Meet The NCREI Team
Executive Director
Davyd Hall, “The Sense of Belonging Specialist” and DE&I Strategist, is a passionate higher education professional and community advocate that aspires to dispel systemic barriers to promote more equitable access to a better quality of life for those of marginalized identities. With experience in the nonprofit, financial, and higher education sectors, Hall has developed exemplary academic coaching, executive coaching, lecturing, training, and workshop development skills.
Hall was born, raised, and still resides on the 38th Street corridor of the Devington area in Indianapolis. He learned lessons about community building, various barriers, quality of life assistance, and education access. His motto, “If there’s a will, there’s a way,” serves as a constant reminder that determination, support, and planning will always overcome hard times.
Hall is highly sought after for his work in multicultural affairs, community impact, student success, employee engagement and diversity, equity, and inclusion, which has helped over 1,000 individuals. Within this position appointment, Hall aims to build and sustain community partnerships, inclusive communication channels, assessment of experience and sense of belonging, and strategies to disrupt oppressive systems.
Hall holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs from IUPUI, a Master’s of Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University, and Diversity and Inclusion Certificates from Cornell University and the University of South Florida.
ETHNOTHERAPY
The goal of ethnotherapy was to open the minds and hearts of both Black and white Americans to the ways in which they were engaging in oppression and intolerance.
Father Boniface Hardin
Continuing a "Bona-Fide" Legacy
A Center of Historical Context
Public Health & Wellness Coordinator
Kamille Ware, Public Health Coordinator, is an avid health services advocate that aspires to service within her numerous passion areas of Sickle Cell Disease Education & Advocacy, Maternal Health of African American Women, and Men’s Mental Health.
She has extensive public health, policy, and patient advocacy background. Before joining the National Center for Racial Equity and Inclusion here at Martin, she recently obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Public Health and Sociology with minors in Peace & Justice Studies and Social Work. In addition, she served as a Scholar Intern for Social Change for two years of her undergraduate career, impacting hundreds of individuals with interactive equity, diversity, inclusion, and identity training in a collegiate setting.
Ms. Ware has also completed policy research on various Public Health entities, including opioid & drug usage and comparative mental health trauma responses. She also is certified in the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative Program (CITI) for standard, ethically compliant research practices.
The NCREI at Martin will be a nationally recognized, catalytic organization that will help develop sustainable strategies and practices that address racial inequity, creating more inclusive and affirming environments. This will be achieved through five focused areas: Leveraging Legacy, Propel People and Strengthen Families, Spark Listening, Learning and Leadership, Advance Institutional and Organizational Effectiveness and Embody Presence, Partnerships and Perseverance.
N.C.R.E.I.
HAS LAUNCHED
The Martin University Center for Racial Equity and Inclusion is strongly connected to our history and the legacies of our founders Father Boniface Hardin and Sister Jane Schilling. In 1970, Father Hardin founded the Martin Center as a “biracial and ecumenical effort to overcome the polarization brought about by ignorance, injustice and hostility between blacks and whites in the metropolitan area of Indianapolis”* Father Hardin served as a consultant for major corporations, school systems, and others on race relations training while Sister Jane Schilling managed the programs offered to the local community on African American history and culture, race relations, and other topics. As the Martin Center continued its work, Father Hardin came to recognize that a root cause of many of the racial inequities within Indianapolis stemmed from the lack of good higher education options for African American adults in the community. To help address these disparities in college attainment, he decided that a university was needed that would focus on serving low-income, minority, and adult students in Indianapolis and surrounding communities.
In 1977, Father Boniface Hardin and Sister Jane Schilling founded Martin Center College to offer opportunities for disenfranchised persons to change their destinies through education. The college became a separate entity from the Martin Center in 1979 and became Martin University in 1989. Since its founding, the University has been recognized as an institution that offers access and opportunities to persons who have been discounted, discouraged, and disregarded in the educational attainment process. Martin University is Indiana’s only Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) of higher education and continues to serve low-income, minority- and adult students.
However, while communities, businesses, institutions, and organizations continue to become increasingly more diverse and inclusive, inequities remain persistent for those who have been historically disenfranchised socially, educationally, and economically. The aforementioned inequities prove that Rev. Fr. Hardin’s goal of opening the minds and hearts of both black and white Americans has yet to be fulfilled. Therefore, in the name of Fr. Hardin and Sr. Schilling, there has never been a more relevant and important time for Martin University to assist leaders and organizations in their efforts to strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion.
What we know is that people strive to become more inclusive and equity-minded, but remain uncertain about how to convert their intentions into action. The National Center for Racial Equity and Inclusion at Martin University (NCREI@Martin) can help develop sustainable strategies and practices that address racial inequity, creating more inclusive and affirming environments for all. Sean Huddleston said “Systems and structures that have deeply embedded racism, inequity, and exclusion are costly and weaken our society. Therefore, we must find effective ways to uplift all populations and pay close attention to those whose needs and identities are often marginalized or ignored.”