Building Bridges: Strengthening Leadership for Diverse Communities
The
National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) has stated that "...an
effective
diversity training program must teach conflict resolution skills;
effective
listening; how to manage dialogue across group lines and a rationale
for
creating a welcoming workplace that becomes everyone's responsibility."
In order to bring such training to our campus, NC State University has
established a Campus Affiliate Chapter,
through which we present the Building Bridges program on our campus.
Any member of the NC State University community may attend this workshop
free of charge. This includes all employees, students, and participants
of the Equal Opportunity Institute. Registration is taken on a first-come,
first-served basis. You may also request
a workshop for your group
of 15 or more participants.
Building
Bridges: Strengthening Leadership for Diverse Communities will allow you to gain
self-awareness,
stretch beyond your comfort zone, and gain new understanding. The
unique
workshop is interactive, experiential, and high energy. Participants
are
both teachers and learners.
The
full workshop lasts approximately six hours, during which time
participants
engage in small group and large group discussions. In this workshop,
you
will:
Celebrate
similarities and differences.
Identify
misinformation about other groups.
Identify
and heal from internalized oppression.
Claim
pride in your own group identities.
Gain
empowerment by learning ways to challenge bigoted comments and
actions.
Controversial Issues Model
NCBI has
developed a model for conflict resolution. This model teaches participants
skills to handle tough interpersonal and intergroup conflicts. Workshops
examine controversial issues through a positive process. Participants
learn to reframe controversial issues into a context where all parties
are able to work toward a common solution. This model is taught in the
Building Bridges: Leading Diverse Groups Through Conflict workshop.
These workshops were developed by the National Coalition Building Institute
(NCBI) and are presented by trained NC State's
NCBI Team of Facilitators.
Interested in a Workshop Just for Your Group?
NC State University departments and organizations
may request an NCBI workshop for groups of 15 or more by submitting
our online NCBI Workshop Request Form or contacting Beverly Jones Williams, 919-513-3836.
Please make your request at least 30 days in advance of the preferred
date of the workshop.
Requests for Accommodations
Individuals with disabilities who have requests for accommodations
may contact: Gloria Hunt, 919-513-1151 (voice),
919-515-9617 (tty) or 919-513-1428 (fax). Requests must be made at least
2 weeks prior to your workshop.
Comments
from Participants
The following are comments from participant
evaluations following the NCBI Building Bridges: Strengthening Leadership
for Diverse Communities Workshop at NC State University:
·
“Good team building and good for comfort level among peers.”
· “Awareness of “social records” is important.”
· “Gave people a chance to voice issues when they otherwise
may not have the opportunity.”
· “The activities were interesting, especially the First
Thoughts piece.”
· “Very valuable course. I feel I can open up to people
more effectively now.”
· “Presenters really made it comfortable to speak freely
and helped bring issues out.”
· “This workshop should be mandatory for all NC State workers.”
· “Loved personal testimonies.”
· “Great opportunity to practice effective techniques!
Thanks.”
· “I enjoyed this so much and I will definitely recommend
this to everyone.”
· “The workshop most definitely increased my knowledge
regarding diversity.”
· “I feel this is very educational and something that would
open others' eyes to the world (people
around them).”
· “I became more aware of stereotypes, prejudices and I
know how to approach them.”
· “Excellent training!!!”
· “I felt welcomed.”
· “I liked how we were able to share anything and feel
comfortable about it.”
· “This is a great way to promote awareness.”
· “Highly recommend this workshop, and I wish more of my
friends were here.”
· “The workshop opens ones eyes to more diversity.”
· “This was a great workshop and I learned so much!”
· “The workshop increased my knowledge most on the impact
of discrimination.”
· “I enjoyed all the interactive parts.”
· “Great course!”
· “The instructors were outstanding!”
· “The role plays were fun and an interactive way of learning.”
· “Thank you!”
· “Great workshop - I enjoyed the activities and interaction
with people in class.”
· “This workshop helped me to realize many new ways to
help bring people together.”
· “The facilitators were great and they were open and they
made it a comfortable environment to discuss race issues.”
