Members of our Cultures Connecting team presented at the 2026 Bridge Conference held by School's Out Washington on October 26 & 27. This year's theme was "The Art of Being Water." Dr. Caprice Hollins and Ilsa Govan co-presented "The Art of Facilitation: Leading through Emotions in Discourse about Race" and Richard Kim presented, "Weaving Without Erasing: Equitable Enculturation for Diverse Communities." Ilsa shared about her experience, "SOWA's Bridge Conference rocked this y

Our virtual Diversity Calendar is now available to add to your Google calendar. While we released our PDF version during the summer, subscribing to our virtual calendar will populate your Google calendar with significant dates so that you can plan your events and meetings more inclusively. If you subscribed to last year's calendar, there is no need to do anything. This year's dates were added to last year's. Visit this link to subscribe and do share our calendar with your col

School's Out Washington is holding their annual Bridge Conference on October 26 & 27th this year, with the theme "The Art of Being Water." The theme "invites us to embrace the power of adaptability, resilience, connection, and collective flow. Like water, we learn to move with purpose—reshaping our path, filling spaces with possibility, and finding ways forward where none seemed possible. This theme calls on the expanded learning field to remain grounded while fluid, balancin

Join co-authors Dr. Caprice D. Hollins and Ilsa Govan of Faciltating Conversations on Race: Strategies for Leading Group Discourse for an evening of conversation at Town Hall Seattle. At a time when conversations about race and racial justice are increasingly difficult to navigate, knowing how to stay engaged matters. Drawing from the latest edition of their book, Caprice and Ilsa will share stories from their experiences facilitating conversations on race, lessons they have

We held our 3rd annual consultants gathering this past Monday on September 14th. While Cultures Connecting hosted the last two, LueRachelle Brim-Atkins of Brim-Donahoe & Associates graciously opened up her home to host this year's gathering. This year, we used Open Space Technology to come up with topics and self-organized to have conversations about the challenges we face as consultants in a country increasingly hostile to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. It was

Our very first in-person author event for Facilitating Conversations on Race was held on Monday, September 14th at Third Place Books Seward Park. Dr. Caprice Hollins and Ilsa Govan, co-authors and co-founders of Cultures Connecting, shared stories and strategies from their decades of facilitation experience and answered questions from the audience. After the talk, they met with attendees and signed books. Our next author event will be at Town Hall on Thursday, December 3rd at

Our Project Manager, Judy Lee, is stepping into a new name. It's one she picked out for herself three years ago while doing My Name Story art project (watch video below) but didn't quite feel ready to step into it yet. Hana (하나), pronounced "Ha-Na" in Korean means one. It symbolizes the integration of all her past selves, a new beginning, and a reclamation of self. Hana is a particularly special name to her because it transcends Korean, with significant meanings in many diffe

For those of you who attended the author event at Third Place Books, thank you! We are excited to share that a second author event has been scheduled at Town Hall Seattle for December 3rd. We will be providing more detailed information, as well as how to get tickets, in one of our October newsletters. In the meantime, please save the date! We hope you will be able to join us!

We released the latest version of our Diversity Calendar a few months ago but wanted to remind you to download it if you haven't already! The calendar covers August 2026-July 2027 and comes in a printable PDF format so you can hang it on the wall! The Diversity Calendar is a great way to keep apprised of significant cultural dates and support the diversity of staff at your organization or students and teachers at schools. Fun fact: did you know this calendar was first develop

We are thrilled to share that our first in-person author event for our latest book, Facilitating Conversations on Race: Strategies for Leading Group Discourse, will be on September 14th and Third Place Books at Seward Park. During this immersive discussion, Dr. Caprice Hollins and Ilsa Govan will share stories and strategies they have practiced in their more than forty years of combined experience facilitating, while reminding the reader the power of bringing your authentic s

We are so excited to share that the newest edition of our Train the Trainer book, Facilitating Conversations on Race: Strategies for Leading Group Discourse, is now available! If you've pre-ordered the book, thank you! If you haven't ordered it yet, you can find our book at Bookshop which supports your local bookstore, our publisher's at Bloomsbury, or on Amazon. Co-authors Ilsa Govan (left) and Dr. Caprice Hollins (right) holding a copy of the book. We are offering two Train

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

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

Our book Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which we use for our Train the Trainer workshops, is on final clearance! To make room for our new edition, which is scheduled for release later this year, we have further discounted the book to $10 (+$10 shipping)! Visit the button below to purchase. If you'd like to learn more about the new edition, including a sneak peek of our cover and release date, join our Brave Space Builders list by replying to this email and requesting to jo

Our 2026 Cultures Connecting team retreat was held on January 30th, which coincided with the National Day of Strike, at Reclaim Clay Collective. We debated cancelling but decided to move forward as a way to be in community, to replenish our souls through art, and be connected in person. We had fun (and felt challenged) wheel throwing to make bowls under the guidance of our instructor Andrew (featured above). It wasn't easy but they turned out pretty well! Reclaim Clay Collect

Can you believe 2025 is already coming to a close? It's been a tumultuous year for many of us as we've seen attacks on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, attacks on our communities, and the dismantling of rights. It's a lot to take in so for our very last newsletter issue for the year (there will only be one in December), we wanted to share with you how we've been managing through all of this, as well as sharing some highlights in order to end on a high note. It's i

The second edition of our book, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion , that we use for our Train the Trainer workshops is being released...

Note: Some participants had to leave early and are not pictured in the group photo. Strengthening Connections in DEIB On April 23rd, we...

Can you believe it's been 10 years since we last published our book, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, that we use for our Train the...

We're excited to bring you our new DEIBelonging journals to guide you on your racial justice journey. This 102 page journal includes...