Virtual Trainings

As conversations about diversity are happening more frequently in our organizations, leaders are looking for ways to best address equity and inclusion. Far too often, people are assigned to lead these initiatives because of the position they hold or the racial or ethnic group they identify with, without giving them the tools they need to be successful. In this workshop, we will explore qualities of a culturally competent leader and strategies for cultivating culturally responsive leadership practices.

This session helps to develop participants’ cultural competence by:

• Providing a framework on how to address issues of equity and race.

• Creating common language for entering discourse.

The framework takes a look at deepening awareness of self-moving from color blindness to racial cognizance; increasing knowledge of others and their experiences of racism and oppression; developing skills to work effectively across cultures; and advocating and taking action to initiate change. 

This workshop will train educators to screen curriculum materials for a variety of biases including ageism, sexism, racism, ableism, and heterosexism. Participants will practice using tools for a whole school, university, or district adoption, as well as tools for examining materials in individual classes.

What does an organization look like when cultural competence is institutionalized?  What do I do with what I know?  What can my actions look like to create culturally relevant systemic change? This workshop is geared towards participants who are committed to social justice but want to learn strategies that can lead to an infrastructure of sustainable change.  Participants will learn two critical aspects that lead to successful organizational change:

1) How to strategically plan for a culture of inclusion and respect through equity team work

2) How to build an organizational culture that becomes increasingly comfortable with the discomfort that having courageous conversations creates.

Finally, participants learn a model for multicultural organizational identity development and explore where their organization can prepare them for successes and potential barriers.

Understanding where people are at in their ethnic identity development helps us to appreciate the lens in which they view the world.  Our knowledge can be used as a tool to assist us in navigating difficult conversations around race.  This workshop looks at the different dynamics related to ethnic identity development specifically between People of Color and European Americans.  Participants engage in reflection and conversation to identify stages of their own identity development and how this influences their relationships across cultures.  As the presenter discusses the different phases of ethnic identity development that individuals may go through, she shares personal stories and experiences to increase participants’ understanding of ethnic identity development and models the benefits of reflective practice.

When we engage in conversations across cultures, there is always the risk that what we say might offend someone. Oftentimes we don’t even know why what we said was offensive. This interactive workshop is designed to assist participants in increasing their knowledge of microaggressions, or what racism looks like in the 21st century. Participants learn common triggers that push peoples “hot buttons”, identify and understand racial microaggressions in everyday life, and learn strategies to effectively communicate across cultures when racial tensions exist.

Shelly Harrell, Ph.D., states “A stereotype does not necessarily disappear from consciousness when it is successfully challenged.  However, it does lose its “power” to influence feelings, attitudes, and behaviors so automatically.” Through video, interactive exercises and storytelling, participants are challenged to examine how unspoken, often unconscious, stereotypes create barriers to genuine relationships and influence our attitudes, behaviors and beliefs about one another.  Participants will explore what they can do to effectively counteract stereotype threat using research based on Claude Steele’s work.

Recent research has shown that children have very complex understandings of differences and stereotypes. Far from being color-blind, most children are aware of how their own skin color is an advantage or disadvantage. They also judge their peers based on stereotypes that adults might like to believe they are unaware of. Because of this, it is important that children are given anti-bias messages, through actions and words, to actively counter what they are witnessing in the adult world. They also need to learn how to advocate for themselves and others. In this workshop, we explore how children learn and practice racism and privilege and strategies for counteracting bias.

When trying to practice multicultural inclusion, too often the focus is on fixing “the other”, that is, staff or clients of color, leaving white perspectives, culture and identity normalized and unexplored. Through storytelling, discussion and experiential exercises we will shift the focus to examine how white cultural norms and privileges can create barriers to equity. By bringing into focus the ways white privilege operates on a personal and institutional level in organizations, we will be able to see how white allies and people of color can work together to reform systems and engage in culturally responsive practices.