DEI Updates from KG Kujjo (They/She), DEI Engagement Director
Week of 12.13.21
Upcoming: LGBT 101 LIVE Training
GSCO is partnering with Inside Out Youth Services to provide volunteers and staff with a 90-minute training that focuses on:
Introduction to the LGBTQ+ community
Terminology related to gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation
Learning hetero-normative bias in community and workplace
Beginning of allyship
Sign up and encourage other volunteers to register.
If you participated in any of the DEI events I’ve shared, please complete this quick form to tell us which event you attended to help us better understand staff interests and to track the number of professional development hours our GSCO team has spent on learning about DEI topics. Your input also helps with understanding how much to budget for staff development based on training costs. You can submit this form for in-person events or workshops, virtual learning opportunities, recorded webinars and trainings, self-paced virtual courses, and more.
Current: Belong & Inclusion Survey
The Belonging & Inclusion Surveyfor members and volunteers is still open until January 10th. The goal of this anonymous survey is to understand what members and volunteers want GSCO to implement to create a safe and welcoming experience for all Girl Scouts. You can support by circulating the survey or encouraging members/volunteers to complete it.
Black History Month 2022
2022 is right around the corner. If you’d like to be part of planning Black History Month celebrations, please email KG Kujjo at kg.kujjo@gscolorado.org.
Call to Action
Read about the various characteristics of white supremacy and reflect on times you’ve witnessed this or upheld these behaviors at work and in your personal life.
Join this two-hour workshop on understanding microaggressions and how to intervene. Wednesday, December 15 from 6pm-8pm MST. Register HEREfor this free virtual event. Asian American Justice + Innovation Lab (AAJIL) is a social justice learning hub where activists and scholars offer free community education in the spirit of mutual aid and collective power. On December 15, AAJIL will host an educational workshop by Julice Chen that will focus on the ways microaggressions emerge and influence our daily lives and ways we can address them. A Q&A session will follow.
Upcoming Opportunities
Inside Out Youth Services is offering a virtual LGBTQ 102 training. Click the link above to sign up (the registration fee is donation based).
RaceTalk among White Families Post-Floyd. Now What?
Thursday, December 16 at 6:30pm MST. Description: Join EmbraceRace for a conversation with two guests who discuss how to talk about race with young children after the murder of George Floyd. Click hereto reserve your spot. Once you register, you’ll receive a link to the recording, the transcript, and relevant resources in the days following the live event. Participants are encouraged to share this opportunity with their networks to spread the word.
Wednesday, December 15 at 10am MST. Join Anu Gupta, the founder of BE MORE with Anu, for a candid, lunch-and-learn-style conversation on how building skillful communication can help you play a more powerful role in advancing racial equity. We’ll share and model tools that support our development as speakers and listeners inside and outside of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) spaces. We’ll also examine and troubleshoot barriers that might be coming up for folks practicing empathetic speaking and listening. In this session, we will build a safe and shame-free discussion container to openly discuss:
Racial trauma and healing
Tools that allow for communication rooted in empathy
How skillful communication ladders up to support building and maintaining equitable communities
Advancing Race Equity through Accountable Leadership
Wednesday, December 15 from 11am-12:30pm MST. To empower individuals and organizations in identifying how their practices can create and sustain race equity experiences and outcomes within the social sector, inspiring leaders Monisha Kapila and Bianca Anderson, will share the new ProInspire Leadership Model for Race Equity Impact Their work addresses all the levels from which leaders can create impact: leadership of self, people, organizations and systems. This event is intended for: Nonprofit staff and volunteers, funders, donors, community members; self-identifying leaders of any level or experience; anyone interested in the topic of exploring a healthy nonprofit sector is welcome to attend. Register here.
Making a Way: The Quest for Black Economic Empowerment
Wednesday, December 15 at 11am MST. Description: Join Points of Light and Morehouse College part two in a series about the quest for black economic empowerment where we will build from the historical context to explore leadership today in creating businesses and environments for success in communities of color. The audience will learn what are today’s strategies for using entrepreneurship and business ownership as a pathway for building economic mobility. This session will share practical actions individuals, community and business leadership can do to impact this critical journey to equity. Register here.
