Becoming Changemakers: Transforming Lives Through Collective Healing with Dr. Dominica McBride

Deneen L. Garrett: 00:02 00:35 Hello, hello, and thank you for tuning in to Women of Color, an Intimate Conversation. We're doing things a little differently today, and I'm excited to share this new journey with Dr. Domenica McBride. She is a leading thinker in the realm of community psychology, community healing, and collective transformation. She's also the author of Becoming Changemakers, which we will get into. Dr. Domenica, tell us more about you.
Dr. Dominica McBride: 00:35 02:14 Hey, everybody. And thank you so much for having me here, Deneen. So about me. So I first got into psychology when I was young, when I was a teenager. I just grew up as a child. I grew up in a small rural town in Michigan experienced both this close-knit, strong community as well as the opposite. I was one of a handful of girls of color growing up in the town and experienced blatant racism throughout my childhood too. So I really experienced the power of community in both positive and negative ways. And that eventually led me to want to be part of the healing for many of us who go through whether it's racism or sexism or heterosexism, like no matter what the ism is, right? Like there's a lot of healing that needs to happen growing up in this country and really in this life. And so I wanted to be a part of the healing, especially in community. So that got me on the path to psychology and community psychology, you know, eventually having a focus there And so eventually started Become, which is about our collective transformation into thriving people and thriving communities through really like building up the power of us collectively.

Deneen L. Garrett: 02:14 02:51 I love that. I absolutely love the be part of the healing, right? Which, you know, healing is a focus. We're going to talk a little bit more, of course, about that. We're going to talk about it in where it concerns become, where it concerns becoming change makers, and then also slightly different as far as pausing the need for women of color, black women in particular, to pause, right? So let's go ahead and talk more about the community, the work that you're doing, the community psychology, healing, and again, the collective transformation that I mentioned.

Dr. Dominica McBride: 02:52 03:46 Yeah, so BECOME is a non-profit organization, community transformation organization, and we work with both people, people living in neighborhoods and communities, which is many of us, and with other organizations, like groups that want to make a change, especially for people and for equity. And so we work with both the people and organizations to map out solutions and strategies to the issues that we see as deeply affecting our lives, that we see as achieving our dreams. We're talking about dreams today. We work with people and organizations to map out a collective dream, to achieve that dream, and to use tools like evaluation and research to make sure that it's actually happening, that they're on the road to success.

Deneen L. Garrett: 03:49 04:15 Yes. And so I see that. Are you in a Chicago? You're in a Chicago area, right? Yeah, right. The Chicago area. Yeah. And, you know, and of course, media shows depicts that Chicago is going through a lot. Right. So I'm sure that you're very busy. You're very challenged and probably at times overwhelmed with the work that you're having to do in the area. Talk to us a little bit about that.

Dr. Dominica McBride: 04:16 08:10 Yeah, so our work takes place on two levels. One is the level of the organization. So there's an organization that's doing, we're taking one of the biggest issues that's talked about and addressed in Chicago, violence, right? People talk about and see a lot of community violence in the media, people experience it on the ground. And so there are a lot of organizations that are working towards addressing it, just creating more peace and safety and security for people. And so we work with organizations that are doing things like preventing and addressing violence and working towards peace, as well as other issues like education, like poverty. But we'll just take violence as one example, because it is a very prevalent and prominent example in Chicago that's highlighted in the media that we're addressing collectively here. And so we work with organizations to see like, okay, are we on the right track? Are we addressing the things that need to be addressed? Are we serving the people that need to be served? Are we coming up with comprehensive solutions that actually lead towards peace, right? Like what is the data? What is the evidence that we have that we're helping to save lives, that we're helping to make lives better? you know, on on the ground. So that's one piece. And then another is we work on the neighborhood. So that's organizational and the neighborhood level, we have a model called culturally responsive community transformation. And it is a four phase approach of presence establishing deep presence in the neighborhood. Right. So we're not talking about like, like you said, we're talking about hyper local, and the neighborhood where people live together. And and helping to form those relationships. And then it goes into research, hearing about people's hopes and dreams. And so, for example, we work in Auburn Gresham neighborhood in Chicago, and we've talked to over 150 people so far around their hopes and dreams in the neighborhood, what they want for their lives, what they want for their families. what they hope to see in their community, how can the community be shaped and moved to help them achieve their dreams as well? And how can they help the community to become an even better place? And then through that, we prioritize the solutions. And that's the phase that we're in now is prioritizing those areas that they really want to innovate in, that they want to create solutions around, that they want to build and dream and make those things a reality. And then the sustainability is that fourth phase, like using evaluation to make sure that we are creating the community that we want to create. We're creating the lives that we want to create. So that's my work on the neighborhood level. And that work, we're talking about creating ecologies, we're talking about creating something that's new, that's different, that's baked into what the people who live there really want to see. and it's coming from them. And so in that path is also healing because we can't really create something new if we're not renewed, right? Like what comes out of us, it comes from inside of us. And when we come with pain or we come with the isms or we come with all these barriers, right? Like that's a lot of times what we see and what we create and what we develop. And so we also, bake in a process of healing together. So we can clear a lot of those things that cause us pain and that we don't want to replicate. We can go this process like unlearning and healing so we can step in transformed in this process of transformation.

