If this is your first year doing this series as a group, we recommend working through Inquiry Series 3.
Don't forget to give us feedback!
Overview:
This year we have spent a lot of time thinking about what to do when we cause harm in our classrooms and schools. This month we are shifting our focus to thinking about the broader webs of community connection and what we can do to prevent harm from happening. The goal is creating an accountable community, one that is focused on creating safety, where everyone is valued, can take risks, and feels comfortable being genuine. In this type of community there is less harm, and when there is conflict, there are structures in place to address it and support members in the process of healing.
This month’s primary resource offers a list of strategies for cultivating this kind of community. This article is also part of a larger set of resources on the Transform Harm website about community accountability. Many of the items listed in this month’s primary resource can be both practiced independently and also worked on as a group before harm happens. They’re good things to do at any time, even in our personal lives. Especially for those of us that struggle with holding ourselves accountable, working on these things in little ways in places we already feel safe can make it easier to embody these principles and contribute to forming accountable communities in the broader world.
Ultimately, community work is about relationships. We are moving past looking at our own personal practice/classroom, looking now at the broader webs of our society and the myriad communities we are in. As Russo writes, “with a “we”, energy shifts and possibilities multiply – more support, ideas, and capacity.” Community and relationships are what sustain antiracist work and often is the piece that brings joy to the resistance.
Primary Resource:
"10 Strategies For Cultivating Community Accountability" by Ann Russo
The Accountability Resources document is available if your group would prefer a different article to read. We will continue adding resources and linking this document for the remainder of the year. If you know of any resources that you think should be on this list, please email us at barwe215@gmail.com.
Guiding Questions:
Facilitation Reference Guide:
Feedback Form:
As we grow in year four, we hope that one person in your group can take a few minutes to fill out our feedback form to let us know how it went.
Here is a takeaway from a previous meeting:
Don't forget to give us feedback!
Overview:
This year we have spent a lot of time thinking about what to do when we cause harm in our classrooms and schools. This month we are shifting our focus to thinking about the broader webs of community connection and what we can do to prevent harm from happening. The goal is creating an accountable community, one that is focused on creating safety, where everyone is valued, can take risks, and feels comfortable being genuine. In this type of community there is less harm, and when there is conflict, there are structures in place to address it and support members in the process of healing.
This month’s primary resource offers a list of strategies for cultivating this kind of community. This article is also part of a larger set of resources on the Transform Harm website about community accountability. Many of the items listed in this month’s primary resource can be both practiced independently and also worked on as a group before harm happens. They’re good things to do at any time, even in our personal lives. Especially for those of us that struggle with holding ourselves accountable, working on these things in little ways in places we already feel safe can make it easier to embody these principles and contribute to forming accountable communities in the broader world.
Ultimately, community work is about relationships. We are moving past looking at our own personal practice/classroom, looking now at the broader webs of our society and the myriad communities we are in. As Russo writes, “with a “we”, energy shifts and possibilities multiply – more support, ideas, and capacity.” Community and relationships are what sustain antiracist work and often is the piece that brings joy to the resistance.
Primary Resource:
"10 Strategies For Cultivating Community Accountability" by Ann Russo
The Accountability Resources document is available if your group would prefer a different article to read. We will continue adding resources and linking this document for the remainder of the year. If you know of any resources that you think should be on this list, please email us at barwe215@gmail.com.
Guiding Questions:
- Which of the ten practices in the article stick with you? Are there some that you feel already have roots in your community? Which ones feel like they need some attention or that you want to work on?
- Schools and organizations are part of a larger web of interconnected communities. Take time to map the community connection web for your school or org (ex. Families, outside community organizations, political groups, national groups, etc.). You can use this resource as a guide as you create your map. Note where the connections feel safe and accountable and identify which branches feel like they need some work. You will return to this list in May as part of an action-oriented inquiry guide, so make notes of potential ideas you generate about HOW to build these connections.
- In the article, item 4 encourages us to “create intentional spaces to share the ins and outs of relationships.” How are the lines and connections on your web made and maintained? Are these relationships fostered in ways that feel safe, intentional, and inclusive? What usually happens in response to harm within these relationships?
Facilitation Reference Guide:
- Set a day and time for your group to meet. Make sure to send reminders.
- Send this month’s Primary Resource to your group. Look through the additional readings to see if there is another reading that might be better suited to your group and its interests.
- Prepare yourself to facilitate by reading through our Norms and Discussion Protocol.
- Pass the Hat and collect donations for Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective this month.
- Complete the Feedback Form.
- Prepare yourself for May by setting a date and time, inviting colleagues, and looking out for our next Discussion Guide on May 1st.
Feedback Form:
As we grow in year four, we hope that one person in your group can take a few minutes to fill out our feedback form to let us know how it went.
Here is a takeaway from a previous meeting:
Thank you all for your feedback so far, please keep it coming!
Pass The Hat:
In addition to being accountable to our colleagues and students of color, we believe it is important to be financially accountable to people of color who are doing this work on a daily basis. Each month, we will recommend an organization led by people of color, in education and beyond, doing the work of pushing for justice.
At the end of each monthly discussion, pass a hat (or a box) and collect donations for the designated organization. You can then have one group member go online and donate in the name of your school. If you want, you can add “Building Anti-Racist White Educators” after your school name.
This month we are suggesting donations for Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective. “The Kindred Collective is a network of grassroots energy, body and earth based healers and health practitioners seeking to create mechanisms for wellness and safety that respond, intervene and transform conditions of generational trauma and violence in our communities and movements.”
Pass The Hat:
In addition to being accountable to our colleagues and students of color, we believe it is important to be financially accountable to people of color who are doing this work on a daily basis. Each month, we will recommend an organization led by people of color, in education and beyond, doing the work of pushing for justice.
At the end of each monthly discussion, pass a hat (or a box) and collect donations for the designated organization. You can then have one group member go online and donate in the name of your school. If you want, you can add “Building Anti-Racist White Educators” after your school name.
This month we are suggesting donations for Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective. “The Kindred Collective is a network of grassroots energy, body and earth based healers and health practitioners seeking to create mechanisms for wellness and safety that respond, intervene and transform conditions of generational trauma and violence in our communities and movements.”