Addressing Race Relations in the 21st Century

Testimonials from Some of Our Clients

Click on a client's name to see what they say about Cultures Connecting

“Cultures Connecting has been guiding our staff and board through some very insightful trainings and processes as we seek to become a culturally competent organization and understand how racism and able-ism intersects for the communities we serve. Their thought provoking trainings and facilitation of our processes has been invaluable to us all as we venture down this path of discovery and change.  I would highly recommend them.”

"During late February of this year I had the pleasure of having Cultures Connecting provide a skills building, train-the trainer workshop for a group of veteran racial justice facilitators who work at Bellevue College. To a person, we all benefited from this opportunity to delve more deeply into the intricate details required to effectively lead and to compassionately facilitate conversations on race. The workshop was paced and organized to utilize the energies and experiences of the participants in ways that will contribute to the retention of these skills.  I look forward to the opportunity to work with Cultures Connecting in the future as the skills set at the heart of the workshop are ones that require continued development."

"The Cultures Connecting workshop was powerful, thought provoking and fun!  Our community felt safe to voice their perspectives and to work through their ideas and beliefs; this safety can be attributed to the respectful and gifted facilitators. This workshop has infected our community with a wonderful virus; several work groups are following up on how they can impact institutional change. This work builds a good foundation for our college community to strengthening our campus culture where everyone feels valued and honored."

"The workshop led by Cultures Connecting was relevant and worthwhile; leaving everyone wanting more.  CC facilitated an opportunity for staff to reflect on issues related to race and culture in a safe environment.  While the work was challenging, the facilitator was engaging and clearly knowledgeable about the content."

"The Cultures Connecting workshop was incredibly thought provoking because it allowed our school and community partners to have difficult and meaningful conversations around culture and race. The instructor facilitated in-depth conversations that provided a greater understanding within the participants to reflect on their own biases and stereotypes. All participants agreed that this workshop was needed in their own professional development and that it was only the beginning for them in developing a culturally competent framework."

"The Cultures Connecting training regarding racial micro-aggressions was highly informative, very thought provoking, challenging and also very enjoyable. Dr Hollins is a dynamic teacher/trainer, highly knowledgeable and with that rare additional gift of incorporating passion and fun into her presentations. My staff and I enjoyed the workshop immensely,  the  comprehensive information she shared with us and the interactive exercises she asked us to do, were both personally and professionally informative."

“Cultures Connecting and Highline Community College have created an authentic relationship and both are committed to social and cultural awareness.  Caprice has shared valuable information through her presentations and creative workshops.  She is a dynamic speaker and teacher.  Highline is thrilled  to have made this connection.” 

"Cultures Connecting presented a powerful 3-hour workshop on Cultural Competence as part of our Leadership Development Program. During the workshop we dug deeper into the causes and roots of the issue of race, leaving the surface behind.  We learned how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and to ask if we don’t know how to behave.  Cultural understanding is critical to the work of housing and community development and this workshop provided the opportunity for us to build new skills."

“This presentation was different compared to other cultural competency trainings I have attended. I really enjoyed the group activities that allowed staff to engage and talk about topics we wouldn’t ordinarily discuss.  I left the training with an AHA! Moment ~  I realized that we all have some sort of stereotype in our minds about others—but it’s how we act on those thought’s that could offend someone.”

"The training with Cultures Connecting was a great way for us to get some dialogue going between staff and to open the door for discussions around cultural sensitivity, accountability and awareness.  Our staff arrive at the table with many  different perspectives … and when one of them who is from Ethiopia said, “I enjoy that we are talking about this because where I come from … they just have civil wars!”  How nice it would be if we could all just be committed to talking and opening up our minds to celebrate the different things we each bring to the table!  My thanks to Cross Cultural Connections for helping us re-ignite that process and for challenging us to keep it going!"

"Cultures Connecting brought understanding, insight and common ground when talking about understanding the African American culture at our historically Japanese American church.  As our church has changed to be more culturally diverse we had to take a look at how we receive and can love one another for who we are.  Their presentation kick-started us to move in this direction by opening up conversation about these very sensitive and personal issues."

“Cultures Connecting were outstanding collaborators with The Mockingbird Society in the production of our DVD, “Biracial and Multiracial Identity Development.” They brought both their personal experiences and professional expertise to the project. Our audience, caregivers in the foster care system many of whom are caring for biracial and/or multi-racial children, reported the DVD excellent!"

