Becket — Fifteen years ago, Gwendolyn VanSant founded Multicultural BRIDGE (Berkshire Resources for Integration of Diverse Groups through Education). The mission of the organization, as per its website, is to advance “equity and justice by promoting cultural competence, positive psychology, and mutual understanding and acceptance. The organization acts as a catalyst for change through collaboration, education, training, dialogue, fellowship, and advocacy.”
Over the years, BRIDGE has provided multiple services and programs for the Berkshire County community, including cultural competence community training, racial justice programming, women’s groups, and other educational support programs for schools and businesses.
The work of the organization, along with its anniversary, was celebrated on Sunday, October 8 at Jacob’s Pillow with its “Catalyst. Love. Impact.” gala.
The performance part of the event included dance troupe Patricia Cambi Dance and percussionist Star Nii.
“I think that, over the years, BRIDGE has been a really important part of catalyzing conversations on race and equity in our community,” VanSant told The Berkshire Edge. “We also have been able to uplift the voices and experiences of underrepresented people to help them solve problems in their communities. When people think about BRIDGE, I hope that people walk away with a sense of being brave enough to do equity work and have hard conversations. These hard conversations can really render beauty, community, and connection. I hope that people remember to center the experiences of underrepresented people and their voices to help create solutions to problems in their communities.”
VanSant said that the organization has grown over the past 15 years mainly due to its supporters. “We are also stabilizing state and federal funding to really put more and more resources out into our communities,” VanSant said. “In June, we opened a Solidarity Meeting House [at 965 South Main Street in Great Barrington]. The Solidarity Meeting House is a wellness center for communities of color and a farming garden where community members can farm and garden for their communities, their families, or their small businesses. We’re doing, we’re thriving, and we’re growing.”
VanSant said that one of the goals for BRIDGE is to solve systemic oppression. “To do that, we have to build trust, credibility, and engagement,” VanSant said. “It has taken a long time to do that, and we will continue to build on all of that. Do I think it’s possible to solve all systemic oppressions? Yes. This is what gets me out of bed every day.”
Attending the gala were many of the organization’s friends, supporters, and sponsors, including Lori Kiely, Director of the Berkshire Bank Foundation and Berkshire County Regional President for Berkshire Bank. “I’ve been part of BRIDGE since it started in 2007, and I was on the organization’s board many years ago,” Kiely said. “I’ve just been so happy with the way the organization has evolved. Back in 2007, a lot of people didn’t see the need for BRIDGE. It was kind of a difficult process to start this organization. But Gwendolyn is such an awesome leader. Over time, the organization has grown and evolved. It serves the community in a way that it needs to be served regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
“People want to make positive changes to society, and people are all leaning all into the work that Multicultural BRIDGE does,” JamieEllen Moncecchi, Senior Vice-President and Chief Administrative Officer for Greylock Federal Credit Union said. “Starting back in 2015, Gwendolyn and Multicultural BRIDGE helped our company to provide cultural competency training to all of our managers and supervisors. But, the work doesn’t end with training. Gwendolyn’s leadership and her skill sets have helped us guide our policies, practices, and processes along the way. Multicultural BRIDGE is all about making change, and everyone needs to lean in. Our community is changing, and we need to change as well.”
During the event, Jeffrey Alan Peck, great-grandson of NAACP co-founder W. E. B. Du Bois thanked VanSant for her accomplishments with BRIDGE. “I know that he’s smiling down at us because of all the accomplishments that you have made,” Peck said. “When I think about BRIDGE, I think about The Crisis magazine, which he was instrumental in putting together for the NAACP. All over the country, Black people were reading about what other people were doing in this country. They were all being inspired, and that is what is happening with BRIDGE. [VanSant] is inspiring people of color all over the country. She started here [in Berkshire County], and she is building community by bringing people together.”
It is important to “bridge the gap between the majority and minority,” according to Peck. “People are just asking to be treated like anyone else, not special, but just like anyone else,” he said. “That’s the message that I go around the country to give to children when I speak in schools. I let them know that all the things that they have right now are all the things that they’re capable of doing. They just didn’t all of a sudden become what they are. People gave their lives, they fought long and hard to give them those opportunities. We must remember where we came from, but it’s also important to remember who did all the work. People like my great-grandfather, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and the list goes on. I have recently been very close to Sheila Jackson Lee, who was running for the mayor of Houston. She’s another world icon who has given so much for so much time and effort to see to it that those who are underprivileged become equal even to everyone else. That’s the battle that we all face. And I hope you join me in that battle because I can’t do it by myself. Gwendolyn can’t do it by herself. We need the support of the community around the world to make this happen.”
For more information about Multicultural BRIDGE and its programs, visit its website.
