Sojourner Truth School for Social Change Leadership

Part 1 Description:

In the midst of this current socio-political climate where Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), immigrants, LGBTQIA+ and gender expansive people, women, and other marginalized communities are targets of unjust and oppressive policies and violence, efforts at creating equity, inclusion, safety, and belonging are even more critical. We need to push back this tide of divisiveness. Cultural humility, the life-long process of critical self-reflection to identify personal and systemic biases and address power imbalances, supports a shift in awareness that builds bridges of understanding across difference and helps to remind us of our shared humanity. This workshop will help people to recognize their own cultural norms and biases and transform them to create ever expanding circles of inclusion and belonging. Cultural humility paves the way to racial equity. When we have a deeper awareness of a range of ways of being, perceiving, and communicating, we can more consciously choose how to communicate and interact. In this workshop, you will develop the awareness and tools to become more culturally responsive and to actively build bridges of understanding across cultures. Cultural humility and cross-cultural communication are powerful building blocks of racial equity and are often the missing pieces in effective racial equity efforts. Come to this workshop to become better equipped to create cultures that are truly welcoming, inclusive, and equitable.

Session 1 Objectives:

• Examine the cultural lens through which you perceive and understand people and events.

• Challenge stereotypes and assumptions that you have about those from different cultures.

• Recognize, understand, and respect a variety of cultural norms, values, and communication

styles.

• Learn about cultural humility and how to practice it.

Part 2 Description:

Now that you have completed Cultural Humility and Cross-Cultural Communication Part 1, we invite you to participate in this follow up session. Part 2 will focus on methods for actively utilizing the process of cultural humility to create more culturally inclusive and equitable practices and systems within organizations, coalitions, and movements. These practices will help to redress power imbalances and promote institutional accountability around issues of equity and access. If you have participated in the first session and are asking yourself the question, “Now what?” this workshop will focus on applying the knowledge you acquired in the first session to guide action in creating cultures of inclusion and equity within your organizations and communities.

Session 2 Objectives:

• Learn how to better communicate and build bridges of understanding across cultures.

• Learn how unexamined white privilege and belief in cultural superiority maintain the status

quo of white supremacy.

• Discuss ways to decenter white dominant culture and create cultures that are truly

inclusive, welcoming, and equitable.