Intro to RAIN

It is appropriate that the Northbrook Village Board is starting its DEI moment on the anniversary of the death of George Floyd. RAIN stands for Racial Awareness in the North Shore. We are a grass roots organization that started in 2015, when the leaders of four separate Northbrook faith communities came together to lead discussions about Race and White Privilege.

After 5 weeks of compelling conversations, the formal series ended, but many in the group wanted to continue, and RAIN was created. RAIN is now secular and we meet at the Northbrook Public Library when in-person meetings are allowed. We have a core of about a dozen active volunteers, and a distribution list of about 200 who want to be informed about our upcoming programs.

We have partnered many times with the Northbrook Public Library to put on events on race and related matters. Last Fall we were co-sponsor of a program at the Library on the Myths vs the Realities of Affordable Housing.  A link to that program is now on the Events page of our website.

We look forward to working with the Board to help raise awareness of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. It is wonderful that Northbrook has declared Sunday, June 13th as Race Amity Day--  a day set aside to encourage friendships across racial and cultural lines.

Van Gilmer has been a member of RAIN since the beginning.  Van was one of the original lunch counter protestors at Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina in the early 60’s.  He is currently the director of music at the Bahai Temple, and he hosts monthly zoom dialogues on Race in which people participate from all over the country, and indeed the world. 

Van is facilitating a program on how to talk about Race via zoom at the Library on June 15th.  A link to registration is on our Events page of the Website.