Diversity & Inclusion

The Overbrook Farms Club (OFC) supports the growing diversity of our neighborhood and the urgency of our national reckoning with racial and social justice. We stand together as neighbors in the fight for social, economic, and political equity and against the forces of systemic racism. We oppose any form of oppression, hate, aggression, exclusion, and violence toward any person or group of people in our community.

With growing diversity comes difference and tension, which we can and should celebrate. Challenging conversations should lead to growth and understanding, provided they are approached as opportunities to listen and learn.

Challenging conversations can also result in acts and words of hate, fear, and oppression, which we have encountered in our community in recent months. The OFC board feels that social media, including our email listserv, are poor platforms for challenging conversations; empathy and sympathy are harder to achieve. This is why we maintain a policy against social and political commentary on the listserv.

We do, nevertheless, want to offer opportunities for challenging conversations to happen in our community, in keeping with the past discussions convened by neighbor John Taylor. Live conversations--even if mediated through virtual means--are a better platform for dialogue, listening, and understanding. In that spirit, we will be continuing our efforts to convene our community around topics that will lead to understanding and healing, but not always agreement.

We are stronger together.

Yours in support,

-- The Overbrook Farms Club

Resources

There are a wealth of free resources available through the City of Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations:

• HERE is the main website of the Commission.

• HERE you can download their Good Neighbor Guide.

• Check out the North Star Convention, which runs through October 2020. It’s free and open to all to participate.