Is the STEM Pipeline Broken? Or Was It Built This Way?
Wednesday, December 15 from 2pm-2:30pm MST. Join I Follow The Leader for a 25-minute “Courageous” Conversation with CEO & Principal Leader Antoinetta Mosley and special guest Dr. Leena Bakshi. Dr. Bakshi is the founder of STEM4Real, a nonprofit professional learning organization committed to combining STEM, standards-based content learning, and leadership with principles of equity and social justice. They will discuss how to cultivate an anti-racist school and classroom culture, the roadmap for STEM careers, and the similarities between the education system and corporate systems. Sign up here.
PFLAG Connects: Black/African-American Community Meeting
Tuesday, December 14 at 7pm MST. This is a 90-minute meeting to provide and receive support, specifically for Black/African-American community members. Note that these meetings are geared towards parents and family members of LGBTQ+ people from the Black/African-American community, though members of the LGBTQ+ community who identify as Black/African-American are welcome to join. Sign up here.
PFLAG Connects: Communities AAPI Meeting
Saturday, January 8th from 4-5:30pm MST. This is a 90-minute meeting to provide and receive support, specifically for Asian-American and Pacific Islander community members. If you’re part of the AAPI community and you’re a family member of an LGBTQ+ person – or an AAPI LGBTQ+ person yourself – you can REGISTER HERE.
Health Equity Learning Series: An Evening with Isabel Wilkerson
Tuesday, December 14 from 6pm-7pm MST. As part of its Health Equity Learning Seriesand in partnership with Tattered Cover Book Store, The Colorado Trust is pleased to invite you to attend a virtual discussion with Isabel Wilkerson, taking place Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021 from 6-7 p.m. MST. Isabel Wilkerson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal, is the author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestsellers The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. “Wilkerson’s work,” in the words of The American Prospect magazine, “is the missing puzzle piece of our country’s history.” Sign up here to attend. Advance registration is required, and space is strictly limited. Simultaneous Spanish interpretation will be available. Please note that this event will not be recorded.
2022 Entrepreneurial Class for Prospective Business Owners
Thinking of starting a new business for the New Year? The Denver Office of Economic Development will be hosting another set of Entrepreneurship Classes starting in February. This in person, eight-week course starting on Wednesday, February 16th is ideal for anyone who wants to create their own business. Participants will engage in an in-depth curriculum exploring what they need to form their own business. Course elements include an overview of business types, the steps needed to research and start a business, and assisting participants in developing their own business plans. Classes include support from the Denver Office of Economic Development and ongoing access to class materials. For more information, contact Sable Schultz at sschultz@lgbtqcolorado.org.
16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence
Hollaback is offering daily Stand Up Bystander intervention trainings as part of the global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (November 25 – December 10). This is a worldwide campaign to raise awareness about the importance of ending violence and harassment against women. Trainings are available until December 28. Sign up here.
Dismantling Racism 2022 Trainings
Sign up for a free all-day Saturday workshop on Dismantling Racism offered by the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing. The trainings are virtual and open to the public. There’s a 25-person cap for each session so spaces fill up fast. Sign up here.
Tuesday, January 25 from 1pm-2pm MST. The Anti-Colonialism Collective (ACC) invites you to join our book club, graciously hosted by the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice & Health. ACC Book Club meetings take place on the last Tuesday of the month. For our January meeting, we will be reading Not a Nation of Immigrantsby Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. The event link is provided after receipt of interest form. Email amcsorley@ucla.edu for more information.
Brown Girl Dreaming: Exploring Identity and Belonging with Jacqueline Woodson
Wednesday, February 2. Please join Facing History for a special virtual presentation from New York Timesbestselling author Jacqueline Woodson. In her acclaimed memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming, Ms. Woodson uses verse to tell her family story, recount her experience growing up amid the remnants of Jim Crow and the growing Civil Rights movement, and reflect on the joy of finding her voice through writing. Ms. Woodson will discuss her experiences and her writing, followed by a Q&A with questions from Facing History students. Reserve your spot here.