Working close to home is precisely what is needed now – ideally fostering the capacity of young and older alike to become more engaged in civil society and attuned to local, state, and national politics. Bringing a human rights lens to the work also connects us in meaningful ways to international institutions and other models for ‘doing democracy.’ And such connectedness can foster a sense of purpose and well-being.
An example of something we’re doing now is launching a forced migration hub, which is a collaboration with the Human Rights Institute and the Asylum and Human Rights Clinic. In addition to hosting speakers and workshops and providing mentorship to students doing research on forced migration, we enable students, faculty, and staff to do practice-oriented work within communities.
One example is the Welcome Quilt Collective, which I lead with Katie Roy in collaboration with the Well-Being Lab for Student Access & Belonging (WeLAB). Welcome Quilt is a project where students learn to sew and make blankets that we give to local organizations to distribute to children of newcomers or other marginalized communities. Students teach each other, finish work that may have been started in an earlier Welcome Quilt session, and connect with other groups in high schools or local communities. This past year, the 20 to 25 students have organized, raised funds, and set up their own workspace on the Storrs campus. Welcome Quilt events have also taken place at the School of Social Work and UConn Hartford.
Welcome Quilt is a different kind of community, driven by student interest and the belief that creating and working together on tangible fiber arts fosters connectedness and well-being. It is a space where students, faculty, and staff talk about what’s important in their lives, even as they’re creating something really beautiful to share with newcomer families as a sign of “welcome.”
This is an example of what can be replicated in community. Talk to your neighbor, even if you might not agree with them, and find ways to build connections with people so that you can engage in civic action in defense of democracy close to home – this is human rights work.
A major driver of change requires fostering a clearer sense of connectedness and responsibility to each other, and then building the capacity to talk to those we have elected to represent all of us. This entails drawing in people who might not be thinking actively about how democracy is eroding, and then trying from the grassroots to start to repair some of the extraordinary harms that have been created in the last years.
For more information about human rights programs and educational opportunities offered through the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute at UConn, visit humanrights.uconn.edu.