» Bias and Belonging
Bias and Belonging uses the science of implicit bias — and other mind science concepts — to help organizations reduce bias AND create a culture of belonging.
Bias and Belonging typically begins with a half-day or full-day training or orientation to implicit bias and other key mind science concepts. It’s then followed by coaching and capacity building support to help leaders and organizations practice the evidence-based strategies for bias reduction.
What people are saying
I’ve seen so many trainings. This was the best one I ever attended. What a gift.
Lorena Rivera
Assistant Program Director, Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS -- NY)
I cannot thank you enough for the session yesterday. It was so meaningful and so well done. Not only did it stimulate critical thought and conversation, but it also contributed to community building among Lab members. I can’t help but thinking what an important activity it would be as part of the 1st year orientation for all students.
Margaret K. O'Bryon
Executive Director, Policy Innovation Lab McCourt School of Public Policy Georgetown University
» Healing Circles
Healing Circles focus on transforming interpersonal and community relationships. And doing this as a prerequisite to larger systems change work. Circles create a space where all participants are seen, heard and feel a sense of belonging. The approach offers a glimpse of what it feels like to live in a world absent racialization, othering and a hierarchy of human value. While SPACEs’ work in this area has primarily focused on Racial Healing Circles, the organization has used circle work to advance healing and equity in other areas.
What people are saying
The emotional growth that can take place as a result of honest, open conversations about relationships, trust and community is remarkable. SPACEs’ workshop with our group opened the door for a great deal of healing and growth to take place in many of our lives.
La Donna Smith
DC Public Allies
These conversations were heavy, stressful, uncomfortable, and yet transformative. They allowed for all of us to show up as human, talk about our pain and begin the healing…
Washington DC Restorative Dialogue Participant
What is a Racial Healing Circle?
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation says the following about racial healing circles.
Generally, the racial healing process is composed of three parts:
Listening
Becoming open to one another’s perspectives and experiences
And allowing yourself to be impacted and/or be transformed by the experience
It begins with a group, typically no more than 30 people, coming together to share individual truths, history and stories. A healing circle’s purpose is to reaffirm the humanity in all of us. And it lifts up what unites us rather than what divides us, while discovering, respecting and honoring the unique experiences of each person. A trained racial healing practitioner, or a pair, facilitates the circles, leading the dialogues with a provocative question that can lead to generative conversations throughout the process.
Sessions consist of large group work and smaller breakout work between partners, called dyads, through half-day, full-day or longer experiences. The experience relies on intentional listening. It can be an emotional experience and even transformational for participants as it can unearth painful truths and conscious and unconscious biases. It can also raise the awareness, consciousness and empathy among those who participate. Racial healing practitioners are responsible for helping ensure that these circles are confidential, safe spaces for participants to have truthful conversations with one another.
Source
Restoring to Wholeness: Racial Healing for Ourselves, Our Relationships and Our Communities.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
» Facilitating Change
Facilitating Change uses evidence-based strategies coupled with creativity to design and facilitate meetings, retreats, planning processes, trainings and other gatherings that:
build and deepen community
embody equity, inclusion and belonging
incorporate the practices of design and creativity and
deliver impact/results
The belief undergirding Facilitating Change is that pressing challenges facing organizations and communities can be transformed if we learn to talk better, listen better and, ultimately, make better (and more inclusive and equitable) decisions.
What people are saying
Using humor and empathy, SPACEs was able to create a safe environment for our members to talk about really difficult issues: race, class, and the problems in our criminal justice system. In addition to facilitating the meeting, SPACEs also provided a training on implicit bias that helped create a common language for the work group members to use. The participants loved the training, and even included a recommendation in the resolution that we use the training within our union and within our communities. SPACEs also led trainings on implicit bias at our convention. The trainings were two of the best attended and highest rated workshops, and helped set the stage for our discussion of racial justice on the convention floor.
Naomi Walker
Former Assistant to the President, AFSCME
Dushaw Hockett is the first person I think of when I need a facilitator for a discussion on a difficult and controversial topic. He possesses a unique blend of gentleness, creativity, and power that sets him apart from others. His gentleness puts people at ease and assures them that they are in a safe place. His creativity engages them in deeply personal ways. And his power inspires them to venture beyond their comfort zone and to take intellectual and emotional risks that would have been previously unthinkable. Participants in discussions facilitated by Dushaw Hockett inevitably emerge with greater insights about themselves and about the topic and with a clearer sense of direction for the future.