Workshop Facilitation

Anti-Racist Allyship: What is White People's Role in the Struggle?

Racism has and will continue to have a devastating impact on PoC as long as Whitepeople don’t get active. Our nation will continue to witness disproportionality in itshealthcare system, anti-Black, Asian, and Jewish sentiment, Indigenous women goingmissing, anti-immigration laws aimed at Muslim and Latine children and families, bias inour courts, etc, etc. And, our nation will continue to be polarized. Individual, systemic,and structural racism is a legacy that persists. Many White people who want to besupportive and interrupt are unsure of how to best show up as allies. Anti-racist allyshiprequires White people name what’s happening, challenge antiquated thinking, andeducate each other. This workshop focuses on strategies necessary to becoming co-conspirators in the fight against racism. Note: although this session centers on the roleof White people, PoC are welcome to participate.

Advanced Microaggressions for Leaders

In this workshop, supervisors and managers will learn eight strategies for engaging staff when challenging situations arise most commonly due to microaggressions. They will examine intent vs. impact, public vs. private, calling in vs. calling out, and other guiding principles that are necessary in directing their approach. Through vignettes, role playing, and large group discussion, participants will learn strategies and develop skills for leaning into the tension in ways that normalize healing, foster learning, and promote growth.

Becoming an Anti-Racist Leader

Leaders play a significant role in shaping their organization into a workplace that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and where everyone feels a sense of belonging. The most effective anti-racist leaders are those who are intentional in their skill development by continually learning, critically reflecting, practicing, asking for help, and adapting their approach. In this workshop leaders will engage in the above exercises while learning qualities of an anti-racist leader and utilizing an assessment tool to gain insight and develop culturally responsive leadership practices

 Foundations of Social Justice

W.E.B. Du Bois said, “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line.” Given the most recent evidence of individual and systemic racism in our country, it is all too apparent we have not yet figured out lasting solutions to racism in the twenty-first century.

This interactive session provides a framework for developing an equity lens, provides language for discourse on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace, and deepens staff's understanding of the work involved in becoming contributors of positive change.

Hiring and Retaining a Diverse Workforce

Whether you face challenges in outreach, developing culturally responsive job announcements, mitigating implicit bias in the interview process, creating the right interview questions, or retaining a diverse workforce, these issues are not insurmountable. This workshop focuses on developing an equity lens in one or more of the above areas and is designed based on your organization's specific needs.

Impacts of Implicit Bias and Stereotype Threat

In Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Mahzarin R. Banaji & Anthony G. Greenwald write, “A quarter century ago, most psychologists believed that human behavior was primarily guided by conscious thoughts and feelings. Nowadays the majority will readily agree that much of human judgment and behavior is produced with little conscious thought.”  Through video, interactive exercises and story, participants will be invited to examine the impact of racial stereotypes. They’ll uncover how these unspoken, often unconscious stereotypes create barriers to genuine relationships and influence our attitudes, behaviors and beliefs about one another and ourselves. They will learn about the research and discover ways to mitigate their bias.

Internalized Sexism and White Privilege: A Workshop for White Women

While white women struggle with experiences of gender oppression, we also benefit from white privilege. In what ways do these two phenomena work together to create misunderstandings, missed collaborations, and acts of supremacy? In this workshop, we will use a model to examine how our identities develop as we grow in our understanding of personal and institutional oppression. We use interactive processes to take a deep look at learned patterns of behavior and strategies to better collaborate in work for social justice.

Leading Sustainably as People of Color

People of Color are often immersed in workplace cultures that center Whiteness. Advancing racial equity often requires intentionally and explicitly centering justice and equity over white cultural norms. This session is designed for Leaders and Staff of Color to discuss navigating Whiteness in the workplace, reflect on internalized oppression, and connect around strategies to lead change and sustain oneself in the process.

Leading Organizational Change in a Multicultural World

Many organizations are talking about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB). But some are unsure of where to begin or what direction to take. There are those who have made some progress but find themselves stuck as they encounter internal barriers. In this workshop, six stages organizations go through in becoming a multicultural organization are taught. Participants identify which stage their organization is currently in and the barriers they face, and then collectively identify action steps they can take to move their organization further along in its DEIBelonging journey. 

Listening Sessions

Our Listening Sessions serve two functions. Sometimes something happens in our nation or within your organization that triggers trauma or disrupts the emotional, psychological, social, and physical well-being of your staff. In these cases, Listening Sessions are an opportunity for staff to begin processing their experiences in order to heal or move forward. Other times, organizations see the need to pause in their equity journey and do a temperature check to uncover what leaders are doing well and areas of opportunity for growth so they can make necessary adjustments as they move forward.

Racial Microaggressions: What Are They and How Do They Cause Harm

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.  But rather than risk offending many people avoid cross cultural dialogue altogether or cling to “politically correct” terminology.  The tightrope we walk and the mental labor that ensues is exhausting and often leaves everyone involved feeling unheard or misunderstood. Participants will learn what microaggressions are, why people often react the way they do when they experience them, and their impact.

Recommitment and Renewal: Uprooting Internalized Racism

This workshop provides the opportunity for people of color who are actively engaged in racial justice work to come together to work deeply on their own issues of internalized racism. Participants will develop a deeper understanding of the impact of oppression and racism on self and others and work towards healing their own wounds as well as aid in healing the racial divide.

Strategies for Addressing Microaggressions

In this workshop participants learn to respond to acts of microaggressions when they commit, witness, or experience them in the workplace. Instead of focusing on intent, participants learn to lean in and become curious about their impact when they’ve committed them. When on the receiving end of a microaggression rather than avoiding or lashing out participants learn how to engage in courageous conversations. Participants will also learn strategies for becoming active bystanders who engage their colleagues when they witness them committing microaggressions.

Talking About Race: Courageous Conversations For a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace

This is an interactive overview of seven norms or strategies for engaging in a way that creates a space for difficult and empowering conversations. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on what is challenging for them and commit to practical action steps they can begin practicing and implementing immediately. This session provides a foundation for on-going conversations, as participants leave with the tools to continue to engage one another and the diverse communities they serve.

Talking with Children and Youth About Race

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.

There is no cookbook or manual for “how to” when it comes to diversity work. Engaging conflict is adaptive not technical in our approach.  However, there are some approaches that work better than others.  In this workshop Participants will learn strategies for how to engage when they experience, commit, or witness a microaggression as a way to move through the tension.

Unpacking White Privilege in the Workplace

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 this session shifts 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, participants will be able to see how white allies and people of color can work together to reform systems and engage in culturally responsive practices.

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This session can be adapted from a beginner to advanced audience, inviting all people into the conversation about whiteness without shame or blame.

Working with Immigrant Communities

Foreign born communities are an essential part of American life and often face many challenges when adjusting to life in a new culture. Immigrant communities also face discrimination and bigotry in the racialized culture of the United States. This workshop is designed to utilize an equity lens to help participants better engage and serve immigrant communities by looking at different factors related to human migration, growing a capacity to anticipate some core challenges immigrants communities typically face, and offer skills to improve cross-cultural communication with immigrant communities.