Our printable Diversity Calendar for 2026-2027 is here! Covering August 2026 to July 2027, this calendar features culturally significant dates to support the diversity of staff and families. By increasing our understanding of diverse cultures, group experiences, traditions, values and beliefs, we can enhance our relationships and create culturally responsive environments where everyone feels valued and respected. The best way to use this calendar is to consult it before sched

Diversity Calendar 2026-2027 is Here! Our printable Diversity Calendar for 2026-2027 is here! Covering August 2026 to July 2027, this calendar features culturally significant dates to support the diversity of staff and families. By increasing our understanding of diverse cultures, group experiences, traditions, values and beliefs, we can enhance our relationships and create culturally responsive environments where everyone feels valued and respected. The best way to use this

Facilitating Conversations on Race Book Launch Our second edition book, Facilitating Conversations on Race: Strategies for Leading Group Discourse, is due to be released in just a few weeks on July 23rd! Used as a foundation for our Train the Trainer workshops, this book will equip facilitators and organizational leaders with the necessary tools and strategies for dealing with stumbling blocks that often arise when people are brought together to talk about some of the most di

Support Community and Volunteer for Black Farmers Collective One of the ways we can promote social justice is to volunteer with nonprofit organizations doing important work in our community. The Black Farmers Collective (BFC), whose mission is build a Black-led food system for liberation through food sovereignty, is holding volunteer days this summer on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays from now until October 24th at YES FARM located on 721 Yesler Way. You can learn more by visiting

Train the Trainer in Three Ways + Book Pre-sale! We have so much exciting news to share! First, the 2nd edition of our Train the Trainer book, Facilitating Conversations on Race, is now available for pre-order! It's been 11 years since our first edition came out in 2015 and we've added lots of new and updated content on topics such as virtual facilitation, accessibility, and using anchors. You can pre-order your copy today at Bookshop to support indie booksellers, as well as

Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19th, marks the day in 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced to enslaved people that they were free more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had legally abolished slavery on January 1, 1863. The news of freedom reached different communities at different times, and some enslavers deliberately withheld the announcement even after that date. June 19th has become the widely accepted symbol of

Train the Trainer in Three Ways + Book Pre-sale! We have so much exciting news to share! First, the 2nd edition of our Train the Trainer book, Facilitating Conversations on Race, is now available for pre-order! It's been 11 years since our first edition came out in 2015 and we've added lots of new and updated content on topics such as virtual facilitation, accessibility, and using anchors. You can pre-order your copy today at Bookshop to support indie booksellers, as well as

Join SURJ to Launch Block by Block in Your Community Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is hosting a virtual Block by Block Summer Kickoff Call on June 3rd, at 5-6pm PT / 8-9pm ET. Their goal is to reach one million White voters in key swing states by talking to neighbors and move people into action. This training call will teach you about the Block by Block strategy, hear stories from organizers, and next steps for launching your own circle or chapter team. Register for th

June is LGBTQ+ Pride, National Immigrant Heritage, and Caribbean American Heritage Month LGBTQ+ Pride Month is celebrated in honor of the Stonewall Uprising, a series of protests that erupted in late June 1969 after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. The patrons, many of whom were transgender women of color, drag queens, and homeless queer youth, fought back against years of harassment, sparking a movement that led to the first Pr

LGBTQ+ Pride Month is celebrated in honor of the Stonewall Uprising, a series of protests that erupted in late June 1969 after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. The patrons, many of whom were transgender women of color, drag queens, and homeless queer youth, fought back against years of harassment, sparking a movement that led to the first Pride marches in 1970. Today, we can honor Pride Month by attending local parades, supporti

There's a moment Willie Seals III describes that cuts right to the core of what The Academy for Creating Excellence (ACE) is about. A young man walks in late, maybe 9:30 or 10:00, when the program started at 9:00. Instead of a reprimand, he's greeted with warmth, “We're glad you're here. Make sure to shake everybody's hand.” That small act, the welcome before the question, is not accidental. It is the entire philosophy of the ACE Academy lived out in a single moment. Seals kn

We've had the great privilege of interviewing several people from the greater Seattle area doing important and interesting social justice work for our newsletter this year. If you've missed any of them, we encourage you to read the interviews on our blog to learn more about their work and how to support them. Dr. Tanmeet Sethi Tanmeet is an integrative medicine doctor and author of the book, Joy is My Justice. She spoke with us about how her son's fatal medical diagnosis led

Ilsa Govan at the White Privilege Conference 2026 Our co-Founder, Ilsa Govan, recently attended the White Privilege Conference (WPC) in April. She, along with colleague Johanna Eager (pictured center top), facilitated their workshop "Beyond the Book Group." Ilsa and Johanna shared a model people can use to form and facilitate a group that goes beyond a traditional book group. Originally designed to challenge White cultural norms in the way groups meet to discuss What's Up wit

Transforming White Women's Leadership Lunch & Learn Series Starts this Month! Our three-part Lunch and Learn series, Transforming White Women's Leadership: Reflection and Inspiration to Strengthen Racial Justice Practices, is coming up in a couple weeks with the first of series, "A Power Analysis." This workshop will support white women in leadership roles to deepen awareness of the presence and impact of institutional power, privilege, and stereotypes that white women leader

Rallying Resistance through Song Concert The Seattle Labor Chorus is be holding a concert to celebrate and fundraise. Inspired by the Minneapolis singing resistance groups, this event aims to "celebrate the power of collective resistance and support their mission in giving voice to song to the cause of economic, social, and racial justice." Starbucks Workers United, TRACTION, and Seattle Gaza Mutual Aid will all be tabling at the event. Rallying Resistance will be held on May

Make Us Visible (MUV) is a national nonprofit working to get bills passed throughout the country to make AANHPI history part of school curricula. In Washington state, MUV-WA has been advocating to pass SB 5574 for the past few years. Last year, MUV-WA expanded its efforts to include Latine and Black American history in the bill. Cultures Connecting is a proud supporter of MUV and has been sharing updates and calls to action with all of you to help get this bill passed. We are

Our upcoming book, Facilitating Conversations on Race, is set to be released this July! This is the 2nd edition of our book that we use for our Train the Trainer workshops, originally titled, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. What do you think about our cover? We decided to go with a more personable design and are are excited to offer you new strategies! To celebrate our new release, we are giving away free Cultures Connecting journals with the first 25 pre-orders. We will ma

White women in management and supervisory roles are uniquely positioned to make a meaningful difference in advancing racial equity. Many of us are motivated by a genuine commitment to racial justice and a desire to grow our cross-cultural skills to better provide all employees, and especially employees of color, the guidance and opportunities they deserve. This three-part Lunch and Learn series will support participants to deepen awareness of the presence and impact of instit

Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month is celebrated every May in the United States, honoring the rich cultures, histories, and contributions of AANHPIs to American society. The month of May was chosen for two significant reasons: May 7th marks the anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States in 1843, and May 10th commemorates the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, a monumental achievem

As a kid, Kade Kricho needed things a certain way. He was a perfectionist, the kind that doesn't just want things to go well but needs them to. At the same time, he describes an ongoing tension between his need for stability and his pull toward growth. He reflects, "I kind of felt like I needed control of my domain in order to embark on something new or to kind of expand my way of thinking. And at the same time, I was just insatiably curious. So, I got these two forces that w