Circle of Voices

America has race problems, but Baltimore has a special kind of problem,” says J.C. Faulk. “There is deeply embedded racism here. It will not end until people get to know each other.” J.C. Faulk, who had been a diversity consultant for more than 20 years, started holding facilitated conversations about racism in his home in 2015. In 2016, he received an OSI Community Fellowship to expand the conversations, which he calls “Circle of Voices” in and outside of Baltimore. To date, more than 2,000 people have participated in Circle of Voices events across Baltimore, taking part in sometimes difficult discussions around racism, sexism, transphobia, patriarchy, and class. “It is the ongoing mission of Circle of Voices to diminish the impact of isms, while creating safe spaces for participants to tackle centuries old issues that stand in the way of Baltimore and America being what we can be. We have a long way to go.”