The Connected Elephant

05/31/2024

Seacoast Outright and The Chamber Collaborative of Greater Portsmouth are kicking off pride month with a q***r and ally networking event at The 801 in Portsmouth from 5-7 pm on Wednesday, June 5th. The event is free; register here: https://ow.ly/WhwC50RPS4w

Seacoast Outright's and The Chamber Collaborative of Greater Portsmouth are kicking off pride month with another q***r and ally networking event! Join us at The 801 in Portsmouth from 5-7 pm on Wednesday, June 5th. It will be a great chance to network with other LGBTQ+ adults, as well as q***r-owned/q***r-friendly businesses & organizations. We hope that you'll join us for conversation, appetizers & beverages. The event is free; register here: https://ow.ly/WhwC50RPS4w

04/23/2024

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02/14/2024

Can you think of a time when you felt like you belonged or helped someone else have a feeling of belonging? Some local children from Hampton shared their experiences of belonging at our Community Oven event through their beautiful and insightful drawings 💜 What great feedback for adults to keep in mind to continue to strive to provide opportunities for our children to experience and/or create a sense of belonging. We hope you enjoy and are inspired by these pictures as much as we have been!

❤️ Exploring SHARED INTERESTS through both structured and spontaneous activities!

💛 Self expression through MUSIC and the ARTS!

💚 Creating AWARENESS for and being RESPONSIVE to people who communicate that they feel lonely or excluded!

🩵 Providing opportunities for the REPRESENTATION of diverse lived experiences!

*Drawings shared with permission

02/14/2024

We had a chance to get together last night and review the feedback from our Community Interest Survey! Thank you for all who took the time to give us thoughtful feedback. You definitely got our wheels spinning with some great suggestions to help us plan some events in the near future!

And we would like to extend a big CONGRATULATIONS to Nichole Duggan for winning the raffle prize of a $100 gift card to the Seacoast Repertory Theater! Enjoy!

02/05/2024

A safer, more peaceful and loving world: sounds like something we could all agree on, across political lines, right? Apparently not. Some NH lawmakers oppose this goal for our children and are looking to ban social-emotional learning in public schools. There is a hearing about it at 10:15 THIS MORNING. Please consider opposing the bill ASAP (see photos for step-by-step instructions):

https://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/remotetestimony/default.aspx

They want to ban any evidence-based initiatives “including but not limited to, self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision making, and/or other attributes, dispositions, social skills, attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, feelings, emotions, mindsets, metacognitive learning skills, motivation, grit, self-regulation, tenacity, perseverance, resilience, and/or intrapersonal resources.”

Read more including the bill text:

https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1655474

More about Choose Love:
https://legacy.chooselovemovement.org/schools/

01/31/2024

We would like to thank everyone who was able to join us at the Community Oven on Monday and support our mission to bring voices to issues of inclusion, belonging and diversity in our community! It was great to see some familiar, friendly faces as well as new friendly faces!

We are excited to review the feedback from our survey as we plan for our next steps and would like to extend the opportunity for more community members to participate! All participants will be entered into a raffle for a $100 gift card to the Seacoast Repertory Theater. The drawing will take place this Sunday, so get that feedback in!

We will also be announcing the winners of our children’s raffle soon and sharing some of the thoughtful artwork they created about their personal experiences of belonging 💜

About the Connected Elephant: The Connected Elephant (CE) is committed to building and sustaining a community that acknowledges and honors a diversity of histories, identities, and lived experiences. We address difficult ‘elephant in the room’ issues of disparity through meaningful and construct...

01/24/2024

Take next Monday night off from cooking and join us at the Community Oven & Susie’s Sweets in Hampton, NH! We will be at both locations from 4-9pm to share our new vision for The Connected Elephant, introduce our new board members, and find out from you what you would like to see in our community to create opportunities for increasing awareness around issues of diversity, social equity, inclusion, and belonging. There will be raffles for participation in our survey for adults and kids, and 20% of the money earned will go to support local community building events and our speaker series. Hope to see you there!

01/15/2024

Today, as we commemorate the Civil Rights Movement and the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, here is some food for thought from a recent broadcast of Code Switch on NPR. The interview features Dr. Hajar Yazdiha, author of "The Struggle For The People's King: How Politics Transforms The Memory Of The Civil Rights Movement"

Martin Luther King Jr. was relatively unpopular when he was assassinated. But the way Americans of all political stripes invoke his memory today, you'd think he was held up as a hero. In this episode, we talk about the cooptation of King's legacy with Hajar Yazdiha, author of The Struggle for the Pe...

11/14/2023

The Seacoast Repertory Theater honors the lives lost to AIDS on World Aids Day through their Sol Series on December 1, 2023. Click on the link below to buy your tickets to the event.

https://theconnectedelephant.org/community-events