A new nonprofit organization created to help empower people to become strong and resilient in times of change by fostering positive relationships has unveiled a new curriculum of online classes designed to be taken individually or in groups.
Founded in 2018, Richmond, Va.-based Foundation for Family & Community Healing is now offering an array of modules on its educational platform, including Relationship Wellbeing, Happiness 101, Navigating Anxiety and Implementing a Zero-Waste Strategy. Courses are offered through a sliding-scale tuition, making them more affordable to individuals, families and groups.
“Many of our initial array of courses focus on skills that our schools and workplaces often neglect and yet are so essential for us in order for us to be thriving citizens,” said Dr. Susanna Wu-Pong Calvert, founder and convener for mission and vision of the Foundation. “They cover the relationships in our lives, not only with those in our lives but with the larger community, even Earth’s ecosystems.”
A career educator who spent a quarter century in higher education, Calvert began laying the foundation for the nonprofit in 2018, having just lost two close family members.
“What’s important to understand is that creating strong relationships is not an intuitive skill for most of us, but something that can be learned,” Calvert says. “The mission of the Foundation is to empower all of us to create healthy, positive, rewarding relationships with ourselves, each other, Earth and the loving force greater than ourselves.”
Many of the modules are constructed that allow students to learn together, including across generations, and are designed to be taken in homes, classrooms, community centers or workplaces. New educational modules for small groups include Self-Mastery, and Authentic Purpose: Identification and Intuitive Pursuit.
Sample lessons are available on the Foundation’s website at familyandcommunityhealing.org. The site also includes information on free community events. Information also is available through the Foundation’s social media pages on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
