COMMUNITY DIALOGUES ENCOURAGE SHARING, UNDERSTANDING

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

JOSEPH HENNING: President & CEO Henry County Chamber of Commerce

In June, we launched the Community Dialogue Series with Malcolm Gladwell’s Talking to Strangers. Led by Chamber Chair-elect Lincoln Parks with WebMobileFusion, the conversation featured Pastor Jay Dockweiler with The Church at SouthEdge and Officer Harrison Smith with Henry County Police Department.

Nearly 200 community members joined us for the conversation via Zoom and Facebook Live. Since its launch, the video has been viewed nearly 2,500 times and shared more than 100 times.

This followed with a community poll to determine the next books in the series. As a result, July featured Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want to Talk About Race led by Chamber Board Member Kena Ceasar with Ameris Bank. She was joined in the discussion by Mercer University’s Director of Inclusion Dr. Ansley Booker, The Center for Stress Management’s Dr. Damafing Thomas, and Gezzo’s Anita Hsu.

Both conversations may be found on the Chamber’s Facebook page as well as on its YouTube channel.

Future book discussions/community dialogues will feature:

• Tayo Rockson’s Use Your Difference to Make a Difference

• Michael Eric Dyson’s Tears We Cannot Stop

• Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me

• Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist

To join the discussion, registration may be found on the Chamber Events Calendar at www.HenryCounty.com.

Let’s continue the process of sharing and understanding. Let’s be civil and supportive. Let’s continue to make Henry County the best place to live, work, play, and visit.

COMMUNITY DIALOGUE BOOK CLUB

MONDAY, AUGUST 31 10:00 AM VIA ZOOM & FACEBOOK LIVE

The Henry County community is invited to join the Chamber in a monthly book discussion centered around Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. The next book discussion will be Use Your Difference to Make a Difference by Tayo Rockson.