AfroChime’s Year in Review 2021

When we asked the AfroChime Chimer Resource Group (CRG) co-leads to describe the year 2021, the words that came to mind were:

• Informative and empowering
• Engagement and participation
• Energizing and busy

“It was difficult to keep track of time,” says Syeda Lee (she/her/hers), one of the CRG’s co-leads. “With the second year of the pandemic in full swing, a lot of time ran together — 2021 almost felt like a continuation of 2020.” But despite the strange feeling of the passage of time for AfroChime, the group achieved a lot. “We were able to educate folks on topics that matter to us, like colorism, BLM, Juneteenth, and Black superheroes,” says Courtney Clavon (she/her/hers), another AfroChime co-lead.

And the group saw a lot of engagement: “We were an engaged group of co-leads and our members showed high participation rates,” says Phillip Barnett (he/him/his), a co-lead. “The engagement we saw made our efforts as a CRG feel truly collaborative with our community,” he adds.

Meet the co-leads:

Turning inward: A focus on the community

Following 2020, a year that brought the Black community to the forefront of many peoples’ minds, AfroChime took 2021 to focus internally, on their own community. “We wanted to make sure that Chimers felt supported, first and foremost,” explains Courtney. “This year was, in a way, a continuation of the racial strife that was exposed in 2020 — a year when we learned the importance of turning inward in times of hardship. That’s why we focused on our members first this year.”

To that end, the group held a private meeting for the AfroChime community every two weeks, keeping the conversation open-ended and creating a safe space for folks to share what they were feeling. They also took the time for larger meetings, where the goal was to educate allies and drive broader engagement. “We made sure to lead with empathy and understanding so people felt that it was a safe space to speak up and ask questions without judgment,” Courtney says.

The group did all of this work while still in a pandemic — and at a rapidly growing company. “We’re still building community with people we haven’t met in person,” explains Syeda. “It was critical for us to find ways to cultivate a sense of community for people who haven’t met in person and who need a lot of support.”

To create connection and that sense of community, AfroChime turned to their culture, focusing on the arts and music of the Black community with View and Review movie watching, a highlight on Black superheroes, and a group painting activity. “There’s so much richness of the culture to bring community,” explains Priscilla. “We anchored our work in that, in addition to relevant cultural issues, to connect with each other this year.”

Creating events and programming completely virtually added layers of complexity to planning and called for even better cross-communication with other CRGs. “Intersectionality becomes more nuanced and harder to identify,” says Courtney. “We were able to learn about how to touch on intersectionality this year by casting a wide net, but next year, I hope we can focus on a smaller scope of intersectionality,” Courtney says.

AfroChime highlights of 2021

Despite challenges, AfroChime had a ton of great highlights from the year, including:

• “Our Juneteenth t-shirts were a huge hit and Chimers still regularly wear them today,” says Priscilla.
• “I loved our Hamilton Families volunteer event because of how many people showed up and built a community garden together,” says Syeda.
• “For me, it was our View and Review of Summer of Soul event,” says Courtney. “I love hearing everyone’s different perspectives and understanding how their backgrounds inform their views of the world — when we talk about creativity, music, and art, our differences really shine.”

Moving forward: AfroChime in 2022

In the new year, AfroChime will continue to build on existing foundations while mixing things up by bringing in several new co-leads for the group. “I’m excited to see how our group evolves this year and the new layers and flavors people will bring to AfroChime,” says Phil.

The group will also focus on intersectionality in a deeper way, highlighting experiences like the Afro LatinX experience through events and conversations. “Intersectionality is so important to our community and to the success of all CRGs at Chime,” says Syeda. “I can’t wait for us to find authentic, engaging ways to show Chimers more intersectionality in our community.”

And with a new office opening this year, the group is, of course, looking forward to connecting in person. “I believe that meeting face to face will strengthen our community,” says Courtney. “I’m hopeful for what the new year has in store for us.”

We are, too! Congratulations on all of your accomplishments in 2021, AfroChime — and here’s to a successful 2022.