In a world where lives can be ruined in forty characters or fewer, where outrage in progressive circles is often a reflexive posture, where can we look to examples of humane ways of acting and being in the world? Enter what I have termed “gracism,” a practice rooted in the belief that we are all on a learning journey and sometimes say and do unskilled things. Yet, by cultivating curiosity, humility, and joy, we might usher in a truly just world.
Please join me for what I hope to be a mind- and heart-provoking exploration!
A native Los Angelino, avid social-justice practitioner, intellectual, and creative thinker, Benjamin Perkins has worked in public health for over two decades, first specializing in disease prevention and research education to communities vulnerable to HIV infection, where he held numerous positions, from community advisory board chair, to founding director of a CDC-funded HIV-prevention and wellness center, to project director of an NIH-funded HIV-prevention feasibility study. He then shifted focus to health disparities and inequities in cardiovascular disease and stroke rates among communities of color and other underserved populations, where he worked for the American Heart Association as Vice President of Multicultural Initiatives & Health Equity and Vice President of Health Strategies for the Greater Boston Area.
Benjamin served as CEO of Wholesome Wave, a national nonprofit organization that seeks to enable underserved communities to make healthier food choices by increasing affordable access to healthy, locally and regionally grown foods. Currently, he leads Wholesome Wave’s equity-centered work as the creator of the FED (Fidelity, Equity, and Dignity) Principle and chair of the board of director’s FED Committee. Benjamin is a certified program leader with the Impactive Solutions/Groundwater Institute, where he facilitates racial equity workshops nationally. He recently launched his consulting firm, Upstream Impact Consulting Solutions, which focuses on developing holistic, equity-centered approaches to systems change initiatives.
Benjamin received his Master of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School. He is an ordained pastor serving Hope Central Congregational Church in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. In addition to his education at Harvard Divinity School, he received his Master of Arts degree in clinical psychology from Antioch University, Los Angeles, and his Bachelor of Arts in geography from the University of California at Los Angeles.