Deneen L. Garrett: 08:10 08:48 Yeah. And so, you know, talking to the neighbors, talking to the people in the communities, right, that's so key because a lot of times and I'm really coming from just thinking like corporate in other spaces that often changes are made, programs are put in place without actually talking to the people who it will impact. So that's why, you know, when you're talking about that, you're talking to them, asking them, yeah, ask them. They're in those communities, right? So what's like one of the number one thing or theme that came out of the research and talking with the people in a community, like what is that one thing that comes to mind that they want?

Dr. Dominica McBride: 08:50 09:41 Oh my goodness. So I'll talk about three because they're kind of neck and neck in what people want to see. First is youth. Like there's so many people that care so much about our youth and they want to see places that are conducive to thriving youth, to youth stepping into their potential, to youth being well and whole, right? Because right now there's so many barriers to youth just developing as like you know, healthy human beings, right? Like the level of trauma that many youth experience, the level of neglect, and I'm not just talking about from parents, even like communities, right? Like communities You know, many communities once were places where youth were surrounded by care. They were surrounded by nurturance. They had rec centers.

Deneen L. Garrett: 09:41 09:44 We don't have those anymore, Elise.

Dr. Dominica McBride: 09:44 12:01 Not here. Yes, from the resources in the community to the people watching out for the youth, right? A lot of that has been worn away, right? It's been worn away by sociopolitical conditions, the deterioration of like relationships in community and in cities and in the country overall. And so that's a big part of it. People want to see a place that is conducive to youth being happy and whole and well. Another one is safety, right? People want to feel safe, not just like being afraid, because a lot of people, you know, that they, at least in this neighborhood, they had experienced before, a place that was very close-knit. They experienced that village that a lot of people talk about, like the village that raised the kids, they experienced that. And then over time, those social connections, that social fabric, what has been worn away. And so now people say like, we want that back. You know, like we want that back. We want it back. Because a lot of people, they're afraid. We're afraid of each other now. And so really wanting that sense of of safety and then that sense of care that like we genuinely care about each other again. You know, like we generally care about each other. And so people want to see like that, that like conditions of care and love around them in their neighborhood. And then also, of course, like a thriving community, a thriving economy, but a thriving neighborhood economy. And so like really like thinking about like, what does it mean for like a neighborhood to be its own economy? Yeah. We connect economy with other things, right? We're connecting economy with like big box stores, you know, or we're connecting economy with like the market, the stock market, we're connecting economy with like the nation and how the nation is doing. Like, what does it look like to, for a community to be an economy in and of itself and to be a thriving economy in and of itself, right? And so we want to see that too.

Deneen L. Garrett: 12:01 12:10 And you know what, Anissa, what does that look like? Like, have you gotten to that point, that stage to what that could look like, the economy? No, not yet.

Dr. Dominica McBride: 12:10 13:01 We're just at the beginning. of developing that piece of it out. But some of the things that people have talked about, whether they're leaders in the community or they're residents of the community, is that entrepreneurs thrive. There's so many talents in the community. One of my late great mentors, Dr. Stafford Hood, he grew up in this neighborhood in Auburn Gresham, and he talked about how just on his block, he was able to experience almost element every everything he needed on the block. Like there was a grocery store, there was a bakery, there was the school they could walk to safely. There was also like a barber shop in the basement of somebody's house. And so he just walked down the street. Everything was there.

