In early 2014, a multi-racial steering committee formed, including 10 local people of color and 3 white people, to develop and guide the project.

In October of 2014 we began our monthly anti-racism film and video series which has offered a monthly presentation and discussion ever since (except during July and August) for a total of 38 events spanning almost 4 years.

We have sponsored or co-sponsored speeches by Dr. Barbara Love, Debbie Irving, Jacqueline Patterson, and Lois Ahrens; panel discussions on “Being Invisible – Being Hyper-visible: Living in Amherst as a Person of Color”, on Black Lives Matter, and an open discussion with a panel of local indigenous people; two “Community Conversations” , and a workshop for white people.

We’ve placed banners across S. Pleasant St on six different occasions including “Black Lives Matter”, “What Can We Do to Dismantle Racism?” and “Coming Together: Understanding Racism, Working for Justice, Building Connections – a community-wide, multiracial project for the Amherst, MA area”.   We offered Black Lives Matter yard-signs and 150 signs were displayed locally.

Our website at www.coming-together.org has had over 40,000 page views and continues to be an ongoing resource for people of all ages to learn more about racism, about identities other than their own, and about the project.

We played a key role in initiating the Amherst Sanctuary movement that led to hundreds of people getting involved in the Town of Amherst passing one of the strongest sanctuary community by-laws in the country, and built awareness that has helped support local undocumented immigrants currently in sanctuary.

We’ve sponsored three six-week study groups on racism/anti-racism, one yearlong book group, and monthly groups for “White People Undoing Our Own Racism: Challenging White Supremacy in Ourselves and Our Society”. One group has been meeting for a year and a half.

Our action groups have resulted in advocacy for bills in the state legislature on criminal justice; work in support of the School Equity Task Force; local anti-racism listening projects at local farmer’s markets, and explorations of connections between racial justice and climate justice.