Greetings mga Kasama and Friends,

As I write this newsletter from Southern California, I acknowledge and honor the original and current caretakers of this land, water, and air: the Tongva (Gabrieleno), Cahuilla, Payómkawichum (Luiseño), and Serrano peoples and all their Ancestors, Elders, and descendants of the past, present, and future. I am grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these homelands.

In this month’s newsletter I share insights about grief and gratitude while working in higher education. I provide a list of community resources on healing and wellness; Native American Heritage Month; and ways you can support community organizations.

We are in the giving season and winter holidays which is a time for connection, renewal, and joy. And, with this time of the year it may bring up feelings of heaviness and mixed emotions. Many are coping with grief from the loss of loved ones, unhealed trauma and suffering, or experiencing unmet basic needs.

Welcome to The Olive Branch Newsletter! The olive branch is a symbol of peace. I hope you will join me in walking on this journey together toward inner peace and peacefulness as we sustain ourselves in racial equity and social justice work in higher education.

In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed decades of progressive policymaking toward creating equitable opportunities for historically marginalized racial communities with its ruling against race-conscious admissions policies in higher education. In corporate America, hiring and retention programs designed to increase workplace diversity are most effective when organizations work toward measurable and achievable goals. Because the court decision targeted race-conscious admissions policies, its effects are anticipated to reverberate through diversity recruitment, employee engagement, learning and development, community engagement, corporate philanthropy, and other DEI-focused programs and initiatives in various industries.