Appendix: Community Engagement and Policy Subcommittee Report Co-chairs:
Dr. Joseph Richardson Dr. Isabella Alcañiz
(African-American Studies) (Government and Politics)
Members:
Andrea López Jennifer St. Sume Alyssa Whitcraft Gary LaFree Rachel Ellis
(Anthropology) (Government and Politics) (Geographical Sciences) (Criminology and Criminal Justice) (Criminology and Criminal Justice)
Goal and purpose for the subcommittee The subcommittee is tasked with surveying both best practices for racial justice policy and levels of current community engagement within BSOS. The committee’s goal is to provide BSOS with recommendations on how to strengthen the university’s active role to promote racial justice both on campus and in the surrounding Prince George’s County.
Subcommittee activities For academic year 2020-2021, the Community Engagement & Policy Subcommittee for the BSOS Anti-Black Racism Initiative had two projects: 1. Engage in efforts to address the disenfranchisement of Black residents of the historical Lakeland Community in College Park. 2. Survey existing community engagements with a focus on racial justice in which BSOS staff, students, and faculty participate. 1-Engagement with the Lakeland community Lakeland is a historical African American community of College Park that was formed in the late 1800s next to the University of Maryland, known as the Maryland Agricultural College at the time. The neighborhood is nestled between the University, Lake Artemesia, and the Berwyn neighborhood. Beginning in the 1970s, the Black Lakeland community has been displaced by gentrification and urban renewal policies.
The goal and purpose of the subcommittee was to investigate the history of structural racism and its effect on Black residents of Lakeland and in what ways if any the University of Maryland may have been complicit in the structural oppression of Lakeland residents.
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