Published by Neon CRM on July 26, 2017, here. There’s a gender revolution going on. Young people are busting out of gender boxes and expressing who they are in many ways. Growing numbers of children, youth, and adults are identifying as transgender. Important progress has been made as the result of many years of struggle, and the work of many leaders and activists, both past and present. This includes growing awareness that gender isn’t...
A School District That’s Starting Gender Diversity Conversations Early
Published on Huffington Post here. It’s a Tuesday after school and 25 elementary school personnel are gathered at the Office of School Health of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). They are there to learn about gender diversity and how to bring this conversation into the elementary schools. The District is breaking new ground by giving educators tools and resources to make their classrooms, curriculum, and health services...
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work: Eight Questions for Building Readiness and Steering Clear of Pitfalls
Diversity, equity, and inclusion work can transform organizations and help them do their work more effectively. This work can be most successful when people are fully invested and have a good idea what is involved. Without this, organizations sometimes set themselves up for failure and bring consultants in with unrealistic expectations. If you are thinking of launching into work around diversity, equity, and inclusion, this post may help you...
Undoing Patterns of Privilege as We Learn
In my work with organizations around race, power and privilege, I’ve noticed a pattern. Sometimes we anticipate defensiveness on the part of white people in the group and plan our sessions to accommodate this defensiveness. I’ve begun correcting this pattern and setting goals more proactively. At the same time, I have become hyper aware that a primary reasons we’re doing this work is that people of color may feel unsafe,...
Seeing and Naming Racism in Nonprofit and Public Organizations
In light of the unrelenting and vicious assaults on the Black community, and in response to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, I have asked myself what more I can do to challenge racism, particularly anti-Black racism. One thing I am doing is challenging myself to be more aware and forthright in noticing and speaking out about the racism I see when I work with non-profit and public organizations. This post is an effort to name those things that...
