Community Conversations
Who we are
Community Conversations is an initiative of the Midland Area Cultural Awareness Coalition. Midland County’s We Hear You diversity, equity, and inclusion community assessment identified a need for greater visibility of local diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice efforts and noted strong support for local efforts such as the Community Conversations initiative.
Community Conversations is part of sustained and ongoing actions for greater inclusion, equity, and justice to help advance our community’s vision of “together, forward, bold: an exceptional place where everyone thrives.”
Events
Community Conversations is comprised of five two-hour, in-person sessions.
Sessions are held on the fourth Tuesday of the month at the Midland Area Community Foundation from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
One series will be offered in 2024. The dates are below:
April 23, May 28, June 25, July 23, and August 27, 2024
For more information, please email info@midlandfoundation.org
Outcomes
● Skill development. Participants will learn, develop, and practice important DEIJ skills.
● Actions. Participants will develop an action plan to apply their learning across personal and professional levels.
● Community Conversations will help develop and sustain an environment that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice where everyone is respected, welcomed, valued, and supported; where everyone belongs and can reach their full potential.
● Community Conversations will help develop a growing cohort or network of people to expand, spread, and extend DEIJ work and share their experiences and skills to additional organizations and communities.
Upon completing five sessions participants will be able to:
● Understand power, influence, and privilege along a personal/structural spectrum and construct an action plan to apply their learning to disrupt biased practices and systems of inequity and injustice along this spectrum, in their personal and professional roles, and within personal and professional networks and organizations.
● Sessions 1-4 will focus on content, reflection, and practice along personal to systemic/structural/institutional.
● Session 5 will focus on collaboration and application.
Continuing the Conversation Sessions
Participants from previous Community Conversations sessions, current Community Conversations participants, and trained Community Conversations facilitators are invited to participate in monthly, hour-long virtual ‘Continuing the Conversation’ Sessions. These virtual sessions are designed to review previous workshop content, provide a less formal opportunity for open discussion and reflection, sustain an environment that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging and provide opportunities to practice, reflect, and grow.
Sessions occur on the third Wednesday of the month, from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Community Conversation DEIJB Facilitators Training
Many Community Conversations training participants lead DEIJB efforts in their personal and professional networks. To support these efforts, we have created a series of four-hour trainings, which build knowledge and skills to facilitate DEIJB trainings, including the Community Conversations workshops, and lead DEIJB efforts in the workplace. These stand-alone sessions can be attended independently or as an action series, depending on the participant’s availability. Please continue to visit this webpage for new topics and additional session offerings.
The DEIJB Facilitators’ Training is in-person and on the second and fourth Thursdays from 4 – 6 p.m. at the Midland Area Community Foundation.
Session I: Building Community
As a DEIJB facilitator/leader, you are charged with cultivating a community of belonging and modeling impactful practices. This training introduces self-reflection and community-building activities and examines barriers hindering belonging in training sessions and organizations.
February 8 and 22, 2024
Session II: Multipartiality
Often, during the facilitation of DEIJB trainings, workshops, or organizational meetings, specifically those addressing challenging and uncomfortable topics, an impartial or neutral stance is adopted. But there is another option. In this session, participants will examine multipartiality as a facilitation strategy for addressing issues of inequity and justice and engaging in critical thinking and discussion.
March 7 and 21, 2024
For more information or to register for an upcoming session, please email info@midlandfoundation.org
Community Conversations – Organization Partnership
Through this initiative, Community Conversations can provide the training designed to meet the specific needs of organizations. Cost is $3500 and includes the following:
1 – Community Conversations 10-hour Training
Upon completing Community Conversations, participants will better understand diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging within a personal/structural context and construct an action plan to apply their learning in their personal and professional roles, and within personal and professional networks and organizations. Community conversations is comprised of five, two-hour, in-person sessions.
Access to Continuing the Conversation sessions – Monthly
Participants from previous Community Conversations sessions, current Community Conversations participants, and trained Community Conversations facilitators are invited to participate in monthly, hour-long virtual ‘Continuing the Conversation’ sessions. These virtual sessions are designed to review previous workshop content, provide a less formal opportunity for open discussion and reflection, sustain an environment that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging and provide opportunities to practice, reflect, and grow.
Sessions occur on the third Wednesday of the month, from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
1 – Community Conversation Facilitators Training
A key element to the Community Conversations and Continuing the Conversation sessions are the facilitators. Facilitators attend a four-hours training which builds knowledge and skills to facilitate DEIJ trainings, including the Community Conversations workshops.
10 hours of Implementation Consultation
For more information on please email: info@midlandfoundation.org