Quarterly e-Newsletter- What's on the Horizon for Imana Borena, Inc?

Welcome back! We have found our way into the year 2022. What an accomplishment! We are so grateful to have you here with us again. Engaging wholeheartedly into justice, equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging! Our hope at Imana Borena, Inc is to speak with you directly. The way we do this? Through our personalized newsletters. It is our hope to help provide you with tips and tricks about the latest workshops, webinars, engagement opportunities, toolkits, and frameworks to help you build your JEDI lens and its application.

Here at Imana Borena, Inc we champion our unique way of helping individuals and organizations sustain their JEDI initiatives with achievable goals and outcomes. Above you will find our Black & Beautiful Chit Chat Connections Podcast episode, FIGHT THE POWER! In this episode, we discuss power. What is power? Who holds it? Are there different types? How do I utilize my power in a positive way? Can I utilize my voice? How do I find my voice? YES! We discuss all of these questions with our guest, Vvdaul R. Holloway, M.A., M.S. It was a pleasure to break down terms and analyze frameworks to further our understanding of power and how it translates to systemic structures of oppression. Check it out!

So let's get to the title of this e-Newsletter! What's on the Horizon for Imana Borena, Inc and how can you get involved? Well, we are launching our three part series of workshops! Our three part JEDI & Belonging workshops will allow for participants to gain a JEDI & Belonging lens, the latest terminology, a comprehensive understanding of 3 respected JEDI & Belonging Frameworks, and a toolkit of how-to's of utilizing your strengths to be a full participant in the application of JEDI & Belonging Frameworks.

• Words Have Meaning- a JEDI & Belonging Terminology Workshop- March 19th, 2022
• Framing Your Work- Analyzing and applying JEDI & Belonging Frameworks- TBD
• Utilizing Your Strengths- Applying your JEDI & Belonging Lens- TBD

Participants will receive a certification of completion from Imana Borena, Inc along with all learning materials shared during the workshop.

If you are interested in attending any one of our workshops and would like to subscribe please visit us at www.imanaborena.org

In our salutation to you for the new year, we described this year as a year of bringing dreams into fruition! As you would have it, our CEO/Founder, Charlene Holmes, MPS has been invited to participate in Manhattan Neighborhood Networks, 30 Frames a Second-Take Over Tuesday! Nat Woods and his production team discuss the pertinent issues of equity and inclusion in America. Lu Celania Sierra will be hosting Take Over Tuesday's and facilitating a conversation centering the perspectives of women within the community. Keep an eye out as we will be streaming the episode on our YouTube Channel.

JEDI & Belonging is not a check box action item. It is emotional, sometimes messy, no one has all of the answers and it's a life long JOURNEY. A refining of thoughts and execution. A strategy and culture. -CEO/Founder, Imana Borena, Inc

Tips for your JEDI & Belonging Journey

JEDI & Belonging- Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. There are many acronyms for the work of DEI. Many ways to describe the work of assessing representation, equitable structures, and inclusive practices. As a consulting firm, we pride ourselves in helping individuals and organizations create a plan to execute these principles based on their organizational mission and goals. Individuals and organizations are at different stages of their JEDI & Belonging journey. Some are more advanced than others. AMAZING! We are all working towards the same goal. So, we encourage you to never compare your journey to others as long as you are on the path to RIGHTEOUSNESS! Here are some basic tips to take with you into 2022.

• Attend an Imana Borena, Inc webinar or workshop!
• Understand terminology - do not use buzz words for the sake of seeming intelligent. Really understand their meaning and how they are used in the context of JEDI & Belonging.
• Assess your own work! - JEDI & Belonging is not a check box action item. JEDI & Belonging best practices are EVERYDAY operations at all levels of an organization.
• Hire experts to help you formulate your strategic goals - no matter what level of planning you are engaging in, it is important to do the work correctly THE FIRST TIME. We can cause more harm if we do not take careful care and consideration while assessing systems, structures, policy and procedure.
• Commit to the life long journey that is JEDI & Belonging. It is very important to understand this field of study requires continuous education. We are discussing a human's lived experience here! There are NO one size fits all remedies. We have to use strategy and design coupled with care and empathy.
• Lastly, engage in self-reflection. - Self-reflection will help you to understand others. It will humanize the experience while educating yourself on how to care for your neighbor in a way that benefits THEM and not you. Remember we are seeking equity - The fair treatment, access, opportunity and advancement for all people, while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that prevent the full participation of some groups. The principle of equity acknowledges that there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations and that fairness regarding these unbalanced conditions is necessary to provide equal opportunities to all groups. <-- WORDS HAVE MEANING!

That's our time folks! We hope that you have enjoyed this quarterly e-newsletter! Please stay tuned for our next e-newsletter where we discuss more ways to engage in JEDI & Belonging for the year of 2022. We still have work to do! An Ode to Dr. MLK - “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” These words ring as loudly as they did through the jail cell walls of Birmingham, AL in April of 1963.

We would like to thank all of our partners who have worked closely with us to build the brand and gain your trust! Pedro De Jesus, Social Media & Content Manager-Imana Borena, Inc, Anthony Harrison - Black & Beautiful Chit Chat Connections a Podcast- BIPOC Networks, Peter Osborne, CCSP- Black & Beautiful Chit Chat Connections a Podcast-White Allyship, Does it Exist? and every community member, connection, subscriber, and follower that we have acquired since our launch. YOU ARE MOST APPRECIATED!

Love, Imana Borena, Inc - January 2022