Thank you to everyone who joined this month’s Zoom meeting, and our group conversation with Extension Regional Director, Angela Sandino.

Angela shared insights from her experience building an equity plan in the North Willamette Region (Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas counties), and provided strategies for communicating across cultures, and effectively establishing relationships with our stakeholders. This post provides a brief recap and the meeting slides for reference (linked above), but does not replace the group conversation experience, where the maximum value for participants of this program is gained.

We kicked off this month’s session with an overview of Culture, which is defined as,
“integrated patterns of human behavior that include the language, thoughts, communication, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and norms of racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups.”

Using Zaretta Hammond’s (https://crtandthebrain.com/about/), three levels of culture (Surface, Shallow and Deep), Angela helped us identify strategies to become more aware of our own cultural framework, before we begin to build trust with others. The Cultural Framework questions we examined can be found on slides 53 & 54 above, and are followed by guidance for better understanding the cultures of our stakeholders.

This session concluded with an overview of the North Willamette Region’s strategy and plan for expanding access to their programs and services. Details about the goals and action steps can be found on slides 62-64 of the presentation above, and we encourage you to reach out if you have any specific questions or could use support with an equity action plan for your program or area.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone next month to continue our final program module: Courageous Leadership. Please take care until then!

In partnership,

Your DEI Team

Hello, Diversity Champions!

It was wonderful to see you at our team meeting earlier this month. For your reference, the slides from the meeting are linked at the top of this post.

Once again, the group had a deep and interesting conversation around how to incorporate OSU’s values of equity and inclusion into our work. We were joined by Allison Davis-White Eyes, OSU’s Director of Community Diversity Relations. Allison engaged us in a conversation about what it means to lead within our realm of influence in such a challenging and unexpected year. We used the following prompts to reflect as a group:

• What are the main challenges you are experiencing in your work when trying to have conversations about racial equity? What specific barriers are you encountering?
• What support is needed to address and overcome these barriers?
• Where have you found the power and agency to make change?

The group exchanged examples of specific struggles and also very empowering strategies that have led to find solutions and strength. One of the main conclusions was the power of community. As a group, we talked about the importance of caring for ourselves and each other while being aware of the environment we live and work in.

Another topic that arose was the importance of being mindful of the difference between debate, lecture and dialogue. Remembering that often the most productive spaces of growth reside in the ability to engage and keep in dialogue striving to understand and stay curious while knowing OSU´s commitment to social justice.

I am looking forward to our next meeting on Tuesday, October 6^th. We will have our very own Extension Regional Director, Angela Sandino, who will share with us key learnings and insights from her experience building an equity plan in the North Willamette Region.

Take care until then!

In partnership,

Ana Lu Fonseca, Extension DEI Specialist

Hello, Diversity Champions: It was amazing to see all of you again, and as always, a very refreshing experience!

In our August 4th session, we explored the “We Have Work to do Campaign” themes:

• Confronting Bias
• Building Equitable Learning Environments
• Establishing a Sense of Belonging
• Transforming Our Future
• Creating Coalitions

These themes help us recognize the strides we have made to advance diversity as a community, while at the same time acknowledging that there is much to be done.

We shared some examples of the different ways the themes show up in our individual roles as Extension professionals, as well as in our organization. We also talked about how this vision and assessment exercise can help our various teams to work collaboratively to create capacity for action at an individual and organizational level, generate hope and optimism for advancing equity and organizational transformation, and appreciate how we all have important insights to offer.

Please take the time to keep exploring the campaign webpage, and come prepared to discuss your ideas for how leadership can look in our realms of influence at our next session on Tuesday, September 8. In addition, please review the guidance and toolkit below:

For our next session, we will be joined by our very own Allison Davis-White Eyes, OSU’s Director of Community Diversity Relations. She will share her experience with various stakeholders across the state, and her perspective about what it means to lead with equity.

Take care until then!

In partnership,

Ana Lu Fonseca

Thank you to everyone who joined our July monthly meeting which focused on Expanding Access to Extension programs and services!

July’s conversation was led by our colleague from the Office of Institutional Diversity, Dawn Marie Alapisco, who serves as OSU’s Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation (NAGPRA) Coordinator. In addition to this role, Dawn Marie is an educator and strong advocate and for social justice, accessibility and access.

In preparation for our conversation, the team was asked to consider the following prompts:

1.           Have you received accessibility requests in your programs or offices that have been difficult to accommodate, or caused discomfort within the office or staff?

