coming together for racial understanding: training...

Authors

CAROLYNE ABDULLAH, GWEN WHITING

Coming Together for Racial

Understanding: Training

Guide EVERYDAY DEMOCRACY

Coming Together for Racial Understanding: Training Guide

PAGE 1 OF 33 EVERYDAY DEMOCRACY

SLIDE 1: OPENING SLIDE

INSTRUCTIONS

This session explores one of the two

approaches incorporated into the Coming

together for Racial Understanding effort.

Everyday Democracy has built a legacy of

civil dialogue around difficult issues. In more

recent years, their work has been focused

on racial equity in particular.

TIME: OPENING SLIDE, 5 MINUTES

SUPPLIES: NONE

HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 2: WHO IS EVERYDAY DEMOCRACY

INSTRUCTIONS

Brief overview of Everyday Democracy as an

organization.

https://www.everyday-democracy.org/

TIME: 5 MINUTES

SUPPLIES: NONE

HANDOUTS: NONE

https://www.everyday-democracy.org/



SLIDE 3: BELIEFS UNDERGIRDING THIS WORK

INSTRUCTIONS

These two undergirding principles are key

to the approach.

• When all kinds of people have access

to good information and join

together to address common

concerns—sharing knowledge,

resources, power and decision

making as they work—they will

develop solutions which serve the

common good, and lead to healthier,

more equitable communities.

• Envisioning a democracy where all

voices are valued, and where

participation and racial equity become a

permanent part of the way we work as a country at the local, state and national levels.

TIME: 5 MINUTES

SUPPLIES: NONE

HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 4: PRINCIPLES OF ENGAGEMENT

INSTRUCTIONS

Review these principles of engagement to

help set the stage for the process.

1. Involve everyone.

2. Embrace diversity, practice equity

throughout.

3. Share knowledge, resources, power &

decision making.

4. Connect dialogue & deliberation

5. Connect dialogue to social, political, &

policy change.

TIME: 5 MINUTES

SUPPLIES: NONE

HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 5: HOW EVERYDAY DEMOCRACY WORKS

INSTRUCTIONS

This slide provides a synthesis of the ways in

which Everyday Democracy works with

communities.

TIME: 5 MINUTES

SUPPLIES: NONE.

HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 6: FIELD APPROACH CYCLE

INSTRUCTIONS

The Field Approach follows this cycle:

organize, talk, act, assess, learn, inform,

repeat.

TIME: 10 MINUTES

SUPPLIES: NONE

HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 7: A DIALOGUE APPROACH TO COMMUNITY CHANGE

INSTRUCTIONS

This diagram depicts what the dialogue

approach looks like on the ground.

Beginning on the left, communities walk

through an organizing phase that includes

building a coalition, organizing training,

recruiting both participants and facilitators,

and training facilitators. The community is

then ready for a kick-off event that launches

the dialogue process. The dialogues run for

several weeks, and culminates in an Action

Forum which brings all participants back

together. The Action Forum launches the

action phase in which the community takes

collective and individual action to lead to

community change. During this time,

institutional and policy changes may be

addressed. All of this happens through the lens of racial and intergenerational equity.

TIME: 20 MINUTES

SUPPLIES: NONE

HANDOUTS: FOOTBALL FIELD DIAGRAM



SLIDE 8: THE GOAL

INSTRUCTIONS

Ultimately, the goal is not only to support

the efforts of our community change

partners in the specific issue they are

addressing, it is to change the narrative of

the story!

TIME: 5 MINUTES

SUPPLIES: NONE

HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 9: TOOLS TO SUPPORT DIALOGUE ON RACE

INSTRUCTIONS

During the next segment, participants will

explore these two tools to support the

dialogue process.

Process:

Facilitator introduce guide:

• Explain the layout of the book, page

9

• Sample ground rules, page 11

• Six sessions – each session builds upon

the next session

• Point out the appendices at the end

TIME: 10 MINUTES

SUPPLIES: FACING RACISM IN A DIVERSE

NATION DISCUSSION GUIDE

HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 10: LIST OF ACTIVITIES

INSTRUCTIONS

Provide an overview of the key activities in

each section of the guide:

• Each session builds on the next.

