TRAINING

ERACCE sponsors and hosts quarterly regional 2.5-day Understanding and Analyzing Systemic Racism workshops (see description below) in Kalamazoo, MI. To attend one of these workshops, please see our upcoming training details and dates.  This workshop, like all other workshops below, can be sponsored by and tailored for specific institutions.

A team consisting of one Person of Color and one White Person facilitates all ERACCE trainings, as our experience reveals that a multiracial training team creates a safe and more liberating space for participants. We also strive to maintain gender balance between co-facilitators when possible.

ERACCE utilizes group a facilitation/presentation approach that includes interactive discussion, small group discussions, multi-sensory engagement, reflection, and video.

All workshops are conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect, caring and safety, and are not based on confrontation, guilt, blame, or judgment.

The participant cap for all workshops is 45, however, in our experience 30-35 participants allows for a balanced and fully participatory experience for everyone.

Online workshops are offered with closed captioning available to all participants.

Workshops may be available bilingually - Spanish/English. Please inquire to learn more.

Workshops

Critical Cultural Competency Workshop – 1 day

This one-day workshop is designed to help participants create the spaces to be self-reflective about our cultural shaping as individuals and institutions, understand the power dynamics in society that impact us, develop the skills to interrupt old patterns and inequitable practices that limit access and exclude some people from our institutions, build trust and clear communication, and begin to understand how to make decisions based on multiple perspectives where all people can be heard and represented.

This workshop is for you if you’re interested in learning more about:

• The relationship between individuals and institutions,

• How we have all been culturally shaped, and

• How the power dynamics in society impact us;

And you’re interested in beginning to:

• Interrupt old (and sometimes unintentional) patterns and inequitable practices, and open access to all people in our institutions,

• Build trust and clear communication, and

• Make decisions with all people and perspectives represented.

View our event calendar for all upcoming Critical Cultural Competency Workshops. If your institution is interested in hosting a Critical Cultural Competency Workshop, please contact us. 

Introduction to Systemic Racism Workshop – 1 day

This one-day training is for those who understand multicultural diversity, but are not yet familiar with systemic racism. This workshop is helpful for beginning the development of a common language necessary for having productive conversations about race and systemic racism.

This workshop is for you if you have an understanding of:

• Multicultural diversity;

And you’re interested in learning more about:

• The relationship between individuals and institutions,

• A definition of racism,

• How institutions (often unintentionally) uphold systemic racism, and

• Introductory common language and analysis regarding systemic racism in the U.S. context;

And you’re interested in beginning to:

• Have a collective learning experience on institutional racism,

• Have productive conversations about race and systemic racism,

• Interrupt systemic racism and open access to all people in our institutions.

View our event calendar for all upcoming Introduction to Systemic Racism Workshops. If your institution is interested in hosting an Introduction to Systemic Racism Workshop, please contact us. 

Understanding & Analyzing Systemic Racism Workshop -- 2.5 days

The purpose of this ERACCE-hosted, Crossroads-facilitated training event is to provide an opportunity for the participants to develop shared language for talking effectively about systemic racism, explore an introductory analysis of systemic racism, and examine basic strategies for dismantling racism within their organization. This in-depth workshop includes discussion of the socio-historic development of institutional racism; the definition of racism, how racism and racist institutional values have been legally codified and institutionally perpetuated throughout U.S. history; how racism manifests on individual, cultural, and institutional levels; and how long-term organizing informed by antiracist values can lay the path toward institutional antiracist transformation.

This workshop is for you if you:

• Have attended a 1-day ERACCE workshop and want to learn more, and/or

• Have an understanding of systemic racism;

And you’re interested in learning more about:

• The relationship between individuals and institutions,

• A definition of racism,

• How institutions (often unintentionally) uphold systemic racism, and

• Common language and analysis regarding systemic racism in the U.S. context;

And you’re interested in beginning to:

• Have a collective learning experience on institutional racism,

• Have productive conversations about race and systemic racism,

• Interrupt systemic racism and open access to all people in our institutions.

View our event calendar for all upcoming Analyzing and Understanding Systemic Racism. If your institution is interested in hosting an Understanding & Analyzing Systemic Racism Workshop, please contact us. 

Introduction to Health Equity -- 1 day 

This one-day training is designed to help health professionals and community members alike develop the common language necessary to explore how discrimination and social identities impact health outcomes. It will address how racism, sexism, ableism, and other oppressions lead to negative health outcomes, and how discrimination enters the body to damage life and health. In this workshop, participants will examine the power dynamics that create and maintain racial, gender, and other disparities, participate in active learning exercises, participate in thoughtful and guided conversations, and assess the Multicultural Diversity of health institutions in Kalamazoo.

This workshop is for you if you are a:

• Health professional, and/or

• Community member;

And if you’re interested in learning more about:

• The common language necessary to explore how systemic discrimination and social identities impact health outcomes

• How racism, sexism, ableism, and other oppressions lead to negative health outcomes, and

• How discrimination enters the body to damage life and health;

And if you’re interested in beginning to:

• Examine power dynamics that create and maintain racial, gender, and other disparities,

• Participate in active learning exercises and thoughtful guided conversations, and

• Assess the multicultural diversity of health institutions in Kalamazoo.

View our event calendar for all upcoming Health Equity Workshops. If your institution is interested in hosting an Introduction to Health Equity Workshop, please contact us. 

Introduction to Food Justice Workshop -- 1 day

This one-day training is for those who want to explore their understanding of the connections between food justice, the food system, systemic racism and oppression, and antiracism.