Deneen L. Garrett: 13:01 13:01 Yeah.

Dr. Dominica McBride: 13:01 13:43 You know, walk down the other street, get some food, you know. So everything was like in that little ecosystem, you know. in that little ecology of the block. And so that's one, right? Like people want to see entrepreneurship, people want to see like people using their talent and being able to make enough money, more than enough money off of their talent and off of their passion, and to be able to do it in the community and for the community. So those are just like some elements that we've heard from interviews, from the focus groups, and from people that we are in regular conversation with around it.

Deneen L. Garrett: 13:43 15:56 Okay, and I did drop something in chat. So as you were talking about the youth, what came to mind is there's a Principal Caffelli. Are you familiar with him at all? Okay, check him out. He used to be a principal in like, I believe, the New Jersey school systems. And I had read about him years ago, right, when my son was in high school. Maybe it was about six years ago, I had learned about him because I wanted, you know, I wanted my son to read more. And so I had created the Homie Book Club for my son and his friends. And I read Dr. Cuffelli and the things that he was saying, especially when you're talking about urban, children, right, which is, you know, the youth that you are experiencing and how a lot of the students, you know, before all the things that they had to go through just to get to school on any particular day. So a kid may have had to, you know, walk around needles, drug needles, avoid gang members, all of these different things that a child has to go through before they even come into the classroom. And then, you know, one of the first things the teacher is talking about, well, what's one plus two or or whatever the situation is. And so really what he talked about and is that get to know the children, get to know their experiences and relate to them. You talked about relationship, get to know them before you jump into some of that the other stuff. Right. Yeah, they're there for school. However, they they come with so much baggage. There's so much that they've had to survive just to get in to the door and so to be aware of that and connect with them, because the other part of it is is that those who are teaching who are in a in the schools they're not of the community. Right they're outside of they're not you know of color they're not black, and so they don't know and understand. the experiences that the children are having. And so he talks a lot about that, but that's what like really resonated with me from his book, like that example. And I'm like, oh my God, that is so true. And it doesn't just apply to a person going to school, it's just in general, you know, even going to work.

Dr. Dominica McBride: 15:56 16:43 We just thought about like, okay, if we had to walk to work and on our way to work, We saw these drug needles, and we saw people fighting, and we were afraid because we were afraid of somebody coming up trying to start a conflict. By the time we sat down at our computer, we'd be like, oh my god. Our nervous system totally activated. Our amygdala would be totally like on an overload of fear, fear, fear. We wouldn't even expect ourselves to to work well, you know, in that situation, but we want to expect a kid to like, jump right in and then start learning and then forget like, okay, what just happened and what's going on with my body. Yeah.

Deneen L. Garrett: 16:43 17:20 Yes. So yeah. So that's just something I wanted to, you know, to throw out. I'm sure, you know, it could be useful in, in what you're doing and work that you're doing. So let's get into empowering women of color, which is, pretty much what this video podcast with the focus of women of color is about. It is about empowering women. And I know that your book that you mentioned that we both actually mentioned, Becoming Changemakers, is about that. Right. So let's talk about what led you to authoring Becoming Changemakers. And of course, tell us about the book itself.

