KEENE FAMILY YMCA

Open Monday to Friday, 5 am to 9 pm; Saturday, 6 am to 6 pm; Sunday 8 am to 5 pm.

Monday-Friday: 5am to 9pm, Saturday: 6am to 6pm, Sunday: 8am to 5pm

artistic figures with text "Freedom to Heal, Juneteenth: Embracing Black Health & Wellness

Celebrating Juneteenth

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed on January 1, 1863, it took two and a half years for slaves in the state of Texas to be told of their freedom. Juneteenth is the celebration of the day when all enslaved individuals became aware of their freedom.

In 2022, our community celebrated Juneteenth with several events happening throughout the weekend. Thank you to all who joined us!

2022 Weekend Schedule

FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2022

6:00PM at the Keene Public Library
FREE Family Dinner of maccaroni and cheese, soup and salad, followed by a Performance by Hip-Hop & Afrobeats Artist Edwin Owusu

9:00PM at Yahso Jamaican Grille
Juneteenth Celebration Posh 2022 DJ Party

SATURDAY, JUNE 18TH, 2022

9:00-11:00AM at the Keene Family YMCA
Guided Freedom Trail Walk 

11:00AM-Noon at the Keene Family YMCA
A Conversation About Health & Race

11:00AM-2:00PM at Railroad Square, Downtown Keene
City of Keene’s Juneteenth Celebration

2:30PM at St. James Episcopal Church
Gospel Concert with Boston-based gospel choir – Joyful Voices of Inspiration

ALL WEEKEND LONG

Self-Guided Freedom Trail Walk at the Keene Family YMCA

Juneteenth 2022 t-shirt

2022 Juneteenth T-Shirt Sales to Benefit YMCA BIPOC Scholarship Fund

Get your commemorative Juneteenth t-shirt! We still have a few available in limited sizes. Proceeds will benefit the Y’s newly formed BIPOC Scholarship Fund, which provides full membership at the Keene Family YMCA for people of color in our community. Shirts are $20 each and can be purchased at the Y Welcome Center, or by calling 603.352.6002.  

Available only while supplies last!

You can also donate directly to the BIPOC Scholarship Fund by clicking the link below.

2022 Event Sponsors

Franklin Pierce University logo
Brewbakers logo
Sweetwater Distillery Logo
Nova Arts logo
Dartmouth Health, Cheshire Medical Center logo
Monadnock Food Co-op logo

Continue the Journey

Keene Family YMCA seeks to be welcoming and inclusive without exception, and is steadfastly committed to supporting, highlighting, and celebrating diversity in our community year-round. Everyone is welcome at the Y. 

To advance equity, we must evaluate and dismantle the barriers to opportunities, access and resources that have prevented the full participation of some groups and develop relevant solutions and support systems.

The first step is awareness. Here we’re providing you with some actions you can take to continue learning and to support national efforts to break down the barriers that have been contributing to the inequity that continues to plague our society. We hope you’ll find these resources helpful in furthering your understanding of the movement.  

Join us!

Interested in becoming a YMCA Diversity Ambassador? Complete the form and we’ll be in touch!

Racial Justice & Community Safety Committee Report
City of Keene, New Hampshire, March 18, 2021

“Does systemic racism exist in NH?”
by Dan and Sindiso Mnisi Weeks
NH Business Review, May 30, 2021

“Inequality at school – What’s behind the racial disparity in our education system?”
by Kirsten Weir
American Psychological Association, November 2016, Vol 47, No. 10

Institutional Racism in the Health Care System
AAFP, Policies

Racism in healthcare: What you need to know
Medical News Today

Racism and discrimination in health care: Providers and patients
Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Health Blog

Institutional Racism and Health Care for Minorities
by Sharon Liao, WebMD

What is systemic racism?
by Kate Slater, Today.com

Anti-racist Roadmap
by Kate Slater

The Tapestry of Black Business Ownership in America
a publication of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO)

Continuum on Becoming an Anti-Racist Multicultural Organization
Crossroads Ministry, Chicago, IL

Racism has a cost for everyone
TED Talk by Heather C. McGhee

How Structural Racism Works – Racist Policies as Root Cause of U.S. Racial Health Inequities
The New England Journal of Medicine, February 25, 2021
by Zinzi D. Bailey, Sc.D., M.S.P.H., Justin M. Feldman, Sc.D., and Mary T. Bassett, M.D., M.P.H.

7 myths about “defunding the police” debunked
by Howard Henderson and Ben Yisrael
Brookings, May 19, 2021

From Privilege to Progress
A national movement to desegregate the conversation about race and racism started by Melissa DePino and Michelle Saahene

Two Distant Strangers
In this Oscar-winning short film, a man trying to get home to his dog becomes stuck in a time loop that forces him to relive a deadly run-in with a police officer.

Ending the War on Drugs: By the Numbers
by Betsy Pearl, June 27, 2018

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

How to Be an Antiracist
by Ibram X. Kendi

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
by Robin DiAngelo

Introduction to InShape – a program by Ken Jue

Celebrating 10 African American Medical Pioneers
by Julia Haskins, Special to AAMCNews

MYTH: HEALTH

Race, not racism, dictates health outcomes.

FACT

"For decades, scientists have demonstrated that experiencing racial discrimination produces a raft of negative health effects such as elevated blood pressure, hypertension, and early aging through a process known as weathering." --Dan and Sindiso Mnisi Weeks
Learn More

MYTH: MENTAL HEALTH

We all carry similar mental health burdens.

FACT:

People of color, and all who have been marginalized experience life differently than those who have not been devalued... Racism is a mental health issue because racism causes trauma.
Learn More

MYTH: POLICING

All police are racist and "Defund" means "Abolish."

FACT

"Contemporary U.S. policing has roots in slave patrols, which were first established in 18th-century colonial Virginia in an effort to capture runaways and quell uprisings." --Bailey, Feldman, and Bassett
Learn More

MYTH: HOUSING

"Natural Neighborhoods" exist because people choose to live in them rather than laws and policies creating them.

FACT

"While [approximately 1.2 million] Black servicemen fought in World War II, the benefits afforded under the GI Bill were not extended to them." --Kate Slater
Learn More

MYTH: EDUCATION

Educational resources are equally distributed across schools.

FACT

"According to the NH Department of Education, spending per pupil in Manchester, where the majority of African American students reside, is just 74 cents for every dollar of per pupil spending statewide." --Dan and Sindiso Mnisi Weeks
Learn More

MYTH: ECONOMICS

The gap in wealth between Blacks and whites in America would be overcome if Blacks just made better financial decisions and got their act together.

FACT

"...national data clearly shows that workers of color earn less than their colleagues of European descent with the same job and qualifications and are less likely to be promoted." --Dan and Sindiso Mnisi Weeks
Learn More

MYTH: BEAUTY

All women, at some point in their lives, experience similar beauty and body-image insecurities.

FACT

African American women carry the additional insecurities and emotional burden of negative biases against the images of Black beauty rooted in the institution of slavery.
Learn More
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