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How do we navigate the intersections towards a future of equity?

We hear from individuals and organizations every day that they are looking to “move beyond 101” in their racial equity efforts. Many equity statements crafted in the fervor of 2020 are now gathering virtual dust with few meaningful outcomes to note. Others have been working on racial equity for nearly a decade with a variety of fits and starts and are frustrated with the lack of concrete sustainable progress. Community groups and individuals have dedicated countless hours to education and advocacy, but aren’t sure what to do next.

How do we collectively take the next steps towards equity once the “low-hanging fruit” has been collected? After equity committees have been formed, equity statements have been published and staff training completed? After we’ve read the best sellers, talked to our friends and neighbors and begun to unpack our own socialization scripts? What do we do next when our outcomes are stubbornly resisting the meaningful change so many are yearning to create?

As Octavia Butler once said, “there’s no single answer that will solve all of our future problems. There’s no magic bullet. Instead there are thousands of answers–at least. You can be one of them if you choose to be.”

There is no perfectly crafted strategic plan, nor lofty initiative that will undo centuries of white supremacy, anti-Blackness and the erasure of Indigenous peoples and cultures from the inner workings and inequitable outcomes of our workplaces, governments and communities.

The path to a collaborative, healing, thriving future for all of humanity lies in the thousands of choices we each make. We navigate the intersections of our identities, traumas, histories and gifts in our daily interactions and in our personal and professional relationships. We can collectively work for equity and justice in the systems we navigate by focusing on where we do have power and choice to act.

Intersectionality is a framework that can help us better understand our collective struggle for dignity and human liberation. Coined by Dr Kimberlé W. Crenshaw in 1989, Intersectionality identifies the compounded oppressions and co-morbidities faced by folks living in the margins of society.

Navigating the Intersections is an extraordinary 5-part series in which participants will explore the ways that race intersects with gender, disability, trauma, leadership and relationships. By finding strength in our identities and positions of professional privilege, participants will develop and refine their own strategies to continue leading in the fight for human rights, justice and dignity for all.

Each session in the series is led by Subduction Consulting & El Porvenir Services’ 2023 Racial Equity Consultant Development Program Associates. Each of our associates brings decades of professional expertise and lived experience to their specialized topics, giving participants access to an incredible depth of practical advice for applying the content to your own workplace, community and personal relationships.

Series Schedule

Registration grants you live access to all 5 of our stellar sessions. Session recordings will be made available to all registered participants through August 31, 2023.

May 3: Better Relationships, Better Outcomes

Katie Thornton (RN, MSN, CNL) and Vincent Pham (PhD) will highlight the importance of improving staff relationships as a key strategy for creating more equitable programmatic outcomes and improved results for your clients/customers.

May 10: Trauma, Race & Relationships

Michelle Gaither & Divinity Warmsley will offer participants the opportunity to better understand trauma and how to build trauma-informed relationships and support community healing and resilience.

May 17: Gender Expansiveness, An Intersectional Overview

Silver will guide participants in learning the context of gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation from historical, present and future perspectives.

May 24: Disability Justice and Access Art

Designed for all people who want to learn more about Disability Justice and access directly from the perspectives of Disabled people, Rebel Sidney Black and Deanna Parvin Yadollahi will present the social model of disability, a brief history of disability rights, and a primer on Disability Justice.

May 31: Deconstructing Whiteness in Leadership

Betsy Glickman and Kitty Miller explore the roots of whiteness in dominant leadership models and support participants of all identities in strategizing how to dismantle these oppressive scaffolding in their daily decision-making.

Participation Requirements

• You must believe that Black Lives and Trans Lives matter.

• You must agree to hold any/all information about fellow participants’ in the strictest confidentiality.

Registration grants you live access to all 5 sessions in the Navigating the Intersections series. Session recordings will be made available to all registered participants through August 31, 2023.

Based in our dual values of community access and fair exchange for labor, we are offering this series on a sliding scale of $50 - $500.

If your employer is paying your registration fee and is a PWI (predominantly white institution), please ask them to pay the full amount.

If you are an individual paying for your own registration, or your employer is a BIPOC-led and/or a community-based organization, please consider the following questions before deciding how much to pay:

1. What is the potential value of your participation in this series to your personal and professional development?

2. What is fair exchange for the decades of professional expertise and lived experience being offered by the workshop facilitators?

3. What can you actually afford to pay?

And, ALL ARE WELCOME regardless of ability to pay - click here to apply for an additional scholarship.