A Dynamic & Effective Approach of Teaching "DEIB" Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging Trainings

New Workshops

Participants will:

• Learn of the courageous white allies & abolitionists who knew from America’s earliest history that enslavement, land theft, forced labor, & genocide was horribly wrong.
• Develop or expand their understanding on the process of evolving from advocate to ally, abolitionist to accomplice, and ultimately, becoming a co-conspirator.
• Cultivate a keen awareness of what will be necessary to continue to strengthen, grow and evolve as an effective accomplice and co-conspirator.

Reimagining Racial Inclusion What if the collective majority of white Americans acknowledged that the cost for authentic racial inclusion required the same intent, energy, effort, and investments that were vigilantly made for a system of racial exclusion imposed for centuries? In 1883 the Supreme Court struck down the first Civil Rights Act; this ushered in Jim Crow and the Black Codes. Every white man, woman, and child were deputized by state, local, and federal government to have unfettered authority to police and exclude Black people from all forms of public, private spaces, and opportunities. White people now were given the protection of law, to enforce, policy, societal practices and punish through violence, the exclusion of Black people from equal citizenship, and to be seen as human. Such an awful power to give to people filled with a lust to believe in white racial superiority. This epoch would lead to generations of barbaric dehumanization against Black people and other marginalized groups.

Today there are liberal and so-called progressive cries for racial inclusion across all sectors, we conduct trainings, workshops, symposiums, social and political discussions about why and how we can become a more inclusive society. But if we are truly honest, we must reject the narratives that suggest incrementalism is the answer, or that the (BIPOC), who were systematically excluded from equal access and opportunity throughout this country’s history, are expected to put in the same work as those who meticulously constructed exclusive laws and policies in the first place!

What happens when the collective majority of white people accept the fact, that they are the beneficiaries of generations of exclusionary policies, practices, and laws that they say they want to dismantle to create an equitable and inclusionary society? Do they fully understand the real generational cost? Are they prepared to commit to pay the real price for true authentic racial inclusion? In this training,

Participants will:

• Acknowledge the history of racial white supremacy exclusion, cultivated over generations, on Black, Indigenous, and other POC in America.
• Recognize that the imperative of creating authentic, meaningful, equitable inclusion across all sectors will require those who created it (white people), cultivated, & enforced violent exclusion over many generations, must do the heavy lift.
• Learn how to reimagine policies, investment of resources, and effort that it will take towards authentically pursuing equitable, inclusive outcomes across all sectors for all BIPOC and other marginalized groups.
• Identify what you can personally do to cultivate your own action steps as a white ally and abolitionist to eliminate racial white supremacy exclusion.

The Erosion of Empathy: The Cause, Cure & Cultivation of The Empathy Quotient (EQ) We all have biases, both implicit and explicit. Everyone has some type of prejudice, including those considered to be the best among us. There are some who have explicit racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, homophobic views, opinions, and attitudes. But, in all of this, many people are simply evil; they exist without care, concern, conscience, empathy, or remorse for black, brown people, and other marginalized groups as they perniciously pursue and dehumanize these groups to justify inhumane legal and illegal acts against them.

In his book, Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave & Exterminate Others, author David Livingstone Smith states, to conceive a person or people as being subhuman, “they are imagined to have the essence of creatures that elicit negative responses, such as, disgust, fear, hatred and contempt, and are usually thought of as predators, unclean animals or prey.” Those individuals who believe in dehumanization reflect an absence or erosion of empathy. Today, society increasingly has made it more feasible for individuals such as them to live as though their behavior, attitudes, and actions should be expected and accepted as normal.

In his book The Science of Evil: On Empathy and The Origins of Cruelty, Simon Baron Cohen defines empathy in this way, “empathy occurs when we suspend our single-minded focus of attention and instead adopt a double-minded focus of attention.” He goes on to say that empathy is our ability to do two things at once, first to have the ability to identify what someone else is thinking, feeling, or experiencing, and second, to respond to their thoughts, feelings, and experiences with the appropriate action. There is scientific evidence that we can increase our empathy quotient; it is malleable for most people!

Participants will:

• Learn how to increase self-awareness about empathy and measure their own “Empathy Quotient.”
• Develop skill in identifying the absence of emphatic behavior and attitudes and actions within their personal, professional, and community spaces.
• Understand the reason and need for expanding and cultivating their EQ and why complacency perpetuates the status quo.
• Experience how to courageously confront, interrupt and redirect behavior, attitudes, and actions that reflect the absence of empathy.  