Dr. Dominica McBride: 17:21 25:49 Yeah, so Becoming Changemakers, the exquisite path to leadership and liberation for women of color is a transformational guide on how we can make change by being the change in our communities. And so really stepping into our higher, awesome, amazing, magnificent self is in each of us. We have so much crap that gets laid on us in life, whether it's like the microaggressions or it's like you know, the pain and trauma that we grew up with, or it's like day-to-day struggles. Like there's so many things that layer on top of us that help us to forget. I say help us to forget because like it, like kind of slow, like, like kind of rips away or sometimes really fast, like rips away at our, the connection to our potential, which is amazing. And so this book is really designed as a path to start to, or continue if you're already on this path, to healing, to stepping into our potential as a person, as a leader, as a change maker. It includes the stories of 13 women 13 women of color changemakers and their successes, their mishaps, their lessons learned, their trials, their triumphs. And it's within the arc of these big lessons, right? The lessons in the path of leadership and liberation from healing and relationships to intersectionality and power. And so I can talk a bit more about each one of those, but I'll first jump back to the story of the book. And so we, as I mentioned before, become, our work with organizations takes us into various issues. Like I said, from violence prevention to education, and it's also taken us into women of color leadership. And so we worked with three different organizations all doing work around women of color leadership in different ways. One was in philanthropy, one was in community organizing, another one is in nonprofit leadership. And so these are three distinct organizations, three distinct programs, three distinct like evaluation and research projects to look at their impacts in these areas. And so we went and we were doing our research, you know, kind of like in in ways that were just focused on those distinct areas. But then the pandemic happened and we were forced to take a step back and pause. We could talk about that too. Pause and be like, what are we doing? What are we doing? What's happening? What have we learned up to this point? Like, should we do something different? You know, moving forward. So it really caused us to stop for a bit and think. And in that pause, we reflected and we reviewed like some of what we've learned and when we were reviewing we saw this theme and these three projects like we saw this theme like all these three projects were around women of color leaders and leadership and and the path. And then when we did this meta-analysis around the data and reports, we saw that there was these things that cut across those projects. No matter if you were in philanthropy or you were in the nonprofit leadership realm, or you were in community organizing and advocacy, these were issues that you faced directly, that you wanted to see, that you experienced, that you wanted to change, that you learned along your pathway, And so the biggest one was healing. But like healing, self-care, we all need it. You know, like there's so many things that we need to heal, like within ourselves, within our communities. And so we really need to start there. Like healing should be a leadership skill, right? Like, even if you're not a woman of color, even if you're like, you know, whatever, some white guy in like some like, But yeah, whatever. You gotta think about, hey, what's inside of me that I need to like clean and clear in order to do things well, in order to care, in order to love, in order to… But anyway, going back to us, that came out, right? And then there's so much like wisdom from us, from like women of color for the world, right? I always wanted to say like, this is like wisdom for the world. So that was number one. Number two was relationships, like not, not only mentors and coaches. So that, that was huge. Like, you know, the, the, the impact of mentors and coaches in our leadership development and having that person that can teach, that can check, that can, you know, give you a space to reflect. Right. But then also like creating these like peer to peer um, support networks, right? Like, how can we support each other and uplift each other, um, and really think about our day-to-day lives in that way, too, because a lot of times we can get stuck in the U.S. way of doing things, right? Individualistic paths and, you know, I gotta get mine or I'm on this path, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that, you know, or competition. We get stuck there and we just kind of, like, get in a rut, but then this is saying, no, like, the Like for really like true catalytic leadership, liberating leadership, healing leadership, like we really have to turn towards each other and be there for each other. And then the third was intersectionality. And so intersectionality is about us as cultural beings. Us as cultural beings, So thanks to Kimberly Crenshaw around coining that term. And so she coined the term around the different cultural aspects of ourselves and like how we have compounded oppression, you know, from those different aspects of ourselves. Right. So so it's about like you being a black woman, mother, right, the things that I have to navigate in that intersectionality, you know, from the way people treat me, the way people see me, what doors are open, what doors are closed, you know, in that way, and then seeing that, seeing myself in context, right, myself in cultural context, myself in sociopolitical context, and how that affects me, both in negative ways and in positive ways. And then also on the opposite side, like we also have like a positive aspect to it. Like that culture can bring a lot of strength and culture can bring a lot of celebration or cause for celebration and culture can bring a lot of like really like uplifting values. And so seeing ourselves as these cultural beings helps us to not only like navigate the challenge but also like deepen into our strengths. as who we are, as who we are in our lineage, as who we are in our community, as who we are in this world. And then fourth, power. Because a lot of times people don't think that they have power or they see power as like, oh, the president has power or this You know, this millionaire, billionaire over there has power, but I don't have power. No, we're saying, like, actually, we all have power. Like, literally, like, power is the ability to do something. It's the ability to work or the ability to influence. We all have that. That's just part of being human. But are you tapping into that? Are you seeing your power? And are you tapping into your power? Are you activating your power? And not only are you activating your power, but are you activating your power for good? You know, are you activating your power to help uplift your community? Are you activating your power to help uplift other people? Are you activating your power to help make this world a better place?

