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Embracing Dignity:
Race Equity, Privilege and our Shared Humanity

A Small Class Highly Interactive Depth-Training in Equity and Inclusion
Facilitated by Dan McKee and Tovi Scruggs-Hussein

Within this time of great uprising over racial inequity and oppression, there exists — alongside the pain, grief, righteous anger of this soulful struggle — an opportunity for more of us to wake up and take responsibility in creating healing and change through our willingness to deeply feel and learn, and our commitment to learn tools and build bridges.

This workshop series is for those who wish to embrace such a desire and commitment —to explore in a depth rarely available the learning and skill-building to be an awake and useful participant in this human experience of racial, gender and class equity; in the pursuit of shared dignity.

In this mixed race and gender cohort we’ll co-create a deep, safe and courageous learning community, where we can do our own deep work, support others in doing theirs, while building skills to be of greater service in our life, work and leadership.

Our initial focus will be on anti-racism /race-equity, and we’ll additionally explore male privilege and sexism, heterosexism, and classism.

Limited to only 22 participants, with six live sessions over eight weeks.

Areas of Exploration and Training

Guidelines, agreements and ground rules for normalizing conversations and the necessary commitments for creating a safe learning and change-space

The beauty and usefulness in our stories, as painful and as emotion-laden as they may be.

A deeper understanding of our own heritage and the understanding it holds in race and privilege work.

How this work lives in our emotions, nervous systems and our minds – and the need to understand and develop the practice to work with ourselves in each of these realms, at all times.

Recognizing, learning to work with the trauma of racism, sexism and heterosexism –our own and others.

Maps, Models and Skill-building

While the work of anti-racism and owning of white and male privilege is not an intellectual or academic pursuit, there are frameworks and tools critical to the understanding of and creating change at all levels in this work of equity and inclusion.
Research over the last 30 years has shown that equity awareness-training alone is not effective and sometimes even hurts the cause, and that people need tools and skill-building to make the work safe, and to last.

Opression
Understand the holistic tapestry of oppression, and what constitutes oppression differently than bias and prejudice.
Ism
What an “Ism” really is, and how an Ism goes only one-way. Understanding how in each Ism at play, one group is targeted with oppression and one is non-target, or privileged.

Ism
Identify
Understanding and learning to identify the levels that racism (and all isms) are playing out – personal, interpersonal, group, culture and systemic – and how to show up and work within each. Including what kind of change is possible at each level – and what change is not.
Behavior
Identifying and understanding the handful of dysfunctional and functional behavior categories practiced by all of us – critical in becoming awake and showing up “clean”.

Behavior
Intersectionality
Understanding the intersectional nature of different Isms, the impacts, and how to respond to.
Deconstructing
Understanding, deconstructing and de-centering whiteness and white supremacy.

Deconstructing

Points Of View

WP

White people in the program will deeply explore white privilege, fragility, defensiveness and how we use guilt and shame to avoid showing up.

For white people (WP), how to begin or move further along the continuum of Actor, Ally, and Accomplice, in anti-racism.

Using the ally mantra of Wake Up, Show Up and Clean up we’ll explore what it takes to stay awake and where and how to show up, and how to clean up the mistakes we’ll inevitably make as allies.

(and the same applies for men in the anti-sexism work we’ll address)

And even beyond becoming an Ally, what does it mean to become an anti-racist? An anti-sexist?

BIPOC

Black, Indigenous and People of Color in the program have opportunity to learn how internalized oppression lives in us, and may possibly have us participating in the dance and systems of racism not necessarily in our best interest, intentions and values.

BIPOC folks will explore ways to better care for and resource our selves and develop healthy boundaries and generative discernment practices of ally-ship.

BIPOC exploration of what is ours to participate in, show up and take leadership in, if aligned with one’s own personal purpose and values, and can be done in a way healthy and respectful of one’s self.

Sexism, Heterosexism, Classism:

While our primary focus will be on anti-racism and white privilege, a few weeks into our journey we’ll take some time to explore how the oppressions of sexism, heterosexism and classism can be understood, felt, treated and dismantled through the same framework and tools.

In addition to the work of anti-oppression we’ll learn the dynamics that play out with power, rank and privilege, often in more subtle and pervasive ways.

