Jul 19, 2021

Communications Resource Team
Chairperson: Rev. John Bletsch

Report submitted by: John Coleman
Email: jcoleman@epaumc.org
Phone: (443) 745-5654
Date submitted: 07/19/2021

Recent Events & Activities

NEW Dismantling Racism (DR) Facebook Group Page  

Launch: June 15, 2021  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1268658306921870

Ownership: EPAC Commission on Religion & Race

Partners: EPAC Communications; Healing the Wounds of Racism Core Team; Whites Confronting Racism; Fight for Floyd & Beyond Committees; Dismantling Racism Churches.

Strategy: Develop an overall vision, purpose, behavior and content standards, goals & communication strategy for the FB page.  Create FB Group logo.

Management Team: John Coleman, Lindsey Cotman, David Piltz, Susan Worrell, Alicia Julia-Stanley ….

Sections:  About; Discussions; Events; News; Resources (Media); Members/Partners

Contents:

  • DR Resources–recommended publications, videos, websites, articles, etc. (with annotated links);
  • DR News & Events;
  • DR Ministry & Personal Profiles & Features (linked stories);
  • Reviews & Previews of Events;
  • Comments & Conversations (monitored);
  • Questions & Responses;
  • Polls; etc.
  • Photos, illustrations & Video clips.
  • FB Livestream appropriate events–e.g, discussions, watch parties, etc.

Content Curation Sources: EPA Conference website; EPA local church sites; UMC Dismantling Racism websites (including UMCom, GCORR, GBCS, UMW, etc.). Other annual conferences’ sites? Anti-Racism groups, organizations & institutions (especially faith-based). Public media sites (especially local & regional).

Invite Partners to Participate: CORR; HWR Core Team; Fight for Floyd Committees; Whites Confronting Racism; other EPAC groups.

Status: Public—Anyone can see who’s in the group and what they post.  Visible—Anyone can find this group.  General.

Tags:  Religion. Social Justice. Anti-Racism. Human Rights. Human Relations.

Standards: Members of this FB Group are welcome to post. We encourage posting for discussion and learning, not ranting or pushing political views. Our focus is about Racism & Anti-Racism, Ending White Privilege & Supremacy; Seeking Racial Justice & Equity; Authenticating Our Wesleyan Faith as UMs intent on Dismantling Racism. Our Goal is to share dialogue as we all face this dominant Issue in our Society.

Group Rules:  Give more than you take to this group. Self-promotion, spam and irrelevant links aren’t allowed. Please try not to overwhelm discussion with a flood of posts, even on-topic ones. Make sure everyone feels safe. Bullying of any kind isn’t allowed, and degrading comments about things like race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender or identity will not be tolerated. Do not use all-caps (tantamount to yelling).

What Is A Facebook Group?

Facebook Groups are something entirely different from pages. While Business Pages are essentially profile pages maintained and updated by the administrators, Facebook Groups are maintained by the community.

The administrators can set up a Group to have open membership to the public, membership upon approval, or membership by invitation only.

Once someone becomes a member of that group, they can start posting to that group. Posts will show up in members’ news feeds. This means members can share resources, events, ideas, and questions with each other.

Group administrators’ role is to moderate the members’ posts and to enforce the rules as needed, not just to create content.

Use Facebook Groups when…

  • Your community has expertise and you want to give them a place to create and share their own content
  • You hope to facilitate discussions between community members
  • Your community wants an online space that’s for them, and you would like your organization to be the host

Pros:

  • Anyone can post and share content: you don’t have to do all the work to create content
  • It can help group members find resources, information, or items
  • You can be incredibly creative: groups are a great way to explore new projects or ideas

Cons:

  • Anyone can post and share content: it can be a lot of work to moderate and ensure that everyone is behaving kindly, keeping on topic, and following group guidelines
  • If your community isn’t engaged, the group won’t have any content
  • A group won’t give you a place to advertise, share information about your organization/business, or promote events and products

Prepared by John Coleman, NEWSpirit Communcations, June 1, 2021