May 2009

Undoing Racism/Community Organizing Workshop

This unique 2-day workshop was offered by the Literacy Alliance in partnership with The People’s Institute, a national, multiracial, anti-racist network dedicated to ending racism and other forms of institutional oppression. Over the last 26 years, they have provided training, consultation, and leadership development to more than 300,000 people in organizations nationally and internationally. Graduates of the Undoing Racism Workshop say that racism often stands in the way of effective organizing and that the workshop helped them deal with both cultural competence and racial dynamics in their work and community. The People’s Institute moves beyond a focus on the symptoms of racism to an understanding of what it is, where it comes from, how it functions, why it persists and how it can be undone. The workshop’s systemic approach stresses learning from history, developing leadership, maintaining accountability to communities, creating networks, undoing internalized oppression, and understanding the role of organizational gate-keeping in perpetuating racism. This workshop was designed specifically to address the concerns of Literacy Alliance partners and champions. This includes AmeriCorps members, Literacy provider staff, teachers, Alliance board members, volunteers, and students.