Deneen L. Garrett: 25:49 28:30 Yes. And so, yes, we're going to get into the power and the pause right now, right? And then healing, because that's what you're talking a lot about. Healing, healing, healing. And before you said it, the question I was going to ask you is, what have you found that we need to heal from? And you answered it right, which ties into the whole reason why I bring up the power in the pause. And so that came from last year, I took a two month pause from social media, took a break. And I wanted to be more present in life. I just wanted to be more present in life. And so when I came off of the pause, I started to ask, what is the power? Why is that important for us to pause? What could that look like? And so that's what you're talking about. That's what, you know, your work is, is to help us heal. And one of the first ways is to self-care and self-care looks different for different people. And people don't really understand what it is or what it could be fully. And so also what I would do is on Sundays, I would post on LinkedIn different ways to self-care because folks think, oh yeah, you know, I get massages. or facials, et cetera, that's just a part of it. It's even deeper. Self-care could be, and an example I had gave and it resonated with a lot of people was cleaning out my closet. Like I spent a Sunday and I cleaned out my closet, decluttering. Decluttering is a form of self-care, right? Now I was talking about physically decluttering, but it also manifested Mentally, because that clutter, you know, knowing your closet may be full with things and some stuff may or may not fit and it's just there, it's just stuff, it could be kind of overwhelming like, oh my God, I have this stuff. So you physically have this stuff, but then mentally it, you know, weighs on you. And so to declutter, to start getting rid of is empowering, right? Because if you, if your goal is to like become healthier, along with becoming healthier is also maybe losing weight, right? Because a lot of health conditions are because of the weight. And so you may see that, well, you know what? This 14 is too big. That's huge. That lets you know you're on the right track. You're on that journey. You are getting healthier in a way of losing weight. And so that's what decluttering could do. So again, the power in the pause. Let's talk around that. What are your thoughts?

Dr. Dominica McBride: 28:30 30:52 I just want to touch on the decluttering piece, because that is so huge to me. A lot of times we don't see the connection of our environment and our actual environment, our internal environment. They are connected. Just like we're shaped by context, we're shaped by the world around us, and we shape the world around us. Even in those little tiny ways, because I know when my life is not going well, my house looks like a mess. And I can tell like, when I look at my house and it's a mess, I'm like, okay, I need to pause. And I need to take better care of myself because I know my mind is a bit of a mess. And my environment is a bit of a mess. And then vice versa, like when we clean and we clear, like it helps to clear our mind too in the process. So seeing that like interchange between like the outside and the inside, yeah. But pause is so necessary. We recently did a session, our team as well as some partners and some other advocates in the community came together through the Become Academy and it's this place for collective learning. It's collective learning and growth. And we did circle practice. And so we sat in a circle and we all went around you know, one by one and really just like, for our heart. And as part of that, there's a pod, right? Like the, the we had these little chimes, you know, and the chimes like when somebody would say, Oh, I need a pause, we'd ring the chime thing. Yeah. And we pause and just because You know, the person, whoever called for the pause would have a reason if somebody said something deep, if somebody like hit a heartstring, you know, like they evoked an emotion, you know, it's like, let's pause. Because that really made me feel X or let's pause because that was some deep wisdom that we really need to reflect on, you know, let's pause because we really need to just like sit with the tension that's building or Whatever it is, right? Like the pause allows us to go deeper into that moment and into that wisdom.

Deneen L. Garrett: 30:52 32:22 It absolutely does. And I was having a conversation with someone last week and she was, you know, just talking about like all these different great things are happening, you know, and she was she was talking about me because I am in a state of attracting and manifesting. And it's just and even if people so, you know, we were talking earlier about art. And so in addition to going to the Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club, which is focus or it's a space for artists and then also collectors. I also attend a weekly art collectors and I've told them like, yeah, this is how I manifested this particular thing. And so this past week, someone else said, well, I know other than manifesting, how were you able to do X, Y, Z? But anyway, so I was saying to Betty how I don't sit with, I don't pause, with certain experiences. Like I recognize when something has manifested, right? When God or universe has answered me, I do recognize that and I acknowledge it and I keep moving, right? I don't necessarily just sit with things because some things are so big or, and I just don't take the time to pause with it. So I love that you all have that circle and that you're intentional about pausing, your intention about let's talk more about that, let's maybe be quiet for a moment and let it sit and just resonate with us. I love that. I love it.

Dr. Dominica McBride: 32:25 32:30 What did you say, I'm sorry? I said, it's amazing how much healing can be in a pause. Yes.

