Carolyn Erskine

She has worked with numerous individuals, organizations, and groups to begin deconstructing the structural impacts of racism in the United States, to understand the history of racism and how it influences our current social context, and to begin visioning towards what a racially equitable society could be.

Carolyn currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Montgomery County Collaboration Council as the Board secretary, on the Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban, and on the Shaw Community Center as the Board chair. She is also the founder of Roots to the Future, L.L.C. and the co-founder of The Global Healing Collective. She received her B.A. in psychology from Syracuse University and her M.S.W. with a focus on management and community organizing from The University of Maryland School of Social Work.

In 2014 and 2015, Carolyn lived abroad in a rural town in Colombia, South America. While there, she co-created an English learning program for Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje (SENA) – a government initiative to develop education and effectuate employment. Her experience in Colombia resulted in a shifted perspective about and a deep appreciation for joy, nature, rest, land and land use, and community. These are values that continue to guide her current work.

Carolyn will be leading the work around RJN!’s healing campaign, the removing school resource officers (SROs) out of schools, and other initiatives towards dismantling structural and institutional anti-Black racism in the DMV.