We’ll work with what arises inside our group experience and process and deconstruct for learning issues participants bring in from their lives and work. An invaluable opportunity, as it mirrors the work we may all step more deeply into in our lives. We’ll do this with great courage and safety.

Purpose, Leadership and Service:

This work will serve to connect racial and gender equity to each participant’s own personal sense of purpose, and how to integrate with integrity into their leadership and service to others. Again, this is a highly personal and custom training and learning space that we’ll co-create together.

Again, this is a highly personal and custom training and learning space that we’ll co-create together. We’ll each come out of the experience with clear knowledge of our place in the struggle for equity, and with personal commitments to guide us.

Logistics

All classes meet over Zoom video-conference.

There will be a minimal amount of slides and such; this is a unique highly interactive experience with large and small group dialogue and process. Materials for reference will be shared as needed.

A small amount of pre-work and between-session work will be included. Small sub-cohorts will be utilized at times for connection, support and peer-accountability in between sessions.

Allow 60 to 90 minutes a week in addition to the sessions.

Each participant will have an individual coaching session with Dan or Tovi in the process.

We’ll utilize a Slack communication platform for the course to share resources and learning. Following the completion of the series we’ll keep that open and moderated for another 45 days to allow integration and shared learning.

Download Flyer

PDF Download – Series Info Packet

Session dates & times:

September 24
October 1, 15, 22
November 12, 19
All sessions are on Thursday 9:00 am pacific time
First and last sessions are 3 hours, all others 2 hours

Cost:

Sliding scale of $1,300 to $1,800.
(if you or your organization can pay more please do so as it allows us to scholarship / gift leaders of lesser financial means with this work)

Enrollment:

If interested, contact Dan McKee [email protected] 503-754-7985

Facilitators

Tovi Scruggs-Hussein is a certified leadership development coach and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion facilitator and consultant, with 25 years of personal leadership in education and other organizations. She is also the co-founding teacher of Trauma-Informed Leadership with an Equity Lens at Mills College, has been trained by Brene Brown as a Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator, and is the visionary of Racial Healing Allies.

Dan McKee has worked for three decades in the fields of equity and leadership and human development. He has made it critical to continuously grow his own learning and facilitation of equity and inclusion work to achieve equitable and inclusive lives and organizations for Women, Black, Indigenous and People of Color, and those who identify as LGBTQ. He has developed in-depth skills in working with white privilege and male sexism. Since the 1990’s he has trained with the Dismantling Racism Institute, NAACP, Visions Equity Training and others.

Wherever possible, Dan and Tovi prefer to lead the equity and inclusion work of race, gender and class together as colleagues. In addition to their long tenure and vast experience in this work, working together as a female/male, black/white, facilitator team makes possible a greater range of learning, healing and impact across the mix of different people and ISMS that present themselves in these learning spaces.

Both are committed to the development of conscious, courageous and inclusive leaders and organizations that create places of equity and dignity for all.

In addition to in-depth training for individuals they also design and facilitate Equity, Inclusion, Diversity and Racial Justice programs for organizations committed to real change, and are available for consultation and mediation.

Tovi Scruggs-Hussein

Dan McKee

“This-was my favorite session. Tovi Scruggs-Hussein was an incredibly intelligent and genuine presenter who made me think about big ideas around engaging black families and practical steps to take to improve my practice in a short amount of time. The session flew by. I was really grateful that I picked it and will try my best to use the tools she provided in the upcoming year!”

“She (Tovi) had a great energy and presence. She made white participants feel like a part of the solution and not just part of the problem.”

“Tovi, Thank you very much for your training. I felt it was very helpful b/c you provided us with many practical tools we can use on a daily basis. What I liked the most about this training is that we got to
practice the tools you shared with us. The partner activity was difficult, but I appreciated it.”

” Dan and his fellow teachers led me through a series of portals that provided different perspectives on service in the world. No definitive answers, but honorable teaching on how to hold the questions in my life, breathing new inspiration and direction into an aging soul.”

” The magic comes from Dan and the master facilitators, whose wisdom and humor supports the transformation. As well as from sitting in circle with other seekers, whose ongoing curiosity and love supported my growth. These friendships and accountability circles have already been hugely impactful to maintaining my goals; an ongoing gift of this great program. I highly recommended this training.”

Embracing Dignity: Race Equity, Privilege and our Shared Humanity