Deneen L. Garrett: 32:30 35:17 Oh, yes. Absolutely. Right? Oh my God. It is so huge. And that's just it. We don't, we keep it, you know, a lot of times we keep it moving. We don't take the time. And like I said, the reason why I said, let me just take these, these two months away from social media is because of how I interacted with social media. Social media has, you know, it's, whether it's bad or good is really in how you use it. You know what I'm saying? Like, if you're on it all day long and not doing other things, then that's probably not the best thing, unless what you're doing on it is having positive impact for you. And so for me, I'm like, I am constantly on it. I'm checking the different things. And so doing that, I'm not doing some other things. And some other things could really just be sitting and being still, the pause that we're talking about. And so that's why I took that break. And the only reason why I came back is because I started recording a podcast. And so in order to, you know, to share with people what's going on, that's why I came back. But otherwise, I could have stayed off. And I'm actually entering another pause. So I'm about to go into another social media pause. to really focus on what I'm working on now, which we talked about earlier, which is being, you know, as an emerging art curator. So that's my focus now. And I really want to just dig deeper into that because it's not just about me. It's also about the artists that I'm representing and, you know, whether I'm representing them as part of Collect Black Art Artists or if I'm representing them because I'm doing a show or something for them. I want to dig deep in and learn and read more, et cetera. And so I need to take myself away from the different platforms that maybe are not specific to what I'm working on, or at least I don't intend to use them that particular way. So I'm about to go into another pause. But what I do want to talk about, because we did point out and mentioned it earlier, I want to talk about dreams. You talked about how what you're doing, the work you're doing, what Become is doing, is centered around, you know, it's also part of that is to help people to realize their dreams to even, you know, like, well, what is your dream, you know, put them in a position to be able to tap into it, bring it to life, etc. So let's talk about two aspects of dreams. One could be, let's talk about dreams deferred. which is a book my sister wrote. So poet and author, Soul True. I bring it up because I honor her. My sister passed in 2020. And so I bring her into my recordings. So we can talk about something that was delayed and or we can just talk about living a dream lifestyle and what that looks like, how you define it. All those good things.

Dr. Dominica McBride: 35:17 35:54 Light to your sister's soul. And Also, before we go into dreams, I just want to say, like, you are exemplifying, like, the pregnant pause with the way that you're doing pauses. You're doing these pauses and then out comes a podcast. You do a pause and out comes this awesome art business. The pregnant pause. Okay. So dreams, dreams deferred or dreams left out. I have both.

Deneen L. Garrett: 35:54 36:15 Yeah. I have both. Which one is more impactful? So we, you know what, we want to, you know, before we end and everything, whichever one is more impactful, because again, you know, your work is about empowering and you're in the book. And then this recording, this whole thing is about empowering women of color. So what's the most impactful way? So go with that one.

Dr. Dominica McBride: 36:15 37:22 So I'd say my dreams that have been realized. my goodness, like become my family, the book, like, so I am a mother of two, and have dreamed for a long time about raising a young person, you know, raising a young person, I didn't, I didn't really care if I had them through my own body, or if I, you know, adopted them, or from somewhere, but I just wanted to, to raise a little human being. So I'm fortunate to have two amazing, awesome, hilarious, feisty little humans that are in my care. And so that's like a dream, a dream come true and become my organization started in 2013. We're 11 years going strong and growing. That's a dream come true. And then of course the book now coming out of that work and hopefully touching the lives of many women of color around the world.

Deneen L. Garrett: 37:22 38:09 So I love it. I love it. No, congratulations to all of that. Right. And I love how you're you growing up in a community stayed with you to today. Right. These past 11 years with your organization and the work that you're doing today, what you're passionate about, what you're focused on and the impact that you are having on so many people. I love that. I love that. And so for those who are watching or listening, become change makers. Tap into what it is that you want for your life, those dreams that you want for your life. And I appreciate you, Dr. Dominica McBride. Thank you so much for lending your voice on Women of Color and Intimate Conversation. And enjoy the rest of your day.

Dr. Dominica McBride: 38:09 38:15 Oh, thank you so much for having me. I'm so good to meet you. Same. Thank you.

Deneen L. Garrett: 38:15 38:17 Bye, everybody. Bye.