The IDEA Initiative has partnered with the California Conference For Equality and Justice (CCEJ) to present the Racial Justice Training series for faculty and staff.聽CCEJ is a human relations organization dedicated to eliminating bias, bigotry, and racism through education, conflict resolution, and advocacy. CCEJ integrates anti-oppression education (common language, definitions, terminology, concepts) with experiential activities and dialogue (personal storytelling, circle practice, courageous conversations). CCEJ approaches partnerships with the recognition that all of us hold powerful knowledge and experiences that can be activated in the service of challenging oppression.
The Racial Justice Training sessions are intended to be standalone dialogue-centered workshops with up to 30 faculty and staff participants. Each of the three intensive sessions will focus on a topic that is critical to foster understanding in an inclusive community. Interest may be submitted for any or all of the sessions.
Session 1: Valuing Black Lives
This foundation-laying session will be centered on the recent surge in protests, policy changes, and movement building in the wake of George Floyd鈥檚 death, and will allow space for team members to share their specific experiences as individuals occupying specific social positions. Specifically, participants will explore the concept of anti-Blackness and why it is central to understanding how white supremacy works in the United States today.
Learning Objectives
- Debrief this current transformative moment in racial justice as a team
- Practice building explicit culture where discussion and reflection of social identities and relationships to structural forms of oppression are normalized and consistently practiced
- Share the impact of this moment on ourselves and our community to begin identifying service implications
- Explore Anti-Blackness as a concept and reality in the operation of white supremacy in the United States
- Start identifying how we can support the student community through this time.
Session 1: Valuing Black Lives, Wednesday, October 7, 1-3 pm PT
Session 2: Cultivating Values-Aligned, Interdependent Relationships
Each of us lives in accordance with our values to various degrees, both implicitly and explicitly. This session will allow us to share and critically reflect on values that guide our personal and professional lives as well as what values we鈥檇 like to lead with as a team, using an intersectional equity lens. We will identify how to center our values in the relationships we create and sustain as an asset in creating long-term change.
Learning Objectives
- Reflect on our personal, professional, and team values
- Share how we currently live out our values in action
- Identify gaps between our practices and desired practices
- Challenge ourselves and each other to deepen our practices of values-centered work
Session 2:聽 Cultivating Values-Aligned, Interdependent Relationships, Thursday, October 22, 9-11 am PT
Session 3: Restorative Justice and Anti-Racism
Establishing conflict as both neutral and inevitable will allow us to start brainstorming how we can prepare for productive, trust-building conflict management in the future. We will start conversations about how to reconcile racial injustice using Restorative Justice principles and beliefs at both the individual level and the community level.
Learning Objectives
- Assess our individual and collective communication styles and conflict styles
- Discuss the historical and present relationships between Restorative Justice and anti-racism
- Apply Restorative Justice frameworks around conflict and relationship building
- Strategize productive and restorative ways of managing race-related conflict together
Session 3: Restorative Justice and Anti-Racism, Thursday, November 5, 12-2 pm PT