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Grounded Program Design: Incorporating Anti-Oppression Approaches to Social Justice Work (Virtual)


At a time of deepening injustices, we need reflective spaces, community, and the chance to reimagine - now more than ever. Join us for an interactive virtual workshop to reimagine how we can shape a more just future and ensure that our good intentions aren’t reinforcing inequality and inequities.

Please read below for information about our sliding-scale prices before purchasing tickets.

REGISTER HERE BEFORE OCTOBER 20TH!

Join Seachange Collective for a interactive 3-part virtual* workshop on "grounded program design."

  • Part 1: Oct. 25, 2021, 10:00am-1:00pm Eastern Time

  • Part 2: Oct 27, 2021, 10:00am-1:00pm Eastern Time

  • Part 3: Oct 29, 2021, 10:00am-1:00pm Eastern Time

We’ll introduce you to a six-step approach that helps you develop and implement projects, programs, and initiatives based in community needs and justice – rather than assumed knowledge and charity. Facilitators will guide participants in reflecting on their experiences, the first four steps of the grounded program design process, and the complexities of anti-oppression work and social justice practice.

You will leave this workshop with a more nuanced understanding of what it means to do social justice work and the ongoing processes we must engage in to do it well. We will explore what it means to do social justice work in these times, refine practical skills and tools to use in anti-oppression program design, and develop personalized action plans for our work, including:

  • Problem identification - tools for defining and analyzing interrelated challenges and structural problems

  • Mapping your power and positionality - exploring your identity and how it impacts how you see and are seen in doing the work.

  • Mapping stakeholders - utilizing organizing methods of power and interest mapping to build strategic and equity-focused alliances that further your goals

  • Collaborative and participatory design processes - explore what it means to more deeply center the voices and needs of the communities most impacted in decision-making

*What does going virtual look like? The virtual workshop will take place online, using Zoom with closed captions available. It will take place in three parts over three days (with breaks!) We will also use Google Documents throughout the session and will ask participants to toggle between the zoom and the google document windows. To participate you will need:

    • a (free) Zoom account

    • computer with an Internet connection, microphone, and video camera 

    • the ability to access Google Docs throughout the workshop. 

Please reach out if you have any questions about access and/or technology needs or if you’d like to schedule a quick test call with us before the workshop to make sure you’re all set up. 

Who should participate? Whether you are developing a new program strategy or coordinating on-the-ground implementation of a long-running initiative, this workshop will offer skills and tools to increase equity and anti-oppression practices in your work. This workshop is ideal for folks in non-profits, schools, community organizing, foundations, public service organizations, and other spaces seeking a stronger commitment to social justice – especially if you design and implement program strategy and on-the-ground initiatives.

Ongoing Support and Accountability: Around three months after Grounded Program Design, we offer a group check-in call to support to participants with your continued planning or implementation of ideas and goals set during the workshops. We also offer optional 1-1 post-workshop sessions to further support implementation of concepts and tools raised in the workshop.

What have past participants said?

"Grounded Program Design helped me analyze my organization's issues more critically and gave me concrete tools that can be used for any problem solving." — Dhara Shah, Co-Founder, JustDesign Cooperative 

“This [Grounded Program Design] workshop is groundbreaking and should be a requirement for any agency that participates or works in any community.” — Ayana McNeill, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

"[The Seachange Collective] workshop and this creative and inclusive space created the necessary room to connect with other social-justice inclined individuals and share alternative perspectives on seemingly impossible challenges." — Emily Grubb, Program Specialist, Open Society Foundations

Who we are: Seachange Collective is a women-led training collective that supports groups committed to social, racial, gender, and economic justice. Our collective draws on our combined decades of expertise in the non-profit and social change sectors, including work in community organizing, education, policy and advocacy, case management, research, mediation, professional development, grant and individual giving. As facilitators, we are highly participatory, drawing on participants’ own expertise, real-life case studies, and a mix of theory and practice. We are experienced in dealing with a range of needs, creation of spaces for difficult conversations, and incorporation of trauma-informed practice.

Scheduled facilitators for this workshop are BC and Hannah. Read more about all our collective members and facilitators here: https://www.seachangecollective.org/people.

Pricing: We run our workshops on a sliding-scale model, to ensure we remain accessible for organizers, non-profit staff, and public servants across a spectrum of roles and budgets.

  • Community Rate $75: A limited number of spots are available at this discounted rate for students or individuals who are currently without steady income.

  • Subsidized Rate $175: For those who are self-employed or employed at smaller organizations and do not have access to professional development funds.

  • Standard Rate $350: For those with the capacity to pay the full rate, especially individuals who are employed in organizations that will cover full or partial costs of registration.

  • Solidarity Rate $700: For those employed in organizations with an annual budget over 10 million that will cover the rate, or individuals with access to intergenerational wealth, this rate allows us to offer more scholarships and subsidized participation rates.

  • (Optional Add-on) Emergent Guidance: Post-workshop Implementation Coaching Sessions - To help further contextualize the concepts and tools raised in the open workshop, we offer packages of 60-minute coaching sessions for individual participants. These sessions offer space to ask questions, seek advice, feedback, clarification, or other support on key challenges in your work , all with a focus on ways you can operationalize your values, grounded in equity and anti-oppression approaches. Facilitators would also be available for limited document review and feedback or other follow-up, such as sharing links to additional resources and support on development of specific documents. Limited discounts available for those who enroll at community or subsidized rates - please reach out to discuss further. 

    • $675 for 3 1-hour sessions

    • $1000 for 5 1-hour sessions

Please contact info@seachangecollective.org if you are unsure of which rate is right for you, if you need an invoice, and/or if you prefer to pay by check (without the processing fees).

REGISTER HERE BEFORE OCTOBER 20TH!!

Please note that space is limited to ensure an interactive learning community!

Earlier Event: June 23
Disrupting Power Dynamics (Virtual)
Later Event: November 10
Disrupting Power Dynamics (Virtual)