We are excited to share our first black and brown paper: Sabbaticals for BIPOC Leaders: Capacity Building, Healing, Renewal. This paper is a tool to inspire individual, organizational, and policy decisions that center rest and holistic wellness.
In it, we make the case for disrupting systems and prioritizing rest for BIPOC communities who have been harmed by multi-generational racism. The paper explores how sabbaticals as a matter of practice are not only critical to wellness, but a foundation for sustainable change. Black women are leading the way in reclaiming rest — a revolutionary act amidst systems that, by design, turn humans into capital.
“Rest is not work’s adversary, rest is work’s partner.”
~Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less
Sabbaticals for BIPOC leaders normalize a healthy narrative. Recognizing historical and present-day inequity, it is a radically reparative act to support BIPOC changemakers in cultivating deep rest on their own terms. Rest disrupts and recreates all at once.
Investing in sabbaticals offers a myriad of benefits. Citing evidence from relevant research, the paper illuminates opportunities for transforming individual leadership, organizational culture, and whole systems.
We hope you use this paper as a tool for discourse and an opportunity to shift policies and practices. When enough of us engage in this discussion and take action, we create tremendous possibilities for cross-sector change.