• Begin with relationship building and

understanding our ethnic

backgrounds and the impact of

racism in first two sessions

• Third session talks about why

inequities exist in our country

• Fourth session explores different

perspectives on why inequities exist

• Fifth session looks at the respective

communities and what kinds of

inequities exist and why

• Sixth session examines the why of

inequities and prioritize actions to

address those imbalances at the individual, community and policy levels

TIME: 3 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 11: SESSION 1, PART 5

INSTRUCTIONS

Setup: Small Group Circles – 6-8 people

Process:

• Guided by a facilitator

• Not necessary to answer all

questions. Some groups prefer to

have a deeper conversation on one

or two of the questions

Debrief:

• How did it feel to take part in the

conversation?

• Did you hear common themes?

TIME: 20 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 12: SESSION 2 CASE STUDIES

INSTRUCTIONS


Process:

• Read list of cases

• Choose a few to discuss

Debrief:

• Which cases stand out?

• Why do people act that way?

• Do the same things go on in our

community?

TIME: 15 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE




INSTRUCTIONS


Process: Overview

• These are words people often use

when discussing these issues

• Case studies can be used to talk

about these words

Debrief:

• Words are listed on flip chart

• Group may bring in other definitions

for words at following sessions

• May record key ideas group has about

each word

TIME: 5 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE




INSTRUCTIONS

Setup:

• Conducted in a large open space

• Participants stand on a horizontal line

shoulder to shoulder (everyone starts

out at the same place in the room).

• If large group, you may have them

form two horizontal lines standing

very close to each other

• Facilitator skilled in group process

and race work

• Facilitator skilled in managing strong

emotions participants may feel and/or express

• Facilitator must be trained in introducing

and debriefing exercise

Process: It is really important to allow enough

time to do Parts A and B, Deeping our understanding of each other. Recognizing it is hard to

know what it is like to walk in another’s shoes

Part A (pg. 18):

• Facilitator will read a series of statements. These statements relate to skin color or

ethnic background. Think about how each statement apply to you. Take one step

back/forward as instructed

• At end of statements, have participants freeze in place and notice where everyone is

standing. Have them turn to 2-3 people who are standing close to them and talk about

how you are feeling.

Debrief:

• As a whole group – What patterns did you notice

• Why did people end up where they are?

• What might this mean for our country; our community?

Part B (pg. 20):

• Everyone forms a large circle

• As Facilitator reads a series of statements, ask participants to take a step forward into

the circle if statement applies to them (mini steps should be taken to allow everyone

room to participate).

Debrief:

• What did you notice about where people ended up in the second part of the activity?

• How does it feel to have gone through this experience?

Note: Opportunities and Challenges (pg. 21) is an optional activity to show how opportunities and

challenges are tied to racial and ethnic groups

TIME: 5 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE




INSTRUCTIONS


Process: Quick overview

• Look at data in areas like education,

health and employment that shows

examples of gaps among groups in

our country.

Debrief:

• What are the biggest gaps among

people from different racial or ethnic

groups?

• How do you see these gaps affecting

people in our country?

TIME: 5 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 16: CHARTS ILLUSTRATING GAPS AMONG GROUPS

INSTRUCTIONS

Continue discussion of various charts.

TIME: 5 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE




INSTRUCTIONS


Process: Viewpoints in the voice of a

person who thinks it is a very important idea

• Have each viewpoint read (either

aloud or silently).

Debrief:

• Which views come closest to your

own way of thinking?

• Is there anything you don’t agree with?

• Ask if there is a viewpoint that should

be included?

TIME: 15 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 18: SESSION 4, PART 2 CONTINUED

INSTRUCTIONS

Continue to read and discuss the

viewpoints.

TIME: 15 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE




INSTRUCTIONS

Pre-work: Program organizers should

provide the fact sheet on what is happening

in your community.


Process: Discussion

• Look over the fact sheet about your

community

Debrief:

• What surprise you? Makes you hopeful?

Worries you?

• How do your local challenges compare

to the national challenges looked at in

Session 3

Note: See next slide on making and using a fact sheet

TIME: 10 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE




INSTRUCTIONS

Note: Fact sheet is referred to in previous

slide #19. See page 41 in guide

TIME: 10 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE




INSTRUCTIONS


Process: Evaluate how your community is

doing. Do all people get a fair chance to

succeed? Do all people from all racial and

ethnic groups have equal access to

services?

• To maximize time each participant

can fill out a report card using the

grading system. (This could be done

as a group facilitated or individually)

• Facilitator should clarify with group the

parameters of the community they are

evaluating (such as a particular

neighborhood or city as whole)

• Each person’s individual grades will be

posted on the newsprint report card. This can be done as a group or each person can

fill in their own grades on the newsprint

• Once filled in, ask everyone to choose several categories to discuss as a group

Debrief:

• Facilitator reads each statement on report card and have group look at the grades

• Where is there agreement and where does group differ?

