Description

Creating and sustaining an inclusive work environment is critical to the wellbeing of your teams and fostering lasting external relationships. Kaitlin Desselle and Anne Phibbs of Strategic Diversity Initiatives (SDI) are partnering with MCN to offer a series of three two-hour workshops that will each center on a specific topic connected to increasing diversity and inclusion in the nonprofit sector: social class and socioeconomic status, LGBTQIA identities, and sizeism. Additionally, SDI will facilitate a conversation circle between each workshop as an opportunity to go deeper with the material while building community and accountability with peers. 

Each workshop will allow you to immediately apply learning to your work situation and is relevant to anyone committed to developing a comprehensive and ongoing understanding of inclusive leadership, at any level, within nonprofits.

Note: This is a series of three workshops and three conversation circles that encourages cohort-based learning. The conversation circles will be facilitated by the series trainers and be an opportunity to go deeper with the material while building community and accountability with peers over several months. Please make sure you are available for the three workshops before registering. Participation in the conversation circles is highly recommended but not required.

The topics for this series are:

June 7 — Hierarchies all Around: Addressing Class, Socioeconomic Status (SES), and Rank

Our society and its institutions often mask the hierarchies that affect our lives. Whether based on social class, title/rank, access to financial resources, and/or education level, where you land in these hierarchies can have a profound impact on your opportunities, level of respect, and material conditions. This workshop helps organizations and institutions understand how social class and socioeconomic status can affect their clients, members, patients, students, and employees – and how they can work against unnecessary hierarchies, allowing them to function both more equitably and more effectively.

June 28 — Conversation Circle #1 

July 19 — Behind the Letters: Understanding LGBTQIA Identities

Diversity and inclusion efforts are increasingly addressing issues of gender identity and sexual orientation, requiring education around lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual identities and communities. In this workshop, we create opportunities to learn about the similarities and differences between these identities, how LGBTQIA individuals and communities are affected by stereotypes and bias, and what it means to be an ally around gender identity and sexual orientation.

August 2 — Conversation Circle #2 

August 23 — Taking Up Space: The Roots and Implications of Sizeism

In a culture trained by centuries of sexism and racism to objectify women’s bodies, to privilege thinness, and to condemn fatness, the importance of celebrating and respecting fat bodies can be difficult for some to grasp. Social systems of sizeism and ableism deny fat bodies equal worth, access, and value. Outdated practices in the healthcare industry invalidate personal autonomy, pathologize, and endanger big bodies. Anti-fat bias in hiring and recruiting can mean missing out on talented candidates who we assume to lack individual willpower or discipline simply because of their size. In this workshop, we explore sizeism and ableism through the intersectional lens of sexism, racism, and classism. We discuss the implications of anti-fat bias in the workplace and learn to create inclusive spaces for bodies of all sizes.

September 13 — Conversation Circle #3 

Offered by our partner, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits

About the Presenters

Kaitlin Deselle, M.S., brings over 10 years of inclusive leadership experience and business innovation to her role as director of client support & development with Strategic Diversity Initiatives. With a strong corporate background in crisis and change management, she is passionate about building empowered teams and organizational cultures that interrupt systems of oppression and marginalization. Kaitlin serves as a Diversity Educator and on the Chancellor’s Commission for LGBTQ People at the University of Tennessee, where she earned a Masters degree in Educational Psychology with a research focus in Critical HROD and Queer Empowerment. As a queer woman and fat liberation activist, Kaitlin is passionate about creating safer spaces where all bodies are celebrated and have agency. Her approach to social justice work balances reformist activism with mindfulness and emotional intelligence.

Anne Phibbs, PhD, brings over 25 years of experience helping organizations advance their diversity, equity & inclusion goals. She is adept at assessing an organization’s strengths and challenges and tailoring her approach to its context, culture, and goals. With extensive experience in training, teaching, curriculum development, and training of trainers, Anne has delivered hundreds of workshops and classes for thousands of participants in corporate, government, higher education, non-profit, healthcare, small business and faith community settings. Anne built a successful diversity and inclusion leadership program at the University of Minnesota, with a focus on emotional intelligence (EI), and she is an EI Practitioner certified in the EQ-i2.0 and EQ360 methods. As Director of Education at the University of Minnesota, she was responsible for developing and implementing their successful Certificate Program, a series of 10 workshops designed to increase capacity for diversity and inclusion work across every part of the institution. A seasoned consultant, Anne is able to work with small and large organizations on a variety of diversity, equity & inclusion needs, including diversity assessments, diversity action plans, customized diversity training, and inclusive leadership development. Anne earned her PhD in Philosophy and Feminist Studies from the University of Minnesota and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.