The Martha's Vineyard Nonprofit Collaborative has announced a series of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs for the Island community, beginning with a racial justice book club starting next month.

These anti-bias educational programs aim to engage the Island community in productive conversations on racial attitude awareness, privilege, bias, institutional racism and micro-inequities, according to the announcement. 

A Zoom session titled "I'm a Good Person, Isn't That Enough?" with author (Waking Up White) and racial justice educator Debby Irving, takes place Oct. 28 from noon to 2 p.m.

The book discussion group "Vineyard Reads: Racial Justice,” launches next month. Held on Zoom, the programs are open and free.

"Agreeing that we should be diverse and inclusive is easy – translating those concepts into a concrete action plan is much more complicated. We aim for these programs to encourage and empower small, actionable steps that can impact how we, as a community, perceive, value, and incorporate diversity," the collaborative's executive director, Jackie Friedman, said in a statement.

Books to be discussed in the reading group, according to the announcement, include Waking Up White by Debby Irving (November),; This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving, by David J. Silverman (December) and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson (January).

To sign up and learn more about the free programs, visit mvnonprofits.org.