In partnership with Rachel Cargle, The Nellie Mae Education Foundation, and Miir we’re giving away A Year of Rest, 365 nights in total, to those fighting for change. We’ll be sharing our recipients’ stories in the hopes of amplifying their voices and inspiring meaningful action in our community and beyond.
Here are this week’s recipients of rest as described by those who nominated them:
Erika Davis
Erika is an amazing Black Queer Doula working in the PNW to support BIPOC families in preparing to have children. She works tirelessly to crowdsource funds so that families in need can take her classes free of charge. She deserves rest.
Hannah Gebresilassie
Hannah is a TIRELESS advocate for justice. She organized the line of solidarity protests in Atlanta which were daily, in-person demonstrations demanding justice and the end of police brutality. She was out every day for 50 days in a row fighting and educating, as well as organizing additional protests at the GA capitol and governor’s mansion. The protests have moved to a virtual platform due to COVID-19 and have continued every day since then. Hannah continues to provide education, community, leadership, and action steps for solution-based change. Even after contracting COVID-19 herself she has never stopped fighting. A lot of her current advocacy is around amplifying Justice for GA, an organization that seeks justice for the families of victims of police brutality. I can’t say enough good things about Hannah. She is in it for the long haul and always does an amazing job of inspiring others to keep up anti-racist work and educating about practical steps toward justice. I can’t think of anyone who deserves a break more.
Ifé Franklin
Ifé Franklin is an icon of Boston’s Black and queer arts and activist communities. She has served generations of Bostonians as an arts educator and works full-time as a youth specialist at a domestic violence service organization. In addition to all of that, she devotes her mornings, evenings, and weekends to her calling as an artist: producing sculpture, installations, drawings, collage, photography, and fiber arts. Ifé’s community-based art practice, known as Ifé Franklin’s Indigo Project, honors the lives and history of formerly enslaved Africans/African Americans. It’s a collaborative process, grounded in trust-building, dialogue, feedback, and community participation. The community response to her life-sized Ancestor Slave Cabins built in public spaces has been overwhelming. Her latest undertaking is a performance piece based on her recent work of historical fiction: The Slave Narrative of Willie Mae. Ifé gives so much to her community and breathing space for rest and revitalization is much needed.
Ivanna Solano
Ivanna is an educator and social entrepreneur in the Greater Boston area. She is a fierce advocate for equity in education and focuses on supporting the healthy development of Black and brown girls. Ivanna is the co-founder of Love Your Magic, a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting and empowering Black and brown girls in disrupting school pushout and adultification. Ivanna is also the director of Boston programs for Girls Inc. Most recently, Ivanna has worked with a local organization to launch a learning pod for Black and brown students in order to support their remote learning. She is constantly working for the greater good and deserves rest.
Jasmine Smith
Dr. Jasmine Smith is a brilliant doctor on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic. She practices both pediatric and adult medicine and has been providing excellent care at two major hospitals in LA. She’s also been one of the activists leading the charge for racial and health equity in medicine since June, and her tireless efforts and leadership have led to change in our hospital system. She deserves to recharge and take a break so she can continue to do all the amazing work she does.
Jonathan Jones
Jonathan Jones is a local business owner and organizer in Salem, OR. He regularly offers of himself, his time, and his business to help further change. He has helped to keep us informed and involved in community events, and engaged through letter/email writing campaigns. He has helped educate by creating a library of Black authors in his restaurant that people can (and do) check-out, speaking at local rallies, and engaging in (often exhausting) dialogue with other community members. His restaurant website not only features the food and menu, but local and national action items, the restaurant library listings, and contacts for our local officials. It’s often a rallying point, whether we are chalking our sidewalks or coming together for music. He continues to do all of this despite being the target of racial intimidation, bigotry, and social media smears against him and his restaurant. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention Maura, Jon’s partner in life, business, creation and influence. Jon and Maura were also some of the first to voluntarily (before the state mandate) close their restaurant related to COVID-19 out of genuine human concern and responsibility.
Jordan “Lena” Potts
Throughout this pandemic, as the unit director of Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula, Lena has led her team to distribute around 25,000 meals to families and seniors in need. As if that weren’t enough, Lena has also written many powerful pieces about the Black Lives Matter movement and her experience as a Black woman. Lena is a great leader, an amazing friend, and incredibly deserving of a Getaway.
Tamika Butler
Tamika Butler works to shine light on social inequality, inequity, and injustice. She has been educating and advocating for equity in the realm of planning and engineering in relation to safe streets for people to walk and wheel on. She recently produced the first feature of 14 Black people who love bikes in Bicycling Magazine to address systemic racism in North America and in the cycling industry. Tamika’s 2016 keynote address to the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO, Seattle), Planning While Black was a wake-up call about racism in the US and how it impacts transportation and planning work. She has educated hundreds of transportation professionals, elected officials, consultants and government staff about what it means to plan safe streets in an equitable way for communities. We have never met, but I strive everyday to do the work for her in my role in Active Transportation and for folks in my Canadian city.
Taylor Johnson
Taylor is active in the diabetic community and works regularly with charities to reduce the stigma of individuals with diabetes. She uses her social media presence to address both medical racism and weight discrimination as well as the narrative around DMI & DMII diagnosis as the “fault” of the individual. As a nurse, I really appreciate her continued vulnerability around living with type I, misdiagnosis due to medical racism, and her personal experience with discrimination in health care. She and her diabetic support dog, Claire, deserve rest and relaxation. I’m nominating her in the hope that she gets recognized for her continued commitment to both the Black and diabetic communities.
Ready to plan your own restorative escape? Book your Getaway today.