2.           Have you or someone close to you ever had a hard time accessing a service or other need because of a disability?

By focusing on these prompts and the following questions, we considered both the impacts of, and barriers to communities and individuals receiving Extension services.

• What are your (program’s) goals of providing equitable access?
• What (internal and external) factors impact equity and access?

We encourage everyone to keep these questions in mind, and share them with colleagues or during staff meetings as a brainstorm activity. As always, our office is available for any questions or if additional support is needed.

Join our August meeting next month for the return of our fearless leader, and an overview of an OSU campaign that will help us continue the conversation about Expanding Access.

In partnership,

Your DEI Team

Thank you to everyone who attended our June session: Using an awareness of intersectionality to serve Extension Clientele.

We were joined by Jane Waite, OSU’s senior associate for Social Justice Learning & Engagement, who led a conversation framed by the following prompts:

1. What might be some factors that are impacting the Extension clients that you serve today? Please list as many as you can imagine could be present.
2. For each item on your previous list, brainstorm some possible services that could alleviate that particular factor.
3. Was it challenging or satisfying to maintain boundaries between the factors, why or why not?
4. If we consider ALL of the factors simultaneously, much as our clients must do in order to navigate their lives, what changes?
5. Might we achieve better IMPACTS from our excellent INTENTIONS for our clients by considering their lives through a lens of intersectionality?

What’s Next?
Join us on July 7, 2020 for a meeting with ! More information about the session will be provided in the coming weeks.

Homework
Before our June 2 meeting, please

• Watch this webinar recording: Responding to Racial Bias and Microaggressions in Online Environments
• Read Chapter 7: The Third Condition: Engaging Multiple Racial Perspectives

Additional Resources
Thank you to everyone who shared resources during and after Tuesday’s meeting! To keep sharing and learning, be sure to check out the Diversity Champions channel on Teams, and read the Diversity Highlights section each week in ConnEXTions.

• Intersectionality Matters Podcast
• OWN Conversation: Unpacking Myths About COVID-19
• Under the Blacklight Series: Webinar recordings (and the live conversation continues each Wednesday!)
• OID Case Study Library

As a reminder, you are always encouraged to reach out to our office if you need any support. Thank you again for your engagement and the work you do for our communities. We look forward to seeing everyone again next month!

In partnership,

Your DEI team

Thank you to everyone who attended our May 5 meeting!
Special thanks to guest facilitator and DC alumni, Maria Chavez-Haroldson, who led our conversation and helped introduce the concept of Intersectionality.

What is Intersectionality?
Our homework videos and case studies from OSU Institutional Diversity explored this concept from different angles. Takeaways from the team conversation included the following:

• Appreciating the intersectionality of an individual, idea, or situation requires us to consciously shift from System 1 to System 2 Thinking. This slower, more deliberate thinking improves our self-awareness, and allows us to consider what may be beyond the surface.
  • This resource provides an overview of System 1 & 2 Thinking: Kahneman: Fast And Slow Thinking Explained
• The group identified the value of naming an issue to make it more visible and help address it. Many of us had considered intersectionality before without having a specific term for it.
• Even when we make the shift to System 2 Thinking, there may be obstacles that keep us from addressing intersecting truths or identities. These include the fear of saying the wrong thing/offending, feeling like we already need to have all the answers, or not knowing how to start a conversation or engage in the first place.
  When it comes to courageous conversations, the pursuit of “perfection” can be a powerful enemy of progress.
• Maria shared examples of Appreciative Inquiry approaches that can help us move through discomfort and work towards meaningful engagement.
• We were reminded that the temporary awkwardness we feel stepping out of our comfort zones pales in comparison to the experience of being excluded based on a part (or assumed part) of your identity.

What’s Next? June 2 meeting
Join us next month to continue the conversation about Intersectionality and appreciating the complexity of identity! More information about the session will be provided in the coming weeks.

Homework
Before our June 2 meeting, please

• Watch this webinar recording: Responding to Racial Bias and Microaggressions in Online Environments
• Read Chapter 7: The Third Condition: Engaging Multiple Racial Perspectives

Additional Resources
Thank you to everyone who shared resources during and after Tuesday’s meeting! To keep sharing and learning, be sure to check out the Diversity Champions channel on Teams, and read the Diversity Highlights section each week in ConnEXTions.

