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Racial Justice Task Force

Racial Healing Practice Challenge

Join our Racial Healing Practice Challenge

February 8th - April 2nd

We invite all members of the community to join the Eight-Week Racial Healing Practice Challenge. The design for this series is adapted from The Racial Healing Handbook developed by Dr. Anneliese A. Singh to provide practical reflection exercises to aid in the collective healing from the impacts of systemic racism in our society. As a Task Force we have named restorative and educational experiences as a priority, essential to build the collective capacity necessary to make meaningful change on campus. Providing opportunities for individuals to reflect on the impact of race and for groups to engage in brave conversations about their discoveries is an essential first step.

Eight-Week Racial Healing Practice Challenge: How it Works

Designed for small groups, but open to individual participants as well, community members are invited to register by Friday, February 5th. The steps below outline how to participate and details of the Challenge.

Form Your Group and Select a Moderator

Find a group. Groups can be as small or as large as you want but groups of 3-8 people are ideal. Groups can also be made up of anyone in the community in any combination (students and staff, staff and faculty, alumni and students, etc.) who agree to share in brave conversations with one another.

Then select one member of the group to be the moderator. The moderator is the point of contact for the group and will be responsible for registering the group, coordinating four group sessions and moderating group discussions using a discussion guide that will be provided. Individuals are also welcome to register without a group.

Four Themes Over Eight Weeks

The challenge will spend two weeks on four themes – Knowing Your Racial Identity (February 8th-19th), Exploring Internalized Racism (February 22nd-March 5th), Raising Race Consciousness (March 8th-19th), Collective Racial Healing (March 22nd-April 2nd).

Individual Emails Introduce Each Theme

All members of the group and individual participants will receive an email on the first Monday of a two week theme containing a short reading, reflection prompts, and a worksheet to be completed before the group meeting the following week. We encourage participants to take time to review the materials and to reflect on the questions asked before engaging in the group discussions.

Group Sessions To Share Reflections

The moderator of the group will receive an email on the first Friday of the two week theme which contains additional materials, discussions questions and a discussion guide. Moderators will schedule a convenient time for the group to move deeper into the theme for the week through brave dialogue with group members. Depending on the size of the group we recommend at least 1.5 – 2 hours for the group discussion. All group meetings should occur before the start of a new theme.

Community Share

All groups will be encouraged to complete a pulse survey at the end of each two week theme that shares the discoveries that emerge from the individual reflections and group discussions. These comments will be summarized and select comments will be shared with everyone participating in the challenge. 

At the end of the challenge we will host a community town hall event to share all of the reflections and encourage participants to continue their practice moving forward. All of the materials and resources distributed during the challenge will be archived and available for registered participants.

FAQ

Time Commitment

The Racial Healing Practice Challenge is designed to fit into a normal work week with minimal disruption to our daily tasks. Every other week, participants will receive a brief reading and reflection worksheet. The following week groups will meet with the aid of a discussion guide to discuss and share their experiences. We envision each week having about 1-2 hours of reading or discussions as part of the challenge. 

Role of the Moderator

The moderator acts as a group’s organizer for the challenge. We do not expect you to be a content expert or to feel responsible for challenging group members. The role of the moderator is to lead your discussion group by: 

  1. Scheduling a 45 to 90 minute meeting every other week to discuss each theme 
  2. Establishing and supporting norms for engagement at each meeting  
  3. Using the discussion questions to structure the time and to help ensure all voices are heard 

To help support your role, we will offer an optional Q&A to help orient yourself to the challenge and to get tips on holding meaningful discussions. Additionally, we will email you a sample structure prior to each meeting to support your role. 

Group or Individual

The challenge is designed to be done in groups; however, we are making the challenge open to individuals who wish to partake. We also have the option to sign-up as an individual and be put into a group for the challenge itself. These can be marked on the registration below. 

We look forward to joining in this collective experience with all of you.