• Discuss how decisions were made on what grade to give?

• On second newsprint fill in what successes group sees from report card

• List what challenges need to be addressed? Identify one or two

TIME: 30 MINUTES


NATION DISCUSSION GUIDE, REPORT CARD,

NEWSPRINT

HANDOUTS: NONE




INSTRUCTIONS


Process: Thanking about the challenges

identified in the report card

• Read aloud the 7 approaches

Debrief: to address the challenges

identified in the report card

• Have any of the approaches been

tried to address challenges? If so

what happened

• Are there any other approaches you

can think of?

• Which approaches address racism in

our institutions?

• Which approaches won’t work? Why?

TIME: 15 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE




INSTRUCTIONS

Note: approaches used against the challenges

identified from the Report Card

TIME: 15 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE




INSTRUCTIONS


Process: “Ten years from now, I hope my

community will be

_________________________.”

• Ask participants as they imagine the

future to share their words selected

from list or from own thoughts to fill

in the blank

• Facilitator chart words on newsprint

Debrief:

• What do you hope might be different

from the way things are today?

• What do you hope will be the same?

TIME: 10 MINUTES


NATION DISCUSSION GUIDE, NEWSPRINT,

MARKERS

HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 25: SESSION 6

INSTRUCTIONS


Process:

• Moving to action, what are the most

important issues, themes or ideas

that have been discussed during the

dialogue?

• Working together to come up with

ideas about how to improve race

relations and reduce gaps among

people from different backgrounds.

• What can we do on our own, in groups

and as a whole community to make our

community better?

Debrief: next slide

TIME: 15 MINUTES


NATION DISCUSSION GUIDE, NEWSPRINT,

MARKERS

HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 26: SESSION 6 CONTINUED

INSTRUCTIONS

Read this list of sample action ideas before

coming up with your own ideas.

TIME: 10 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 27: ACTION IDEAS

INSTRUCTIONS

Process:

• Brainstorm as a way for groups to

come up with lots of ideas

• A way to creatively come up with

many different ideas in a short

amount of time

• Facilitator, remember all ideas are

OK. Participants want to see ideas

captured as they shared them

• No judgment of ideas

• Facilitator writes down every idea

TIME: 10 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 28: LISTING OUR COMMUNITY STRENGTHS

INSTRUCTIONS

Help group identify assets in people, places

or organizations. Chart on newsprint.

TIME: 10 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 29: SETTING PRIORITIES FOR ACTION

INSTRUCTIONS

Walk through the step by step process to

prioritize action ideas.

TIME: 5 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 30: ACTION IDEAS REPORT

INSTRUCTIONS

Use this document to bring forward action

ideas as a group.

This report will be used at the action forum.

It may be turned into the organizing group

to prepare for the action forum.

TIME: 10 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 31: THE ACTION FORUM

INSTRUCTIONS

Setup: Small Group Circles – 6-8 people or

large group presentation

Process:

Walk thru preparing for Action Forum

Debrief: Q&A Session

TIME: 10 MINUTES



HANDOUTS: NONE



SLIDE 32: OUR GOAL

INSTRUCTIONS

Ultimately, our goal is not only to support

the efforts of our community change

partners in the specific issue they are

addressing, it is to change the narrative of

the story!



SLIDE 33: ORGANIZING SIMULATION

INSTRUCTIONS

Process:

One Facilitator will take the Coordinators

out of the room to give each their

descriptor sheets and coach each on their

role in simulation.

2nd Facilitator will give instruction to the

participants and have assistants to pass out a

role description to each participant. Allow

participants enough time to read their role

description. Share that everyone is at a

community gathering, so they should mingle and

network in their role.

Debrief:

When time is called, each Coordinator will stand at the front of the room. Facilitator will ask

participants who were recruited by the coordinator will come and stand behind the

coordinator.

1. Question to Facilitators: How easy was it to recruit community members? What

was most challenging?

2. Question to Participants: Were you recruited? What assets did you have to offer

that were or were not tapped into?

TIME: 45 MINUTES


NATION DISCUSSION GUIDE, INSTRUCTIONS

FOR COORDINATORS, ROLE DESCRIPTIONS

HANDOUTS: NONE

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