This workshop is designed to help participants acknowledge and challenge their perspectives about race and consistently choose to take actions that promote mutual understanding, appreciation and respect for all.

Together, through the creation of a safe container for reflection and interaction, participants share how their racial perceptions and views were shaped in their formative years and become aware of the lived experiences of People of Color. You will begin to develop the tools to more skilfully open up race conversations in mixed race company and through personal conversation in pairs, trios and small groups, you will tap into the hunger that exists in our world for genuine cross-race relationships.

Upon completion of the workshop, you will be able to:

• Challenge your hidden assumptions around race
• Recognize differences between the everyday experiences of Whites and People of Color
• With a beginner’s mind, experience genuine conversations about race in mixed race company
• Demonstrate the courage to stay curious instead of being careful — to say what you are really thinking, and ask what you are really wondering
• Understand what it means to be yourself in racially mixed groups both professionally and personally
• Explore choicepoints that exist in your daily life to intentionally promote mutual understanding, awareness, and respect

Module One: Race in America: A historical look at the cycle of race oppression and resistance to it, and how it impacts and frames the America we live in.

Module Two: Race in Your Formative Years:  A personal journey through your story about race and how it shaped your childhood, youth, and adulthood.

Module Three:  Race in Mixed Company:  Hands-on practice and exercises, including how to initiate, facilitate, and participate authentically in your interactions about race and be heard by others.

Module Four: Moving Awareness to Action:  How to see choicepoints and foster a new normal, one conversation at a time.  Explore choice points in your work and home life and intentionally promote awareness, appreciation and respect for all.

Audience

LENS is intended for all leaders, professionals and individuals in both the private and public sectors.