History

On January 12, 2014, thirty-one high school students, from throughout the Roanoke valley, representing different school systems, religions, races, communities, and cultural groups came together to discuss difficult topics. The evaluations from this Youth Forum showed that teens felt their schools/community did not do enough to stand up against prejudice, that 100% wanted more opportunities to talk about differences and 85% wanted to acquire more skills to be leaders in promoting pluralism.

It was these results that prompted Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare (BRBH), Roanoke Area Youth Substance Abuse Coalition (RAYSAC) & Voices of Faith to host the June 17, 2014 day long Project Inclusion training with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities. Based on the evaluations of that day representatives from BRBH Prevention Services, Radford School of Social Work and Voices of Faith invided key stakeholders from all 5 valley localities to join in a series of conversations over a year’s period of time focused on unifying the Roanoke Valley through education, awareness of different life experiences and increasing Respect for our Diversity.

Michael Brown an unarmed black youth from Ferguson, MO. was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer on August 9, 2014. In the days and weeks following the shooting high-ranking government leaders, law enforcement, journalists, educators and citizens were calling for cross-cultural studies in our schools, conversations in our neighborhoods and dialogue between our religious traditions. Some local organizations were urging schools and the larger community to provide for increased education and awareness of diversity as well as a forum for discussing the issues and tensions that divide our citizens.

Points of Diversity had it’s first organizational meeting on October 30, 2014 producing the goals & objectives for our first public meeting held at North Cross School in January 2015, where committees were established to implement our mission statement:

To support the creation of an environment where people want to live, learn and grow by working to ensure that all community members have the tools to succeed by connecting, engaging and being educated in cross-cultural discussions and experiences. These efforts focus on promoting inclusion of all the diversity found throughout the Roanoke Valley.

Our first annual membership meeting took place on November 15, 2015 to establish organizational by-Laws and elect officers to the Advisory Board. From 2014 to 2019, the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities provided fiscal management support and technical asssistance for Points of Diversity. In 2019, Points of Diversity was incorporated under the Virginia Corporation Commission guidelines and was officially recognized by the Internal Revenue Services as a tax exempt non-profit charitable organization.

Also in 2015, Points of Diversity volunteers trained individuals as facilitators and began holding small dialogue groups. Since the first Study Circles we have developed a diverse cadre of facilitators who have been nationally recognized for their skill in creating safe space for participants to share their stories and listen to other perspectives. Points of Diversity facilitators use field tested resources provided by Everyday Democracy. These resources are modeled on the nationally recognized Study Circle format which are incorporated into all our Community Conversations including the 2019 Changing the Narrative Community Meals.

Let's build a more inclusive Roanoke together.

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