Cultural Leadership students and alumni are available to speak and/or facilitate discussions at your school, house of worship, or other community group. We are happy to send speakers to discuss Cultural Leadership, the importance of its mission, and its impact on our students.
Students can also facilitate discussions among your group(s) on such critical issues as racism, power, privilege, and prejudice, which we continue to face in our communities and our country.
See below for our list of possible facilitation formats. We are happy to tailor our facilitation to suit your group’s specific needs.
To learn more about booking a speaker, contact Cultural Leadership.
After the movie [Crash] the Diversity Club was engaged in a discussion about race with four facilitators from Cultural Leadership. It was a terrific forum. Our students voiced their feelings and thoughts in an open, comfortable setting. – Principal at Fort Zumwalt West High School.
Our students are thrilled to lead these “courageous conversations” as they know the power of dialogue in spreading understanding and inclusion in our society. Though difficult to discuss, it is vital that our community encourage this sensitive, and crucial, dialogue on race, gender, oppression, or any other topic at hand. Lack of dialogue breeds stereotypes, mistrust, exclusion, prejudice, and misunderstanding.
There are many options of discussions topics and formats from which to choose. And, we can always tailor our discussions or topics to your group’s specific needs. Here is a list of possibilities.
Please contact us with any questions.
Facilitation Formats
1. Video prompt discussions – We have many provocative videos that prompt discussions on issues of race, assumptions and inequality. Videos provide a format that gets groups talking easily about difficult topics by relating them, at first, to the video alone. As the group’s discussion deepens, our students will probe the audience to begin thinking about the themes of the video in terms of their own life experience.
2. Activity based discussion – Cultural Leadership students have learned many ice breakers, exercises and activities that lead to many incredibly powerful conversations and insights. Some of these are very bold activities that require established trust and safety within the group. They demonstrate the inequalities in our society and open a window for the privileged to see into the experience of the oppressed and vice- versa.
3. Article based discussion – There are many short articles on social issues that can be used to prompt discussions. If there is a particular topic that is important for your group to discuss, we can find an article that will lead into that conversation.
4. Current event prompt – Current events demonstrate, perhaps best, the dire need to have dialogue on these tough social issues. They are present examples of mistrust and misunderstanding that bring to the surface the urgency of resolution. (examples: President Obama’s speech in Philadelphia on race; Attorney General Eric Holder saying “we are a nation of cowards”, etc.)
5. A prompt and discussion tailored to your group’s specific needs.