View the meeting slides here: Diversity Champions 4.17.18

Diversity Champions:

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week in Ballard Hall and online via Zoom. To those of you with Outdoor School, UABC and other conflicting meetings, THANK YOU for staying engaged by reading Chapters 4 & 5 of our CCAR Field Guide book and this blog recap and engaging with other champions who attended the session. The outline below provides a brief summary of the session. It does not capture the richness of engaging with each other and the deep conversations we are having at these meetings, so, my recommendation is to NOT MISS THESE MEETINGS! They are crucial for us as a team and like gold for your souls. If you had to miss a session or two, do not worry (too much), find a champion and keep up with your reading and your own growth. We need every single one of you to move this conversation forward.

Welcome!
• Maria Chavez-Haroldson joined us a guest facilitator. Maria has been participating on our Diversity Champions team since the Fall and is the owner of Culturally Responsive Solutions, a consultant business focusing on equity, diversity, and inclusion and organizational development. Maria is currently a Ph.D. candidate with the goal of completing her studies in Social Justice Leadership and Change in 2018. Her research topic is the lived experience of women of color working as Chief Diversity Officers (or equivalent) in Academia. She recently served as the Vice President of Metropolitan Group, a social change agency in Portland, and has served as an Administrative Director in state government. Maria is a first-generation immigrant, a mother and a grandmother and we were honored to have her join us and share from her valuable perspective.

Homework Activity review
After our last session, we asked you to journal privately on the following topic: Think of an experience when your racial consciousness was developed. Name and reflect on the discovery, then trace it through the stages outlined in the reading. We agreed to keep our own journals from now on. Do not worry, you will never be asked to share your insight if you are not comfortable. This journey is a gift to yourself and will change the way you see the world.
• Where were you on the CCAR compass as you were journaling about your experience? Remember that the CCAR framework works with the whole self and asks us to always check in with “where we are on the compass.”
Quick hint: If you are always in the same quadrant, like the thinking quadrant, something may be off. Please check in with me if you are unsure of how to check in with the compass.

Chapters 4 & 5:
During this session, our compass moderator, Ana Gomez, helped us to ensure that we kept our reflections and conversations focused on our personal, local and immediate experiences. This, and the content of Chapters 4 & 5, shaped our conversation into these main areas:
• Why is it so difficult to have conversations about race?
• Knowing what you know and don’t know (refer to slide 3)
• Realizing how we have been socialized to think about race and creating a practice to lean in the conversation (this is what being a Diversity Champion is all about!)
• Letting go of your ego and not being afraid to make mistakes when interacting with others. Just as important is forgiving others for their mistakes, which will help us all stay as open as possible to courageous conversations. It is less about competency than a way of being. Stay engaged, stay curious about your own thinking and ask brave questions to others and most importantly, to yourself.

Other Resources: If you have an ONID account, you can make use of Kanopy to watch documentaries, such as Race – The Power of an Illusion, and dive deeper into the crucial importance of holding these conversations. Follow this link for information on how to access Kanopy: https://guides.library.oregonstate.edu/kanopy 

See you on May 15 for our next meeting!
Homework: Journal on the following topic and share some of your thoughts with another Champion. Yes, this journal of yours will only grow! You are working on your own racial autobiography, which is like discovering where you are really from (how cool is that?).
Topic: From 1 – 100%, how much of my life is impacted by my race?

Reading: Please read Chapters 6 & 7 before our next meeting.

Thank you again,

Ana Lu

Diversity Champions:

Thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday in Ballard Hall and online via Zoom. To those of you with 4-H, Open Campus and other conflicting meetings, THANK YOU for staying engaged by reading Chapter 3 of the book, this blog recap and engaging with other champions that attended the session. We started Tuesday’s session by using the homework assignment from our last meeting to talk about how important passion is to our work as Diversity Champions and then spent the rest of the meeting discussing Chapter Three of our CCAR Field Guide. The outline below provides a brief summary of the session.

Welcome and Introductions:
• For this meeting, we were joined by Marcianne Koetje, Equity and ELL coordinator for the Corvallis School District, who has been participating on our Diversity Champions team since our kick-off event at the Extension Annual Conference. Marcianne has been in education for over 15 years and has served as teacher, principal and coach in dual language schools. She grew up in Caracas, Venezuela and is passionate about the advocacy and empowerment of communities. Marcianne is currently a PhD student in the LEEP (Language Equity and Education Policy) program here at OSU.
• Reminder: Check in with your Courageous Conversations Compass during these conversations.
– If you are working in pairs or with a smaller group of Champions, consider designating one person to be the “compass enforcer.”
– Ana Gomez played this role during our meeting and reminded us that checking in with the compass will help us stay focused on our personal, local and immediate racial context. This is crucial to our Courageous Conversations practice because this is work from the inside out.
– The compass can be found on Page 29 of your Field Guide books. For practice, try making a copy and posting it in your office so you can check in with yourself throughout the day.

