About the WCGMF 25th Anniversary Project

William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund 25th Anniversary: Celebrating the Work, Gathering Stories

In 2018, the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund turned 25!

When we began the 25th Anniversary project, we were certain of one thing: STORY. In order to tell and honor the stories of the Graustein Memorial Fund's first 25 years, it was imperative to preserve and share the narratives of people involved in the work at every level and with diverse perspectives. We also took this 25th year to reflect on our beginnings (watch The Path In: Reflecting On the First 25 Years) as a small family foundation and how we imaging evolving over the next 25.

In February of 2018, our 25th Anniversary Planning Team—Nancy Leonard, Hanifa Washington, Tagan Engel, Suri Seymour, and Patti Faustini—hosted six regional events around the state that would bring together communities in story sharing and celebration. We chose to host these events in Waterbury, New London, New Haven, Bridgeport, Hartford, and Middletown. These locations represented where a significant amount of work had been done over our first 25 years, and they were as central as we could get for other communities we worked with around the state.

Producing these events was a powerful exercise in building community and living out our mission. We committed to working with vendors, musicians, caterers, photographers, printers, and artists from the communities in which our events were held. We prioritized working with people of color, and particularly women of color, to produce these events. We understand that ending racism and poverty requires a commitment to economic justice.

Our events only lasted three hours, but the relationships we developed with people during site visits, over e-mail, and in last-minute, late-night phone conversations are ones of friendship, care, and respect.

At these celebrations, we heard remarkable truth-tellers share powerful stories concerning  equity in education, racial and economic equity, liberation work, and community building. We sang together, broke bread together, and celebrated together.

To close out our 25th Anniversary Year and to honor the experiences we heard, we created STORYSCAPE: a mixed media art exhibit of stories exploring the landscape of education, justice and community from across Connecticut.