S2 Episode 2: Collecting Courage with Nneka Allen

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• Simplecast
• Spotify
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Episode Summary
“...it's really hard to promote the history of Black people and not address the inequities being experienced by Black people…it just felt disingenuous to not find a way to bring these things together.” Nneka Allen joins Michelle, to talk about her essay in the newly released book Collecting Courage for which she is co-author and co-editor. In this episode, Nneka shares the deep and meaningful work of saving one of the Underground Railroad sites - the Nazary AME Church (part of the Amherstburg Freedom Museum) learning her ancestors were leaders in that movement, and the failure of a Board of Directors, to center the current-day struggles of their community. We talk about aligning ourselves with the demands of love, forgiveness, the power of storytelling, and attachment styles! ​

Episode Notes
Nneka Allen shares great resources that we’ve passed along in our show notes! Here are links for content and references mentioned in the show:

• Michelle talks with Nneka Allen, who identifies as an Afro-Indigenous woman, a proud Momma of a beautiful 25 year-old daughter, Destiny and a 6th generation Canadian and daughter of the Underground Railroad. She is the Principal of The Empathy Agency, Co-editor and author of the book Collecting Courage and Founder of the Black Canadian Fundraisers’ Collective.

References then Definitions: 

• Collecting Courage: Joy, Pain, Freedom, Love is a collection of short essays by 14 accomplished Black fundraisers in Canada and North America, documenting racism and survival while working in charities.
• The Nazrey African Methodist Episcopal Church is a national historic site built in 1848 by refugee slaves, and it was one of the stops on the underground railroad. It is part of the Amherstburg Freedom Museum in Ontario, Canada, just outside of Detroit, Michigan.
• Decolonizing Wealth (the book and the project): The healing process of repair includes acknowledgement, restitution and closure.
• Here are some articles Nneka’s written:
  • The Two Faces of Charity (Imagine Canada, June 2020)
  • True Freedom (Charity Village, July 2020)
  • My Indigenous Black History (ByBlacks.com, February 2020)
  • A Currency of Another Kind (Advancing Philanthropy, July 2019)
  • The Strength of Healing (AFP Global)
  • Birthrights and Stonecatchers (AFP Global)
• Our Right to Heal was a project created by incredible Black women telling their stories about fundraising before Collecting Courage was conceived
• You can see a powerful performance commissioned by Nneka called “Conditional Invite” on video!
• Here is an article about Collecting Courage
  • Article: Collecting Courage: Traversing the whiteness of the philanthropic sector as Black fundraisers (fundraisingleaderhip.org.) 
  • This podcast episode of Whiteness at Work with host Chris Conroy, features the three editors together! Nicole Salmon, Camila Vital Nunes Pereira and Nneka Allen!
• Nneka’s media kit is dope.
• Gratitude to Trick Candles for our theme song, called “I’m Gold"

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​Transcript - Coming Soon