Learning and Development Toolkit

The purpose of the Core Curriculum (“Big Three”) diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) trainings is to build staff members’ foundational knowledge around key concepts including social identities, microaggressions and systems of privilege and oppression. The majority of this training series focuses on the “me.” This foundational knowledge will serve as critical building blocks in staff members’ DEI toolkits and abilities to engage with one another in DEI conversations with shared understanding, language and learning edges.

Social Identities 101

The Social Identities 101 training:

• Explores the difference between personal and social identities
• Offers opportunities for participants to identify their own social identities and reflect on their salience (or lack thereof) in multiple contexts
• Invites participants to learn about group terminology
• Begins connecting individual social identities to larger systems

systems of privilege and oppression

The System of Privilege and Oppression training:

• Refreshes previous connections between social identities and social systems from Social Identities 101 training
• Differentiates between “systematic” and “systemic”
• Debunks the “stuck place” of privilege
• Names interlocking, interdependent nature of all systems (4 Is)
• Explores the elementary difference between “positionality” and “intersectionality” (intersectionality also its own workshop)
• Surfaces the significance of intra- and inter-group dynamics
• Centers the importance of “spheres of influence”

Microaggressions 101  

The Microaggressions training:

• Provides definitions and frameworks for understanding microaggression types
• Invites participants to reflect on previous examples of microaggressions in their personal and professional lives and their role in those situations
• Presents possible intervention strategies
• Offers opportunities to practice strategies and address/disrupt microaggressions through scenario-based role playing

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are staff-led spaces for shared learning, community building and service and retention. These groups typically meet on a monthly basis or based on the schedules and availability of facilitators.