Blog

Education

Elementary School Faculty Building Community During Professional Development

Brent PD Harvest 1.18.19

The identity of this school has been defined by it’s history over the past eight years. The story they tell is one of discord and a lack of meaningful leadership. They have had four principals over eight years. This session was the beginning of a new dialogue about who they are individually and collectively. This moment was the beginning of a desired break from the tormenting past… The teachers engaged in powerful conversations about the present and future possibilities distinct from the past.

This transformative structure comes from the work of A Small Group.

Collaborative

Local Leadership Council

Collaborative Annual Meeting

This was a creative annual meeting for a nonprofit leadership development association. The theme was Succession Planning. About 70 members showed up where participants  created the agenda on the spot. They chose topics that they were passionate about, then they broke into groups and got to work.

Here is a note we got from one participant after receiving  meeting  notes less than 48 hours after meeting:

“I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for the opportunity to attend a  “creative” Annual Meeting.  I must say, I found myself a lot more engaged than I ever thought I would be. What is most impressive was your job of getting the informative reports out  in a timely manner.  This process allow for a great deal of valuable wisdom to be shared in a short period of time. Take care and congratulations on a successful event!”

 

Connection, Conversation

CHRC, IJPC & Greater Cincinnati to Rethink Racism

An intentional invitation in Cincinnati, Ohio — Nationwide, communities are galvanizing and demanding institutions to address racism. In this spirit, the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission and Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center are partnering to challenge organizations and individuals to make a commitment to addressing and ending racism, with an initiative entitled, “Rethinking Racism.” The kick off event for this collaborative will be an open space dialogue and workshop taking place Thursday January 14, 2016 6:30-8:30 at Father Rivers Hall at St. Joseph Parish 745 Ezzard Charles Drive Cincinnati, OH 45202. Attendees will have the opportunity to address their perceptions of modern day racism and participate in action based conversations. The story begins…

 

Kick-Off Event Impressions

The group discussions – Topics were varied enough that everyone had a good kick off.

Process used was tight enough to get us going, and loose enough to allow creativity and risk-taking. Christina and Dan were skillful and authentic.

I really liked the “open space.” It was new to me, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Very rich mix of ethnic, socioeconomic, and age backgrounds. This made for a very
spirited and unbiased starting conversation.

The process was effective. Conversations were had and connections were initiated.
The event was well organized. The dialogue amongst the groups was stimulating!

Facilitators did a great job at creating an environment where attendees could both tap into their passion and speak freely about a very difficult topic to discuss: I felt
empowered to better address racism in myself and around me.

After more than two years in Open Space Dialogue, the conversations continue!

Check out the “NEW” Race and Racism in Cincinnati Toolkit