• Intersectionality Matters Podcast
• OWN Conversation: Unpacking Myths About COVID-19
• Under the Blacklight Series: Webinar recordings (and the live conversation continues each Wednesday!)
• OID Case Study Library

As a reminder, you are always encouraged to reach out to our office if you need any support. Thank you again for your engagement and the work you do for our communities. We look forward to seeing everyone again next month!

In partnership,

Your DEI team

Thank you to everyone who participated in Tuesday’s meeting!
We were joined by Jeff Kenney from OSU’s Office of Institutional Diversity, who shared new guidance for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Learning. It was wonderful to see the excitement from the group about this new resource!

DEI Learning Guidance
If you have not had a chance to check out the guidance, take a few moments to do so: https://diversity.oregonstate.edu/guidance-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-learning.

As Jeff explained, this resource serves as a “place to begin” for any member of the OSU community, where they can start to make sense of cultural competence and chart a path for their learning, the learning of others and the transformation of their respective organizations. Below are a few key takeaways from our meeting:

• The guidance could be useful in the onboarding and development of Extension volunteers and advisory board members, as well as employees.
• Programs would find it useful in their planning to increase access to historically under served audiences.
• The searchable case study library (found here) generated a lot of interest from the group. Thanks to our DEI Specialist’s involvement with this project, many of them are written specifically with Extension work in mind!
• OID also offers consultations and professional development opportunities for facilitated or specific DEI learning needs. More info can be found on their Diversity Education webpage: https://diversity.oregonstate.edu/diversity-education

In our conversation with Jeff, we also discussed the upcoming OSU online training, Creating Inclusive Communities, which is set to launch in the next year. This training will be voluntary for faculty and staff, but some meeting attendees expressed that they would like to see Extension make it mandatory as part of our onboarding process. As the training gets closer to launch, Diversity Champions may be engaged as pilot testers to provide feedback. We will keep you posted on this!

What’s Next? (Current 2020 Cohort)
Join us on May 5 to begin to explore the concept of Intersectionality, with Maria Chavez-Haroldson. You will remember Maria from past Diversity Champion events, including our March team meeting, and her bio is included below for your reference.

Maria Chavez-Haroldson is the owner of EDI Consulting, an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusive organizational development consulting business, established in 2009. Maria has been facilitating conflict resolution sessions by applying an Appreciative Inqauityh model. Her doctoral research study explored the lived experiences of LatinX Chief Diversity Officers in higher education. She has served as the Vice President of Organizational Development at Metropolitan Group, a social change agency; Director -Office of Inclusion & Intercultural Relations for Oregon Youth Authority; Associate Director for the Center for Latin@ Studies and Engagement at Oregon State University; Executive Director for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates); LBCC Parenting Instructor; Director of Crime Victim Unit (Yamhill County District Attorney’s Office); National/International Adjunct-Faculty with the Conference of Western Attorneys General Alliance Partnership (Judicial Reform Initiatives); and, Qualified Mental Health Professional working with immigrant families. She enjoys serving as an EDI professional coach and thinking partner with, and alongside organizational leaders seeking to become equitable and inclusive practitioners who honor diversity.

Homework (Current 2020 Cohort)
Before May 5, please watch the short videos below and jot down any reactions or questions in your journal:

• Newcastle University: What is Intersectionality? (3 min)
• The Advocate, Queer 101: What is Intersectionality? (3 min)
• *Trigger Warning* Video contains stories of police violence and violence against women: KimberléCrenshaw: The Urgency of Intersectionality (18 min)

As a reminder, Jeff is available for any follow up questions you may have (jeff.kenney@oregonstate.edu), and you are always encouraged to reach out to our office if you need any support. Thank you again, and I look forward to seeing everyone in a month!

In partnership,

Your DEI team

Thank you to everyone who joined our conversation this week by Zoom, and in Ballard Hall.  We had over 30 participants from around the state which resulted in rich conversation around a very complex topic. A short recap of the session is below, and you can view the meeting slides and agenda at the top of this post.

Welcome and Introductions
On Tuesday, we were joined by two Diversity Champion alumni who are experts in equity and inclusion work. Maria Chavez-Haroldson and Ruth Jones guided our conversation, which centered around a debrief of our homework readings from February.

Group Conversation
Chapter 4 of our Courageous Conversations About Race (CCAR) Field Guide book reminds us that, in order to successfully work towards equity and inclusion, we need to first develop our own racial consciousness. As a way to move towards racial self-awareness, the book gives examples of questions that white educators and educators of color might ask themselves, respectively. You may find it helpful to use these questions as journal prompts as you continue to process.

