"Caprice D. Hollins and Ilsa M. Govan have created an honest and forthright, multiple perspectives guide for all levels of racial and social justice workshop facilitators. From how to organize and maximize the physical space and create a productive, engaging atmosphere, to methods for redirecting those who attempt to control the conversation, this guide offers direction for engaging in honest, critical dialogue. Authors offer ways to scaffold prior knowledge, defuse intercultural conflict and engage in the introspective reflection required to be successful in social justice activism. A welcome addition to the field."

Founder, The White Privilege Conference

"The hot buttons have been a great way to initiate dialogue with students, specifically surrounding microaggressions. We consistently use them for training, workshops, and presentations. Our students love them!"

Program Specialist, Multicultural Student Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University

"I just wanted to let you know that we held two sessions at our All College Day. One was a general discussion about diversity and what it is. The other was using your stereotypes activity. Even though we only had 45 minutes for each, they were wildly successful and popular. In fact, we’ve been asked to do training for a state-wide meeting. Thank you so much!"

Diversity Committee Chair, Grays Harbor College

“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 highly recommend them.”

Former Executive Director, The Arc of King County

“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 Cultures Connecting for helping us re-ignite that process and for challenging us to keep it going!”

Regional Director of Resident Services, Intercommunity Mercy Housing

“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.”

Leadership Development Program, Housing Development Consortium

“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.”

Director of Outreach Services, Highline Community College

“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.”

Interim President, Bellingham Technical College

"We asked Dr. Hollins to deliver a keynote speech on cultural competence to a group of about 700 experiential educators.  While the group consisted of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines, she was able to deliver a powerful message that resonated with all of them.  We especially appreciated the specific connections she made to our association’s mission and values.  She obviously did her homework.  Our attendees consistently commented on how they walked away with specific new tools to use in their efforts to create more inclusive learning environments.  I was also very impressed with the time and attention she gave to the dozens of people who lined up to speak with her afterwards.  In short, she knocked it out of the park!"

Association for Experiential Education

“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 Cultures Connecting back on our campus!”

Director of Diversity and Equity, South Puget Sound Community College

“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.”

Dean of School of Education, Seattle Pacific University

“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.”

Family Support, Franklin Pierce School District

“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.”

President, Olympic College

“The workshop led by Cultures Connecting was relevant and worthwhile; leaving everyone wanting more.  Cultures Connecting 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.”

Principal, Cascade Elementary

“Ilsa Govan at Cultures Connecting facilitated a 3-hour long workshop with community and technical college librarians in Washington State for a librarian professional conference during spring 2017. The workshop was titled “Unpacking White Privilege in College Libraries” and honed in White Privilege and White Supremacy ideas that come to play in our library spaces and practices. Ilsa was very well prepared for the workshop and brought lots of materials and baskets of fidgety items for everyone to play with during the workshop. The workshop went so quickly, yet we all had the opportunity to dig in and confront our own implicit participation in racism as a system of oppression. Lots of questions came up during the session that sought to get around the issue of racism and Ilsa navigated all of these questions beautifully and with grace. I often find these conversations to be tricky with adult learners and higher education faculty/librarians, but I was blown away by the content and structure of the presentation and our ability to get through all of it with a solid foot in doing more of this work moving forward. I cannot recommend Cultures Connecting enough. I have attended several workshops facilitated by Ilsa Govan and/or Dr. Caprice Hollins and I consistently walk away with a deeper awareness and a plan for action.”

Bellevue College