· “I am more aware of my own prejudices and am able to
confront these attitudes in a productive manner.”
NCBI
and Campus Affiliate Chapters
The
National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI)
has conducted programs on hundreds of college and university campuses
across
North American and the Pacific. They have launched campus
affiliate chapters on sixty campuses where faculty, students, and
administrators
have made an institutional commitment to using NCBI programs as a
mechanism
to provide an ongoing response to discrimination, oppression and
handling
controversial issues. More recently, the Carolina
Diversity Training Coalition was also formed.
An
NCBI campus affiliate is made up of a team of students, faculty and
staff
from various disciplines who provide a powerful leadership resource for
the campus. The team provides pro-active workshops to improve the
overall
campus climate for diversity by building a more inclusive environment
and
teaches skills in how to effectively shift prejudicial attitudes and be
powerful allies for one another. The team is also trained to intervene
when tough intergroup conflict arises on the campus or between the
campus
and the community.
An
NCBI affiliate is launched with a 3-day "Train-the-Trainer Seminar." In
this seminar, participants learn how to lead the award-winning NCBI
Prejudice
Reduction Workshop and learn the NCBI Controversial Issue Process.
Following
this seminar, a campus affiliate director is selected in consultation
with
the institution. The person serves as the liaison with the NCBI
National
Office and provides the leadership for the campus team. The team
director
receives monthly telephone support and supervision from the NCBI Campus
Program Director.
NC State University launched its campus affiliate in March 2001. Thirty-three
NC State University team members were trained to facilitate the NCBI
Prejudice Reduction Workshop on our campus. Our campus Director is Beverly Jones Williams, 919-513-3836.
Our campus Assistant Director is Valerie Ball, 919-513-6520.
NCBI
Facilitators at NC State
About the 3-Day Train-the-Trainer
Seminar
The
NCBI 3-Day Train-the-Trainer Seminar prepares each participant to lead
2 unique programs. Participants learn how to lead the award-winning
NCBI
Prejudice Reduction Workshop ("Building
Bridges").
The Prejudice Reduction Workshop is a one-day workshop that has been
effectively
implemented in hundreds of schools, universities, corporations,
community
groups, churches and synagogues around the world. At the
Train-the-Trainer
Seminar, participants meet in small learning groups where they practice
leading different components of the model.
In
addition to learning how to lead the NCBI Prejudice Reduction Workshop,
participants learn how to lead the NCBI Controversial Issue Process.
The
Controversial Issue Process helps individuals and groups reframe heated
emotional/political debates by learning how to take the heartfelt
concerns
of each side into account.
NCBI's
approach of combining emotional healing work with concrete skill
training
enables participants to learn quickly in a safe environment that
supports
individual learning. The diversity among the participants provides a
powerful
training experience.
NC
State Trainers/Facilitators
NC State faculty, staff, and students interested in becoming NCBI
Facilitators must meet the following obligations:
Co-facilitate three "Building Bridges" workshops per year for campus
units and groups.
Attend approximately one NCBI Team meeting per month.
Train-the-Trainer
Seminar at NC State
Our NCBI Team has joined the Carolina Coalition, which sponsors a Train-the-Trainer
seminar each September.
If you would like to be notified of future train-the trainer opportunities,
contact Beverly Jones Williams,
919-513-3836.
