Date/Time
Date(s) - 08/07/2020
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Categories
“Black lives matter.” Of course they do. Given that, you can buy into the premise without necessarily buying into the politics, or you can buy into both. Can we all embrace the premise and “do something” positive, without getting bogged down in the politics? Of course we can, if we make it personal. A starting point is our very own Racial Justice Workgroup.
The Club formed a Racial Justice Work Group to address root causes of racism with an impactful project and to increase awareness among ourselves and the community of racial inequities.
Over the past month, they have been doing their homework – seeking information and data and reaching out to organizations that primarily serve African American youth and families in Tucson. After discussions with NAACP Tucson Branch officials and African American community leaders in Tucson, three study teams were established: 1) Legal Systems (judicial and incarceration issues); 2) Education; and 3) Community (helping African Americans connect in the dispersed Tucson African American community), with the intended task to define the problems and root causes in their area.
Anita D. McDonald, Ph.D. is a past president of the Catalina Rotary Club. She serves at the district level of Rotary as an Assistant Governor, the chair of the Annual Fund and will serve as District 5500 Governor in 2022-2023. Anita has spent her entire life in education starting with playing teacher when she was about five years old and eventually teaching mathematics at the high school and college level. She transitioned into University Administration serving three universities including the University of Arizona as Dean of Extended University, Summer Sessions and the Evening & Weekend Campus and 10 years as Chancellor of the Penn State University DuBois Campus before retiring the end of 2012. As an African American woman, her journey to this point involved many bumps in the road, detours and exit ramps due to racism.
Anita is very committed to providing quality education to our youth and is a strong advocate for more women in science and mathematics related fields. She also serves on the Board of the ALS Association, Arizona Chapter and maintains her involvement in higher education by serving on the Boards of Columbia College Hollywood and Walden University, chairing the academic affairs committee on both.
Bob Grady has been a Rotarian since 2015 and most recently served Catalina Rotary as Club President from 2018-2020 and Secretary in 2017-2018. He and Connie have been married for 40 years and have called Tucson and Vail their home for the last 9 years, after living in NH, MI, TX, and FL. They have 2 children and 4 grandchildren. Bob and Connie love to travel and look forward to trips to Hawaii and Italy – when it’s allowed. Bob’s career has been in operations management in computer and automotive parts manufacturing and in a recreational vehicle dealership. He has been heavily involved in community service for over 15 years and is passionate about the possibilities for the newly-formed Racial Justice Work Group.
In 70 years, Bob DeLaney, one of four kids who grew up in New York, moved to Boston at the age of 30, and then moved to Tucson at 57. He met and married Lucy in 1976 (met in college) and is the proud father to Sara (LA), Abigail (Boston) and Bill (LA), as well as grandfather to Dakota and Kit…with another one on the way. Bob worked in the commercial real estate brokerage arena (office and industrial) in Boston and Tucson for over 30 years. He’s been a Catalina Rotarian for ten years, including spending time as president. Bob was educated at Williams College and MIT, and enjoys going to a summer home on Hatch Lake in Central NY near Syracuse. He enjoys various sports and reading.
This panel will share what they have learned and why this initiative is important to Rotarians, as well as their vision for making a difference to our African American community.