Even though we’re in isolation, let’s connect over the next 10 days anyway
Truth is, six weeks of quarantine and isolation have left South Floridians perfectly prepared to take part in the 2020 iteration of the 10 Days of Connection, which starts today, May 1.
Think about it, we have Zoom-ed, we have Google “Hungout.” We have Facetimed, phoned in and, in so many other ways, already figured out how to stay connected to each other.
This time, this year — the fourth for this annual community-engagement event — all those platforms will ease our ability to get together. Not for office meetings, not to order groceries for delivery or take-out for pickup, but to listen, to learn, to share — in short, to connect. The whole point is to pique our curiosity about people we don’t know, experiences we haven’t had, lives we haven’t lived. 10 DOC is, and always been, a chance to take a leap of faith and swap long-held — and isolating — assumptions for someone else’s truth. Won’t kill you. And it’s a chance to tell your own truths, too.
This year, 100 organizations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are committed to staging 70 events — no longer up close and personal, of course. Some are digital meet-ups, others involve activities you can do on your own — acts of kindness, empathy-building exercises and others that can help you be closer to your community at this challenging moment.
In 2017, a group of community-minded local institutions — the United Way, the Children’s Trust, MCCJ, the Miami Foundation, Radical Partners and the Miami Herald — took to heart residents’ anecdotal concerns about the bitter aftertaste of division and resentment left by the 2016 presidential election.
These co-founders created what then was called Connect Miami. In the years since, Achieve Miami, the University of Miami and Greater Miami Jewish Federation have joined the leadership team. Plus, the effort has expanded to Broward, under Cori Meltzer’s leadership, with partnership from Jewish Federation of Broward County, the Community Foundation of Broward and the Children’s Services Council of Broward County. The effort has been renamed 10 Days of Connection.
The goal each year has been to make the 10 Days of Connection more meaningful, more valuable to participants. And suddenly, in the face of the coronavirus, where we have been so forcibly disconnected, the event has taken on a whole new dynamic of people needing community right now.
Here are just three examples of what’s on offer:
A virtual conversation on the Afro-Caribbean diaspora in South Florida, hosted by Avanse Ansanm and HistoryMiami Museum. It’s a virtual conversation starting with a panel discussion of Miamians of diverse AfroCaribbean backgrounds. Breakout sessions, in which participants are welcome to share their own stories of “living in the hyphen,” will follow.
As part of breaking the fast of Ramadan — iftar — the East-West Foundation is encouraging participants, virtually, to develop relationships between faith communities by sharing the meal. It will focus on sharing traditions and how COVID-19 has changed them.
In Broward County, the 211 Senior Touchline program is a free service offering a daily telephone call to people over 60 who live alone.
During the 10 Days of Connection, residents are invited to write letters of encouragement to the touchline clients to let them know they are recognized and valued. (This is a great activity for children, who are home from school anyway.)
The co-founders of the 10 Days of Connection encourage community members to find the “value added” in these and scores of other events long after they are finished. When we emerge from quarantine, there’s a good chance we will have gotten a headstart on being better connected.