This workshop is for you if you are a:

• Food professional, and/or

• Community member;

And if you are interested in learning more about:

• Shared language on food justice,

• The connections between food justice, the food system, systemic racism and oppression, and antiracism

And if you’re interested in beginning to:

• Create an antiracist food community and network;

• Interrupt old (and sometimes unintentional) patterns and inequitable practices, and open access to all people in our food institutions

View our event calendar for all upcoming Introduction to Food Justice Workshops. If your institution is interested in hosting an Introduction to Food Justice Workshop, please contact us. 

Introduction to Systemic Racism Contextualized for Christian Communities

The purpose of this antiracism workshop is to provide an introductory process for participants to explore and deepen their understanding of systemic racism through the context of Christianity. The goal of this contextualized workshop is to begin to investigate ways to more effectively dismantle and eliminate racism within participants’ institutions.

This workshop is for you if you have an understanding of:

• Multicultural diversity;

And you’re interested in learning more about:

• The relationship between individuals and institutions,

• A definition of racism,

• How religious institutions (often unintentionally) uphold systemic racism, and

• Introductory common language and analysis regarding systemic racism in the U.S. context;

And you’re interested in beginning to:

• Have a collective learning experience, contextualized for christian communities, on institutional racism,

• Have productive conversations about race and systemic racism,

• Interrupt systemic racism and open access to all people in our institutions.

View our event calendar for all upcoming Introduction to Systemic Racism Contextualized for Christian Communities Workshops. If your institution is interested in hosting an Introduction to Systemic Racism Contextualized for Christian Communities Workshops, please contact us. 

Social Group Identity, Systemic Power, and Conflict -- 1 day 

• Formerly named “Communication, Culture, and Conflict.”

The purpose of this one-day workshop is to provide an introductory process to explore the framework and impact of dominant culture. The aim is to build individual and collective capacity among participants to communicate and resolve conflict effectively and to understand our society's and institutions' dominant culture and its influence on us all.

This workshop is for you if you are interested in learning about:

• Exploring the framework and impact of dominant culture,

And if you’re interested in beginning to:

• Practice assertive communication

• Build individual and collective capacity among participants to communicate and resolve conflict effectively,

• Understand society’s and institutions’ dominant culture and its influence on us all.

View our event calendar for all upcoming Communication, Conflict, and Culture Workshops. If your institution is interested in hosting a Communication, Conflict, and Culture Workshop, please contact us. 

Anti-Bias, Antiracism Education Workshop (ABAR) -- 1 day

This one-day workshop provides an introductory process for developing greater understanding and awareness of how systemic racism and bias affect children and youth. This workshop will introduce the four goals of anti-bias and anti-racism (ABAR) education and look at some basic steps to bring these goals into classrooms and schools.

This workshops if for you if you are a:

• Education professional,

• Parent or guardian, and/or

• Community member;

This workshop is for you if you are interested in learning about:

• How systemic racism and bias affect children and youth

• The four goals of anti-bias and anti-racism (ABAR) education

And if you’re interested in beginning to:

• Create ABAR community and network, and

• Exercise some basic steps to bring ABAR goals into classrooms and schools

View our event calendar for all upcoming Introduction to Anti-bias, Antiracism Education Workshops. If your institution is interested in hosting an Anti-Bias, Antiracism Education Workshop, please contact us. 

Implicit Bias in Healthcare -- 1 day

This one-day training is designed to help healthcare professionals and community members alike understand and identify the ways in which implicit bias impacts access to and delivery of healthcare services. This workshop’s content can be tailored to specific fields within the healthcare system. This workshop meets LARA requirements for continuing education credits.

This workshop is for you if you are a:

• Healthcare professional, and/or

• Community member;

And if you are interested in learning more about:

• Current research on implicit bias in the access to and delivery of health care services

• Strategies to reduce disparities in the access to and delivery of health care services

• The relationship between dominant culture, race, and racism in the U.S.

And if you’re interested in beginning to:

• Examine power dynamics that create and maintain racial, gender, and other disparities,

• Assess the multicultural diversity of health institutions in Kalamazoo and the greater Michigan region.

View our event calendar for all upcoming Implicit Bias in Healthcare Workshops. If your institution is interested in hosting an Implicit Bias in Healthcare Workshop, please contact us. 

Team Development

Antiracism Transformation Team Development

Because racism is a systemic problem structured into institutions, the antidote needs to be structured into institutions as well. As such, ERACCE, in partnership with Crosssroads, offers an innovative process for creating Antiracism Transformation Teams (ARTTs) made up of institutional leaders, employees, and other stakeholders. This strategy is recommended for institutions committed to long-term transformation with a vision 15-30 years into the future. Teams receive training to organize inside their institutions, working to shape awareness of systemic racism and identifying internal barriers to change. They then create strategies to dismantle racism on all levels, help develop a new cultural identity based on antiracist values, and redesign structures that share power in ways accountable to People of Color and other oppressed groups. Once trained, ERACCE remains a committed partner and offers ongoing support to Teams. This includes assigning a lead organizer to answer questions and help with continued strategizing, offering advanced workshops to deepen critical organizing skills (see below), and connecting teams to regional and national networks of institutions doing movement work.

Creating an ARTT is an intentional process that requires the support and endorsement of institutional leadership in order to achieve full implementation of a Strategic Plan created by the ARTT. The time from initial inquiry to the beginning of Team Training varies widely from institution to institution, and can take anywhere from six months to two years. Please contact us for more details on the steps to creating an ARTT.

On-going Team Support & Capacity Building

In partnership with Crossroads, ERACCE is able to coordinate and host workshops designed to assist ARTTs in deepening their antiracism organizing and training skills within the context of their institution.