Facilitation for Racial Justice Work
In our work as leaders, knowing about structural racism and understanding the difference between “inclusion” and “equity” is one thing; being effective at helping other people talk about them is another. As Fieldstone Leadership Network San Diego prepares to facilitate conversations and hold space for our Network Members to explore issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in the nonprofit sector and beyond, FLNSD Director Janine Mason and FLNSD consultants Lee Ann Kim and Barry Schultz participated in a two-day intensive facilitator training presented by the InterAction Institute for Social Change.
The training, which took place in Oakland, California and included participants from across the country, focused on teaching facilitators to develop practical skills and tools for guiding others through productive conversations about race, racism, and racial justice that build understanding and agreement. The workshop focused on five essential practices of racial justice leadership:
- Understand Racial Identity Development
- Understand the System of Racialization
- See Systems & Weave Networks
- Facilitate Understanding and Agreement
- Discover Shared Meaning
The team from Fieldstone attended the training as part of their preparation for the Fall 2020 leadership retreat which is being offered in response to various calls from Network members for opportunities to learn and reflect on social justice. Recognized for offering safe spaces for leaders to be brave, FLNSD is using the Courage to Lead retreat framework for leaders to consider issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. This uniquely designed leadership experience, entitled “Searching for the Heart of Democracy in Historic and Hallowed Places”, will allow leaders to consider their place in the ongoing efforts to respectfully engage with and lead others in addressing these challenges. Offered as a contribution to our community’s efforts to advance these critical issues throughout the nonprofit sector and in the broader world, this retreat will provide leaders with time and space to learn experientially, to reflect personally and to engage in communal conversations about the social justice challenges we have faced historically and are encountering currently in our country.
“Searching for the Heart of Democracy in Historic and Hallowed Places” will convene in Montgomery, Alabama and include visits to the Capitol Steps where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed 25,000 people who gathered at the end of the Selma to Montgomery March, the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, the newly opened National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum. Within the backdrop of our nation’s most hallowed places, San Diego leaders will gather to consider and reflect on the questions they may be holding about their role in carrying on the courageous legacies of yesterday and answering the pressing calls to action of today.
If you are interested in joining us for these discussions, please visit our website for more information about our upcoming retreat, “Seaching for the Heart of Democracy in Historic and Hallowed Places” and email us at [email protected] to be put on the interest list.