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Register for the 21-Day Challenge

You are invited to participate in NIRSA’s 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge© for campus recreation. The concept of the 21-Day Challenge was introduced several years ago by diversity expert Eddie Moore, Jr. to create greater understanding of the intersections of race, power, privilege, supremacy, oppression and equity. We are grateful to him for publicly sharing and encouraging others to use this concept as an educational tool.

This event initially ran in Fall 2020. Did you miss out? Now you can sign up for an on-demand version of this Challenge!

Did you complete NIRSA’s 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge? Let your friends know about your accomplishment: Download some social media graphics to share.

Join NIRSA’s 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge for Campus Recreation

As our partners at CUPA-HR noted, when they began their own challenge:

“The nation — including our students, faculty and staff — is talking about race and the systems that perpetuate racial inequalities, inequities and injustice, as well as the heavy toll those systems have taken on the Black community. It’s critically important that we continue our efforts to move from talk to action on college and university campuses across the country. Creating effective social justice habits is one important way that we can work together to learn and address these incredible challenges.”

See related: In solidarity and action

21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge is the registered copyright of America & Moore, LLC. 2014.

This Challenge is intentionally crafted to focus on the Black American experience. We value all NIRSA’s diverse members, and we unabashedly recognize the racism all BIPOC community members face daily; there is a particular need at this moment in time to focus on the Black experience.

How will the challenge work?

This Challenge is best suited to small groups; we hope you will invite others on your campus or in your network to take this challenge with you for even deeper and richer dialogue! We also hope you might use some of the materials from this challenge with your staff and students.

When the Challenge ran live in Fall 2020, NIRSA recorded weekly discussions. You can find these in the Connect community for this event.

This Challenge invites participants to complete daily assignments – usually a mix of readings and videos or podcasts – scoped to take an average of 45-60 minutes of your time. The 21-Day Challenge is designed for 21 working days.

The themes, resources selected, and discussion prompts provided are a start to a large, complex conversation. They are by no means exhaustive or holistic or in any way intended as a masterclass on racism in the United States.

Each week will have a theme

Week 1: Grounding in history and in recreation

Week 2: Microagressions, Whiteness, and Implicit Bias

Week 3: Higher Education and race

Week 4: Allyship and action steps

Participants will receive weekly emails with resources and discussion prompts.

Every Monday morning after you register, you’ll receive an email linking you to:

  • A resource list for the week, featuring 1-3 resources (a mix of articles, videos, and podcasts) per day. The days are merely suggestions; the week’s resources can be engaged with however best suits your schedule.
  • 3-4 discussion prompts for the week. These may be used to guide your discussions on campus and/or in your networks.

Each Friday, we’ll host a roundtable discussion on the week’s theme.

The roundtables will be facilitated by NIRSA Board members and other leaders from our field. Facilitators will provide their perspectives on the week’s readings, consider the discussion prompts, and invite participants to share and engage with each other.

Space in the virtual roundtables Discussions will be recorded for later viewing for those who cannot attend live.

The last day of the challenge will be Monday, October 12. On this day, participants will receive their final communication and opportunities for next steps.

Register Now

The NIRSA 21-Day Challenge is free to NIRSA members (including any individual at NIRSA member institutions) and $99 for nonmembers.

We look forward to being part of this journey with you! 

The 21 Day Challenge is a CEU opportunity for Registered Collegiate Recreational Sports Professional (RCRSPs). Registrants for the Challenge can earn 15.0 NIRSA CEU.

Core Competencies: Programming; Philosophy & Theory; Personal & Professional Qualities

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