NC
State's NCBI Team of Facilitators
The
following are our campus team members:
Ball, Valerie, College of Veterinary Medicine* - Assistant Affiliate
Director
Tongsri, Joy, Park Scholarships* - Secretary
Branker,
Cheryl, Disability Services Office
Brown, Edward, College of Textiles
Callanan, Roger, Undergraduate Academic Programs
Candia, Bonnie, University Housing
Cannedy, Allen, College of Veterinary Medicine*
Circosta,
Amy, Office for Equal Opportunity
Clarke,
Sherlonda, University Housing*
Clift,
Charles, College of Veterinary Medicine
Conoly, Sandra, Educational Talent Search
Cowen,
Peter, College of Veterinary Medicine*
Donovon, Johanna, College of Veterinary Medicine
Duhart, Heather, First Year College
Ebron, Ebony, University Housing
Grantham, Patricia, Facilities Operations
Gumpertz,
Marcia, Diversity & African American Affairs
Hall-Campbell, Niambi, Psychology
Harrison, Aliana, University Housing
Hope, Shariva, Campus Activities
Horton, Johanna, University Housing
Howard, Janet, Office for Equal Opportunity*
Kee, Paris, University Housing
LaBarbera,
Lisa, University Housing
McClure, Bonita, Social Work
Morrison,
Hassel, University Housing*
Robinson, Erin, Office of Advising Support, Information and Services
Swallow, Bill, Statistics
Talley, Marie, Foundations Accounting
Taylor, Betsy, College of Veterinary Medicine
Wallace, Jordan, University Housing
Weeden, Laci, Women's Center
Williams, Beverly, Office for Equal Opportunity*
Willis, TJ, Campus Activities
Woodard, Joanne, Office for Equal Opportunity
Ziga, Kathy, First
Year College
Asterisk
(*) indicates member of NC State's NCBI Executive Leadership Team.
NCBI's
Operational Assumptions
To train teams of peer leaders is the most effective way to empower
people
to take leadership in reducing racism.
Often
the greatest obstacle to taking action to address racism and other
forms
of discrimination is the sense that individual initiatives have a
minimal
effect in light of the enormity of the problem. NCBI's strategy to
overcome
this key obstacle is to train a corps of employees who reclaim power
by leading concrete, replicable prejudice reduction workshops in
a variety of work settings.
Programs to welcome diversity require an ongoing institutional
effort.
Too
often the only systemwide effort to address diversity issues are
briefings
concerning civil rights statutes. More needs to be done. The most
effective
training teams include the participation of all employees, from the
most
senior administrator to the most recent recruit.
The establishment
of proactive training programs that build strong intergroup
relations on are more effective than programs that respond to specific
incidents of racism or crises.
There
is a tendency for organizations to launch prejudice reduction programs
only following a painful series of racial incidents. Although this
response
is understandable and at times appropriate, one may be left with
the false
impression that the primary goal of this work is to curtail overt
acts of bigotry. An effective prejudice reduction program, however,
must be much more than crisis intervention. The peer training model
offers a constructive
preventive alternative to crisis intervention.
Programs that welcome diversity need to include all of the visible
and invisible differences found in the workplace [and classroom].
Racism in the U.S., particularly in regard to African-Americans,
must always be
a primary focus of any prejudice reduction program. In addition,
a major
institutional effort to welcome diversity should be inclusive of
the many
visible and invisible differences among employees [and students],
including
nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious
affiliation,
physical challenges, age, and socioeconomic class.
One
of the more controversial issues in prejudice reduction work is whether
to address a range of discrimination issues or to focus solely on
racism.
The concern of many anti-racism activists is that the inclusion of
other
issues can be used as a convenient tactic to avoid the more difficult
work
on racism. NCBI has found that the effectiveness of anti-racism work
is actually enhanced by including a discussion of other institutionalized
forms of discrimination.
Prejudice reduction programs that are based on guilt, moralizing,
or condemnation
often rigidify prejudicial attitudes.
A
great challenge in doing anti-racism work is avoiding two extremes;
if people are targeted and required to label themselves as racists,
sexists,
etc., they can quickly become defensive and thereby lost to the work;
if
the programs are too comfortable, the hard issues never get raised
and the racism goes unchallenged. NCBI's prejudice reduction workshop
model strives for a proper balance by assisting participants to take
risks and
to raise tough issues without violating their own sense of integrity
and
self-worth.
Anti-racism programs are most effectively conducted with a hopeful,
upbeat,
sometimes even raucous tone.
The
effects of discrimination are serious, and therefore many mistakenly
assume
that effective anti-racism work requires a deadly serious approach.
In fact, the most empowering NCBI programs left eager to fight against
institutionalized
racism, have always included boisterous cheering and riotous laughter
alongside
more sober moments.
The
text above was taken chiefly from "Peer Training Strategies for
Welcoming
Diversity" (Cherie R. Brown and George J. Mazza, 1991), the NCBI
website, and other NCBI materials.