"Dr. Hollins gave the keynote address at our opening days event this fall.  She spoke about issues such as social justice, race and privilege.  These topics can often be difficult to discuss, but Dr Hollins was able to engage the audience in a professional, responsible and non-blaming manner while not avoiding the elephants in the room.  The result was a very effective event that set the stage for our community to work on its organizational identity development."

"I am so glad we made the choice to go with Cultures Connecting for our all school faculty and staff training.  It’s obvious that the trainers are well versed in the area of diversity and brought into focus issues that are often overwhelmingly complex.  Prior to the training, they were generous with their prep time to ensure the materials were relevant to the Overlake community.  Their delivery was a great balance of humor and seriousness that put people at ease but did not belittle the important message of diversity.  I have since recommended Cross Cultural Connections to my colleagues."

"Two of our staff attended Cultures Connecting's workshop on Facilitating Conversations about Race.  They were so impressed; we invited them to be our trainers for our Multi-cultural Education Training.  They brought depth and professionalism to the rich topic of cultural competency.  They helped us to lay a solid foundation in the beginning, so we shared the same language, and then guided us through discussions to address the heart of the issues—including racism, classism, and other “ism’s”.  The training was simple, effective, and to the point.  This training was instrumental in pushing us to a higher level of cultural competence—it helped us better see where we are now (both individually and institutionally), and where we want to go.  We got further as a group in one day of training than I could have imagined."

"Dr. Hollins gave a captivating keynote at the PNAIS Co-creating Inclusive Communities Workshop.  She shared her personal and academic experience and as well as her own reflective writing, to deliver a powerful, thought-provoking and inspiring lecture.  In the words on one attendee, 'We could not have asked for a better keynote speaker'."

"Cultures Connecting has been instrumental in helping our Race and Social Justice Committee successfully address challenging situations as we focus our mission within the Seattle Housing Authority's Community Service Division. They led our committee volunteers through a strategic planning process in which we created a clear plan of action as well as a more productive committee process. As one of the volunteer co-facilitators of our Race and Social Justice Committee, I greatly appreciate the ongoing guidance and support through the difficult work of social change within a large organization."

"It was pleasure to have Dr. Caprice Hollins as our main presenter at our annual School of Education faculty and staff retreat. She is an excellent presenter, open to varying ideas and skilled facilitator when addressing the topic of cultural competence.  Her breadth of knowledge and insights were helpful in allowing participants  to reflect on their own level of cultural competence."

"As hosts to Seattle University's diversity conference exploring undergraduate student experiences with privilege, race, and gender we found Dr. Caprice Hollins' keynote address inspiring, informative, and empowering to our work.  By engaging us with accounts from her own experiences and relating contemporary research of individual identity development, Dr. Hollins enthusiastically reaches participants from a variety of backgrounds all entering the conversation of privilege and anti-oppression at various stages."

"Cutures Connecting's facilitation of our management team retreat helped us reach consensus around work that we'd been trying to do for years.  We were finally able to have the difficult conversations that we needed to have to move our anti-racism work forward.  They took the time to get to know our organization and to understand the struggles we were having.  As a result of this work, we were able to establish the trust and consensus needed to guide our future efforts in this area and to strengthen the sense of teamwork that we have as a group."

"Cultures Connecting offers wonderful, engaging presenters who involve the entire group in their presentations. They have a way of making tough subjects accessible to participants. Our group was 100 percent positive about the presentations. The group walked away feeling that cultural competence was something applicable to their work as professionals, and were more confident in their ability to work effectively with diverse students across campus. We will look for the first opportunity to have Cross Cultural Connections back on our campus!"

"Cultures Connecting conducted a workshop for our staff on cultural competence training techniques. Our academic, professional and research staff found the presentation to be engaging, provocative and informative. I would definitely recommend them to others."

"Cultures Connecting took the time to develop a customized approach for my organization- especially as we are a majority people of color staff representing an extremely diverse neighborhood of White Center. We also were able to design workshops that took into consideration the different stages of cultural/ethnic identity and race/power construct that each staff member brought to the team. Being comfortable with both Caprice and Ilsa allowed our team to be comfortable- to trust the space in the room for tough conversations and to build 'team' while also learning about 'self'."

"Our schools recently benefited from a training presented by Cultures Connecting. Ilsa Govan, the facilitator, was exceptional in this day long intensive seminar. Her knowledge of the material is obvious and passion for the subject matter equals her knowledge. If you value your employees, and value what they bring to your organization, this training is essential. If you desire to maintain an environment free of bias, but more importantly, if you wish to create a company or organization that has a strong understanding of racial awareness and cultural competency, I recommend you provide this course for your staff and administrators. It is a fabulous starting point for what should be ongoing discussions."