Race Conscious Dialogues

Our 4th Annual Conference is back on Sunday October 11th with a variety of workshop offerings! One ticket provides access to all workshops. If you are ONLY attending the 5pm collaborative session with the Community Relations Commission, you may register free of charge using access code CRC.

The 10am workshop will be held virtually, and the remainder are in-person at Kinfolk CoLab (405 S. Euclid Ave, 2nd Floor, in Oak Park IL). We hope to see you! While we do a lot of affinity group work at RCD, these sessions are open to persons of all backgrounds and identities. Space is limited.

10AM: Speak Something Alive: Creative Writing as a Tool for Movement Building - KYLE TRAN MYHRE (GUANTE)

Whether or not we identify as artists ourselves, how does our communication connect to issues of identity, audience, and narrative? How might we instill our advocacy and organizing with energy that is attention-grabbing, anthemic, and mobilizing, connecting to deeper narratives that everyday people are already primed to support? Please join us for this interactive workshop, held VIRTUALLY.

2PM: Welcome and Gathering: emcee SYDNEY JACKSON

Racial Healing Within: The Essential Work of Wellness as Lifestyle - PILAR AUDAIN

Pilar will open our time with a grounding and honoring experience to acknowledge our rootedness, then be joined in conversation with Reesheda Nicole Berry to explore ritual, restoration, and creative healing practices as necessary elements in our relationships with one another every day. 

3:30PM: Reparations: Moving Forward in the Current Climate - CHRISTIAN HARRIS 

Christian will lead an interactive workshop on Reparations, focusing on the 5 Pillars of Reparative Justice, ideas on how engagement in reparations addresses specific challenges facing the Black community today, and dialogue with participants on the movement in general. With the understanding that while curiosity is encouraged, this session is not space to debate whether reparations are a necessary component of our collective healing and moving forward as a nation. 

5PM: Strengthening Community Dialogue Across Difference: A Collaborative Session with the Community Relations Commission - YOKO TERRETTA AND MAYA PUENTES

This session examines ways our bodies respond when we enter into dialogue from various experiences of power, dominance, vulnerability, or marginalization. Through reflection and somatic practice, we will build skills for staying present during difficult conversations. A light dinner will be provided and this will be held on the first floor of the building, which is wheelchair accessible.

Thank you to the Chicago Community Trust for supporting this event!

This event is FREE for Mental Health Professionals, courtesy of the Oak Park and River Forest Community Foundation! Please contact us for access code.

On that note, price is never a barrier to participation in Race Conscious Dialogues workshops. Please reach out!