In light of the pandemic gripping the world and the widespread protests in cities and towns across the United States, we have decided that sponsoring even a virtual Girls Night Out, an event meant to celebrate and elevate career networking among women, would be misplaced. The senseless and horrific deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd demand that the focus for all of us right now should – and must – be on determining how we, individually and collectively, will actively practice anti-racism, interrupting racism when we see it, and be true allies for the Black community.
This year has brought challenges greater than most of us, as a society, have ever faced. Even while still struggling against global sickness, pain, and financial devastation, we are now bearing witness to events that are tearing at – and making apparent the existing rifts in – the underlying fabric that we rely on to bind our society.
These events have especially impacted women, Black women most heavily of all. At The New Agenda, our mission is to improve the lives of women and girls and to achieve safety and opportunity for all women by addressing issues which unite us and by advancing women into leadership roles. To that end, we as an organization will be looking inward and outward to ensure that our programs concretely work to raise up and support our whole community against injustice and racism, and we look forward to working with you once again towards this mission in the future.
In solidarity, The New Agenda Board of Directors