Race, Bias, and Dissonance: Understanding How They Intersect With Inequity At the cornerstone of every organization is the ability to rationally and empathetically process our interactions with others while making sound judgments about the experiences we share with them. Jammed between reason, emotion, and authentic connection, implicit bias, and cognitive dissonance create practical consequences for people of color in the form of equitable access to housing, education, healthcare, and more. Uncover these barriers to equality and effective cooperation with this workshop, available in two parts.

Participants will:

• Increase awareness of biases and how they negatively impact people of color.
• Gain deeper insight into how cognitive dissonance influences our behavior & actions.
• Strengthen your efforts of dialogue and conversation as a racial justice advocate.
• Develop greater awareness & appreciation of historical contributions made by people of color.

Perceptions of Justice: The Separate Realities of the Justice System The audience will be guided through the findings of the “Justice in Washington State” survey report commissioned by the Minority and Justice Commission, which looked at the perceptions of 1,500 Washington residents and how they viewed the courts and law enforcement, with a particular focus on how race and ethnicity impact those perceptions. The results of the study paint a picture of a racially divided experience of justice in our courts. The audience will learn about some of the reasons behind the racial differences in perceptions and will get a chance to explore with one another and with a panel of judges from the Minority and Justice commission different ideas of what we can do to begin to improve the perception of justice in Washington state.

The study asks the question of whether there are differences in the way residents of Washington view the justice system (courts and police) based on race. What was found was that race is a big factor in whether those perceptions are negative or positive, with African Americans on one end of the spectrum and Whites on the opposite end. This training is all about perceptions of our justice system, the reasons behind them, the impact of negative perceptions, and discussions and dialogue on how to address these issues.

Participants will:

• Understand why improving the perceptions of the justice system is important and part of their judicial roles.
• Identify the truth behind the perceptions.
• Identify concrete things they can do to improve their own self, court, community, and systems.

Immigrant/Refugee Integration: Successful Strategies for Welcoming our New Americans In this interactive workshop, participants will learn about the barriers that inhibit successful and meaningful immigrant/refugee integration and dialogue into our communities. Participants will experience "The Refugee Project; Walk In My Shoes," an education simulation coordinated by Sandra Vanderpol of World Relief. The simulation includes being transformed into refugees escaping for their lives; participants will undergo mock interviews by immigration authorities, as well as listen to a local refugee's inspiring story.

Participants will learn:

• New outreach strategies that strengthen meaningful interaction and engagement between New Americans and receiving community members.
• Communication strategies cultivate and emphasize the positive aspects of a united and diverse community between New Americans and mainstream populations.
• Learn how to engage and encourage the participation of mainstream leaders in efforts that build community among immigrant/refugee populations.

Unpacking the False Concept of Whiteness: Does Anyone Really Benefit? What is whiteness? A complex concept tied up in the structure of institutional power, the history of colonization, and the justification of centuries of oppression, the simple act of seeing oneself as "white" isn't a coincidental categorization. What's more, our definitions of whiteness harm so-called white communities, in addition to the pernicious impacts they have on communities of color.

Participants will:

• Develop a deeper understanding of the historical construct and cultivation of whiteness.
• Identify the dynamics of whiteness & its cultural dominance that creates adversity for people of color.
• Broaden understanding of how the impacts of whiteness create a deficit for everyone in our society: socially, psychologically, politically & economically.
• Examine what can be done to begin the process of deconstructing the concept of whiteness on an individual, institutional and structural level.

An Evidential Analysis of His-Story: A Narrative That Developed & Cultivates Human Oppression “What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one’s heroic ancestors.” -James Baldwin. Throughout much of American history, there is a false narrative that persists in portraying people of color in a diminished, subjugated, and dull light on the stage of human development and civilization. History, however, is as much a concerted construction as any social concept. Discover a purposeful approach to how you conceptualize racial legacies with this workshop, where you will:

Examine through critical analysis the historical context that was devised & cultivated to create a deceptive and false narrative that has shaped and framed how black Americans are perceived and treated personally, institutionally, and structurally in the US.
Deepen understanding and comprehension of how this false narrative perpetuates the marginalization and oppression of black people personally, institutionally, and structurally in the US.

Through re-education of African/US history, begin the process of re-evaluating present attitudes, beliefs, and values that have been established through deliberate miseducation and develop a renewed awareness of the importance of doing one's own research and self-analysis on world/human history.

Participants will:

• Examine through critical analysis the historical context that was devised & cultivated to create a deceptive and false narrative that has shaped and framed how black Americans are perceived and treated personally, institutionally, and structurally in the US.
• Deepen understanding and comprehension of how this false narrative perpetuates the marginalization and oppression of black people personally, institutionally, and structurally in the US. 
• Through re-education of African/US history, begin the process of re-evaluating present attitudes, beliefs, and values that have been establishing through deliberate miseducation and develop a renewed awareness of the importance of doing one’s own research and self-analysis on world/human history.