• “Am I aware that racial inequity exists, and am I capable of addressing it?”
• “Do I unwittingly support institutionalized racism in our system, and am I willing to speak up and confront the inequities I experience personally and see negatively affecting our students of color and indigenous students?”

In addition to the questions above, an Extension educator might also ask themselves:

• What signs of racial inequity are present within my program, program area or county office?
  • Here is an article that may be helpful food for thought.
• Are my colleagues and I, and Extension as a whole, racially representative of the people who live in our town/county/state?  
  • Not sure? Explore this resource from our colleagues in the Rural Communities Explorer program. When exploring, think about what this reality means and how it relates to the “Racial Achievement Gap” that Singleton talks about in our CCAR Field Guide books.

Combined with Chapter 4, the Atlantic and New Yorker articles presented a lot to consider with regard to the language choices we make and the impacts they have. Our group conversation gave us the chance to practice the CCAR Agreements and Conditions (especially Agreements #2 & 4!), and we appreciate the group’s engagement with this challenging topic. To help us continue to process, Maria shared the recommended resources below. She and Ruth have also graciously provided their contact information should anyone wish to follow up with them directly for support (see agenda).  

• The N-Word, by Jabari Asim: A renowned cultural critic untangles the twisted history and future of racism through its most volatile word
• Sentipensante, by Laura Rendon: Educating for Wholeness, Social Justice and Liberation

What’s Next?
Join us on April 7 for a conversation with Jeff Kenney from OSU’s Office of Institutional Diversity (OID).In partnership with numerous stakeholders, OID has developed guidance for diversity, equity, and inclusion learning to support the development of all OSU faculty, staff and students. Jeff will present this framework to the Diversity Champions, answer questions, and engage in discussion as to how this guidance may have utility to faculty and staff in Extension.

Homework

• In preparation for his session, Jeff asks that you explore OID’s new guidance and jot down and questions or comments you may have. You can find the guidance here: https://diversity.oregonstate.edu/guidance-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-learning
• Read Chapter 5: The First Condition (Getting Personal, Right Here, Right Now!)

We understand that the topics we explore in this program are complex and although we have agreed to “accept non-closure,” we want to remind you that we are always happy to engage in further conversation. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, comments or need additional support.

In partnership,

Your DEI team

View the meeting slides here: DC_Intro_2.4.2020

Dear Diversity Champions,

Thank you so much for joining us on Tuesday February 4th! We had meaningful engagement from all Extension program areas and regions!

Welcome and Introductions
This first monthly Zoom meeting provided our second opportunity to come together as a group after our Courageous Conversations About Race (CCAR) session at the Extension Annual Conference in December. We are so excited to have such a motivated group of Diversity Champions in this cohort, and look forward to everything the upcoming year has in store for us!

During our meeting this week, we introduced ourselves, went over the CCAR Protocol, and practiced engaging in group conversation using the Compass, the 4 Agreements, and the 6 Conditions. We established that Diversity Champions is an approach that calls for developing the capacity of Extension to speak a common language about racial equity (explicitly, but not exclusively, as we will also use this protocol to navigate conversations across difference in another aspects of diversity) as a prerequisite for creating and sustaining more effective programming.

This recap provides a short overview of the session, but does not replace the deeper experience of participating in the monthly meetings in real time. As we have heard from our participants time and time again, one of the most valuable parts of this program is witnessing your colleagues opening up about their experiences and motivations and having the opportunity to grow individually and as a group.

The CCAR Protocol
Please refer to slides 4-7 on the meeting’s PowerPoint (included above) for an outline of the CCAR protocol that we will use for the duration of this program. As you continue to familiarize yourself with the protocol, it may be helpful to post a visual of it in a location where you will see it frequently, and can practice using it in different situations. It can be a very useful tool, both in and out of our program. A past Champion once told me they set a picture of the Compass as their computer desktop background so they could check in throughout the day to see if they were centered. Feel free to use the program, the readings, the protocol and the conversations in the way that makes the best sense for you. Our only ask is that you honor your own and your teammates´ growth by keeping our conversations “brave”. This means that, while we can´t guarantee safe spaces for all of us in this space, we strive to create brave spaces where we grapple around concepts and ideas (not people) and allow the space and the personal narratives shared to remain within the boundaries of our meeting (please do not quote your peer´s personal stories, remember, you just have one story to tell: yours).

