming together twice as a community and would love for you to join us.

• (Virtual) Wednesday, June 1st @ 7:30-8:30p — Health Equity Program Celebration (zoom link): our community will be coming together to celebrate the journeys of our first ever Health Equity cohort. Members will share their action plans for the work ahead and reflections on their journeys.
• (In-Person, Boston) Friday, June 3rd @ 5:30-8:30p — GenUnity Jam (Dudley Cafe, RSVP here): join us for our annual community-wide celebration bringing together members, partners, and other supporters across our Housing (Fall'20, Fall'21) and Health Equity (Spring'22) cohorts.

We hope to see you there!

In partnership,

The GenUnity Team