ONLINEAntiracism and Economic Empowerment: Your Own Toolbox Design

The Vilna Shul, Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture, is committed to relevant, compelling programs that excite, challenge and, at times, provoke strong responses that lead to action.

Join us for a three-part series on “Antiracism and Economic Empowerment,” with our third session on “Organizations Moving to Action: Your Own Toolbox Design,” led by Nia Evans and Andy Tarsy.

Nia Evans is the executive director of the Boston Ujima Project. Her educational background is in the areas of labor relations, education leadership and policy. Her advocacy includes a focus on eliminating barriers between analysts and people with lived experiences, as well as increasing acknowledgement of the value of diverse types of expertise in policy. She is a co-creator, along with artist Tomashi Jackson, of Frames Debate Project, a multimedia policy debate project that explores the intersection between drug policy, mental health services and incarceration in Massachusetts.

Evans has a bachelor of science degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University and a master of arts degree in education leadership, with a course of study in leadership, policy and politics from Teachers College at Columbia University. She also studied abroad at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, where she focused on international labor relations.

Andy Tarsy leads Emblem Strategic LLC, a strategic advisory firm that helps organizations gain advantage by aligning their vision with their values. He is also co-founder of Conscious Customers LLC, a tech-enabled solution to help organizations of all kinds put Black and Latin-owned businesses at the center of their spending.

Tarsy’s work at the Anti-Defamation League earned him a spot in 2007 on The Forward 50 list of the most influential Jewish professionals in the U.S. He is former president of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute and a founder and past president of the Alliance for Business Leadership. Tarsy is the recipient of the NAACP’s Kivie Kaplan Humanitarian Award in 2008 and the Max Michelson Humanitarian Award from Jewish Family Service of Metrowest in 2017. The Racial Justice Initiative he led at Boston’s Temple Israel created a purchasing and investment initiative that earned the Union for Reform Judaism’s Irving J. Fain Award in 2018. He is a trustee of the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology.

Tarsy trained as a civil rights lawyer at the United States Department of Justice and in private practice, working exclusively on discrimination cases. He is a graduate of Cornell University, George Washington Law School and Roxbury Latin School.

In partnership with CJP, Jewish Family Service of Metrowest, Jewish Family & Children’s Service, Temple Israel of Boston, Jewish Vocational Service, JCC Greater Boston, Temple Beth Elohim and Temple Beth Shalom.