Organizing Institutional Change: Anti-Racism Workshop for Administrators

Organizing Institutional Change:  Anti-Racism Workshop for Administrators

Presenters - Jessica Valzquez Torres and Joy Bailey, Crossroad Organizing and Training

THIS WORKSHOP IS DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR HIGHER EDUCATION DEANS.

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce stakeholders to the idea that oppression, and in particular, racism is not only a matter of individual prejudice but a systemic, institutional problem of power, which requires structural intervention to dismantle. It is meant to provide a courageous space for a good conversation about racism and power. Participants will be exposed to a shared definition of systemic racism. A rationale will be explored for developing a fuller analysis of racism, including understanding its historic and legal roots and contemporary functioning. Participants will be introduced to racism as a systemic and structural problem that:

   •Shapes individual attitudes and actions in ways that pull people into complicity with dominant cultural norms

   •Impacts institutional norms and the ability of institutions to fully and appropriately serve all constituents

   •Creates institutional mono-culture that makes it difficult for People of Color, immigrants and refugees to access   and receive services in culturally sensitive and appropriate ways

   •A brief overview of Crossroads’ institutional organizing methodology will be introduced as one strategy that is     being used in institutions nationwide to dismantle institutional racism and transform institutions.

Because Crossroads understands part of its role to be raising questions as opposed to providing answers, we design our workshops around the exploration of how an antiracist lens applies to your institution. For example:

  •How does the staff at your institution participate in the maintenance of a dominant cultural power arrangement that oppresses inovert and covert ways those who do not fit its definitions of what is “normal and standard” regardless of its intentions?

   •How can your institution develop practices that interrupt their complicity in systemic oppression?

This workshop also provides your institution a way to assess the interest of specific people in the organization who have an “appetite” for doing longer workshops and who may also want to be involved in the long--term strategic work of dismantling institutional racism.

THIS PARTICULAR WORKSHOP IS INTENDED SPECIFICALLY FOR HIGHER EDUCATION DEANS.