“Homework”
If you have not had a chance to purchase the Courageous Conversations Field Guide Book or obtain a journal you can use during this program, we highly encourage you to do so! To get the most out of our next meeting, please:
 Journal/free write around the following prompt (for 5 minutes or 45 minutes – whatever your schedule allows!): What is your earliest and most recent experience with your own racial awareness?
 Read Chapter Four: Agreeing to Talk About Race

Heads up
There will be lots and lots of opportunities for us to keep sharing insights and stories as a group. We certainly encourage you to keep sharing with us as much as you feel safe sharing. As facilitators, we will ask you to share your personal, local, and immediate experience from a place of vulnerability and authenticity. This requires a lot of humility and work and we are thankful to you for being willing to grow in this way. However, it is imperative to be aware of instances in which that vulnerability and authenticity can inadvertently revive/trigger trauma in others. We ask you to be mindful of possible word triggers that can carry historical trauma. In particular, in our last meeting we had the use of the “N-word” as a part of a story telling process where the objective was to reflect on the damage of the word and deconstruct the word itself. We recommend that, instead of referring to the word explicitly, we say “N-word” out of respect of the historical trauma and connotations that this word carries.

However, we think that is also important to ensure that our preoccupation with the use of words is actually driven by matters of morality rather than with matters of taboo or as an excuse to shame others. While reflecting on this, I came across the articles below that help summarize my reflections:
– The Idea That Whites Can’t Refer to the N-Word (The Atlantic)
– More Harm Than Good (New Yorker)

Our intent is to avoid staying in a superficial level of gravity by “prohibiting” or “banning” a word without talking about its context and history also as a source of strength. We will start next meeting by debriefing Chapter 4, and take the opportunity to have a brave conversation about what it means for us to be growing in our racial literacy journey. As you learned in this first Diversity Champions session, one of the main objectives of the group is to provide a brave space for us to grow and learn, therefore we ask you to trust yourself and trust us in the process, stay engage, embrace discomfort, accept non-closure and please stay personal, local and immediate.

Next Conversation
See you for our next monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 3 at 10 a.m. This meeting should be on your calendars as part of the recurring series, but please let us know if not. We will send information about our guest speakers prior to the meeting.

As always, please feel free to reach out to us with any comments, questions, insights (or to say hi!).

-Your DEI Team

View the meeting slides here: DC_EOA_9.11.19

Thank you to the great group of folks who joined our conversation last week with Roni Sue and Gabe Merrell from OSU’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Access (EOA). A short recap of the session can be found below, and you can view EOA’s slide deck from the link at the top of this page.

During our conversation with EOA, we defined and discussed the two sides of their unit: 1) Equal Opportunity (sexual misconduct, violence, discrimination, bullying and retaliation response), and 2) Access (accommodations, accessibility, affirmative action and equitable hiring processes). We also contrasted their services with other campus resources, such as Disability Access Services and the Office of Institutional Diversity’s bias incident response process. Throughout these conversations, we identified and considered some of the unique challenges that our off-campus, community-focused work can present. Please view the slides above for more information about EOA and other OSU units who are here to support your work, and to support you as an employee. Our office, as well as Gabe and Roni, welcome your questions or comments. Please do not hesitate to reach out at any time!

What’s next? We’re looking forward to another in-person workshop and team meeting on Wednesday, October 9. If you have not already registered, please do so now by following the link below. This workshop will be co-facilitated by Ana Lu and OSU’s Director of Institutional Education for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Jeff Kenney. Jeff has delivered this impactful workshop to a variety of audiences, including a session for President Ed Ray’s University Cabinet leadership group in June. We are very fortunate to have this opportunity to sustain and deepen our ongoing equity conversation .

The Role of Whiteness in Educational Leadership workshop (followed by team meeting) | REGISTER HERE by September 27
Workshop Pre-reading: White Fragility, by Robin DeAngelo
Date/Time: Wed., Oct. 9 | 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Hallie Ford Center, Room 115, OSU Corvallis Campus
Session Goals:
– Develop shared language and understanding of issues of race and racism in organizational leadership
– Explore a contemporary conceptual framework for individual and organizational anti-racist learning, development, and action
– Consider and negotiate the distinctions between ‘whiteness’ and ‘white people’ and the necessity to mutually personalize and de-personalize anti-racist organizational development
– Consider and negotiate the distinctions between ‘whiteness’ and ‘white people’ and the necessity to mutually personalize and de-personalize anti-racist organizational development
– Reflect upon our personal stakes in realizing an anti-racist organization

If you have any questions about last week’s meeting or the upcoming workshop, please let us know.

In partnership,
Your DEI team