Homework Activity Review (Pg 31-33):
• We introduced the concept of Courageous Conversation as Utilizing the Protocol, (which is the 4 agreements, 6 conditions, and compass), to engage, sustain, and deepen interracial dialogue in order to examine schooling and improve student achievement.
• Defined “passion” as it relates to equity work: Without your passion, this work does not happen. Our Field Guide book and many of our team members describe passion as the cornerstone and driver of this work.
– What does passion mean to you? Did the homework assignment help clarify this for you?
– Compass check: What quadrants where you in when you completed last session’s homework?

Chapter Three:
This session was an open conversation with many of our team members sharing personal stories of success or discomfort in their different experiences. We encourage you to connect with other Champions to reflect on what you learned in Chapter Three: Why Race?
• We opened the conversation by asking, how have we been conditioned to think about race?
• We defined the following terms:
– Race: The socially constructed meaning attached to a variety of physical attributes, including, but not limited to skin and eye color, hair texture and bone structures. Often, the definition of race is tailored to benefit different purposes thorough history.
– Racism: The belief that one set of these physical characteristics is superior to another set.
– Racist: Any person who subscribes to the belief above and perpetuates them intentionally or unconsciously.
– Please note that these definitions are not exclusive or extensive. Refer to chapter 3 for further reference.
• A Success Story: The needs of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work are so great that it can be easy to get discouraged or feel like we could never make a difference. That is one reason why we are excited to share this story of success from our guest facilitator, Marcianne.
Five years ago, the graduation rates of Corvallis School District Latinx students were hovering around 50%. The district knew it needed a change and began sending teachers and staff to the Courageous Conversations Beyond Diversity workshops. These workshops, along with efforts to connect with families and create culturally relevant classrooms and curriculum, had amazing results that were felt throughout the community. Currently, over 500 teachers and staff have gone through the Beyond Diversity workshop and graduation rates for Latinx students are now above 80%! So please don’t lose heart, Diversity Champions. The passion you have makes a difference in your communities every day.

We talked about how relevant the Courageous Conversations protocol has been in creating a common language about race and allowing us to talk about it and its impact in education. Perhaps it is required to think, feel, believe and act differently to see different results like this (a close in the racial achievement gap).

See you on April 17 for our next meeting!
Homework: Journal on the following topic (this can be kept private, and you will not be asked to share if you are not comfortable):
Topic: Think of an experience when your racial consciousness was developed. Name and reflect on the discovery, then trace it through the stages outlined in the reading.
Reading: Please read Chapters 4 and 5 before this meeting.

Thank you again,

Ana Lu

View the meeting slides here: Diversity Champions Slides 2.20

Dear Champions,

Thank you to those of you who joined us on Tuesday for our first Courageous Conversations About Race meeting. For those of you who had scheduling conflicts, this blog post provides a brief summary of Tuesday’s session. We appreciate you taking ownership of your own learning and encourage you to find others in your office to connect with about the content. Please refer to the link at the top of the page to access the meeting slides. To help us connect with each other, we have posted our membership list on our website: 2017-18 Membership list.

Welcome and Overview:
• We appreciate your dedication to this important work and want to stress that this first stage will be a personal journey with much self-reflection. However, as Diversity Champions and catalysts for institutional change, we need to first understand how race and culture impact everyone’s lives.
• We read Pablo Vega´s poem (refer to Slide 2) and used it to remember why we do this work: We do it for young people just like Pablo.

Review of Courageous Conversations Protocol (refer to Slide 3):
• The 4 Agreements: With practice you can utilize these agreements in many aspects of your life. They will be especially important to our work as Diversity Champions.
• Using The Compass, please think about which quadrant(s) you were in as you read the poem from Slide 2.
• Review the 6 Agreements. Which Agreement(s) do you think may present a challenge for you?

We started to establish our working definition of race:
• We talked about race as a social construct, however we will take a deeper dive into this in Chapter 3 (that´s one reason you should not miss our next Meeting on March 20th!)

We shared some of our worries and concerns:
• These conversations can be challenging because many of us are afraid to speak up or ask questions in fear of saying the “wrong thing.” In our meetings, we want to create a safe space that helps lessen these fears and encourages communication.
• This work can be emotionally draining, so we need to practice self-care to avoid burning out.
• Often there is no “instant gratification” for this type of work. We are fighting the long fight and that can be exhausting.
• What are some of your fears about taking on this heavy, but rewarding work?

Homework for March 20 meeting:
Please refer to Slide 6 for the reading and activity and to our membership list to find Champions to partner with. The activity is presented as a group activity, but you are welcome to work in pairs.

We are looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday, March 20th at 9:30 a.m. to explore Chapter 3 “Why Race”. Until then, I invite you stay engaged in this process by practicing the Four Agreements in all aspects of your life. You will see how this new understanding of the world quickly and positively effects your personal, local and immediate lives.

All my best,

Ana Lu