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Every person deserves to live in their fullest humanity. Yet, across workplaces (regardless of industry or scale), dark-skinned people (of color) suffer the worst outcomes, and regularly report carrying the greatest burdens - including in many organizations with a self-purported commitment to “inclusivity and justice.” Representation does not equal liberation.

Over a decade of coaching, training design, and transformational policy development with dozens of client organizations, we’ve learned that implementing clear and firm policies and practices, while centering the humanity of staff across the agency, is one of the most impactful long-term strategies for advancing racial equity & more just outcomes in the workplace.

Under the guidance of 2 extraordinarily experienced organizational equity consultants, the 2024 Racial Equity Policy Intensive will guide participants in collaboratively developing an organizational racial harm policy, protocol & implementation plan tailored to their organizational context.

Through the 8 collaborative work sessions, participants will also:

• Expand their professional network & build community.

• Strengthen policy crafting skills.

• Hone tools for advancing racial equity in their organizations through (and beyond) formal policy.

• Develop strategies for leveraging support & minimizing resistance to policy implementation.

• Learn best practices for acknowledging and repairing racialized harm.

• Identify strategies for incorporating community and stakeholder engagement in the policy revision process.

We will work to provide ASL interpretation or other accommodations upon request.
Please contact theresa@subductionconsulting.com to submit accommodation requests by April 12, 2024.

Why does your organization need a racial harm policy?

Racial equity has become a strategic priority for many non-profit, for-profit and public sector organizations. Unfortunately, while these organizations are publishing racial equity statements and striving to hire more Black, Indigenous & People of Color (BIPOC) candidates, many Black & Brown employees at the very same organizations continue to experience:

• microaggressions,

• racial harassment,

• coded insults and discrimination,

• disparate treatment,

• disproportionate discipline,

• limited opportunities for advancement,

• and other forms of racialized harm.

All while navigating “white fragility” and “good intentions” within a white-dominant professional culture that wants to be seen as not-racist, but doesn’t actually understand how to be anti-racist.

Simply recruiting and hiring more “diverse” candidates does not necessarily create more equitable workplaces. In the worst cases, it is akin to integrating Black and Brown folks into a burning building where they will inevitably experience racialized harm.

Formal policies and real culture shifts are required to create workplaces and organizations that are capable of not only hiring BIPOC candidates, but also protecting, retaining & promoting their Black & Brown staff.

Only then can an organization truly benefit from the lived experiences, broadened perspectives and the new possibilities created when Black and Indigenous professionals are not just hired as diversity tokens, but truly given space to lead.

One step organizations can take to start creating a more racially equitable organizational culture is to create a formal Racial Harm Policy that documents specific steps to be taken towards repair and accountability when any form of racialized harm is experienced.

Who benefits?

Who is burdened?

Who is most impacted?

While many organizations have formal sexual harassment policies, few have racial harm policies, leaving incidents of racialized harm to be managed (or ignored) on a case-by-case basis.

When incidents of racial harm are addressed, they are often:

• met with defensiveness & dismissiveness or complete organizational paralysis amidst white guilt tsunamis.

• sucked into vicious cycles of victim-blaming, gaslighting and DARVOing that create additional harm.

• adjudicated by white HR professionals who do not recognize or understand the harm.

• seen as “opportunities” to aid the perpetrator in “their learning journey” in which the harmed party is expected to “educate” the perpetrator out of their harmful ways.

A formal policy, when implemented well, keeps the focus on repair for the most impacted and can provide:

• validity and recourse to those experiencing harm,

• step-by-step guidance for those managing the organizational response, and,

• clear expectations & consequences for those who have, knowingly or unknowingly, created racial harm.

The 8-collaborative work sessions in the 2024 Racial Equity Policy Intensive will guide participants in each step of:

1. Crafting a Racial Harm Policy tailored to their organizational context

2. Creating an implementation plan designed to provide the best possibility of successful adoption & effective use of the policy at their organization.

Schedule

Fridays, 9am-12pm PST
April 26 - June 14, 2024

Each intensive work session will include facilitated frameworks, expert guidance & coaching, and dedicated individual & group work time.

Participants should expect to dedicate an additional 3-4 hours of individual work per week in order to advance the policy development process within the intensive timeline.

SESSIONS WILL NOT BE RECORDED. This is to protect individual and organizational confidentiality, and encourage full participation. Participants should plan to attend live, as you would an in-person event. We understand there are many reasons participants may need to miss a session. We will share notes for each session and workgroups can help fill one another in when someone misses a session.

• You believe that Black Lives and Trans Lives matter.

• You are the primary decision-maker OR you have the full support of the primary decision-maker(s) at your organization.

• Your organization is committed to investing time/energy/resources in supporting you and your efforts to develop and implement a Racial Harm Policy.

• You agree to hold any/all information about fellow participants’ identities, stories, experiences, and organizations in the strictest confidentiality.

Equivalent private consulting services would likely run your organization $40,000 - $60,000, and would not build your internal organizational capacity for creating & implementing more racially equitable policies in the future. The Racial Equity Policy Intensive is a community offering designed to:

• make our services accessible to organizations with limited resources.

• reach more organizations than we can directly engage in our private client work.

• build more client and community capacity to lead equity work without consultants - we would genuinely LOVE to live in a world that no longer needs our equity consulting services!

We strongly encourage organizations to send teams of 3-4 employees to participate in the Racial Equity Policy Intensive. Ideal participants include Executive Directors, HR directors & specialists, equity officers & equity committee members, and any other staff person empowered by your organization to lead this work. This is also an excellent opportunity for senior staff to support & collaborate with junior staff in a meaningful professional & organizational development endeavor.

The individual fee includes:

• Registration for 1 individual participant

• Tailored guidance from facilitators during the intensive.

• 2 group follow-up sessions to share successes and troubleshoot challenges in the 6 months following the intensive.

The organizational participation fee includes:

• Registration for up-to 4 members of your organization.

• Tailored guidance from facilitators during the intensive.

• 2 group follow-up sessions to share successes and troubleshoot challenges.

• 2 private strategy sessions for your team to discuss your specific challenges, context and implementation strategy.

• Document review & email support through December 2024.