DISMANTLING RACISM WORKSHOP

This is an intensive workshop for people who work together for change.

There is value in broadening and deepening candidate, party leader, staff, and volunteer awareness of racial, ethnic, cultural, and class diversity.  This workshop will provide a safe space to begin the journey of exploring our differences and ways we can work as individuals to examine structures, policies, and attitudes that allow racism to exist in our organizations and in our communities. 

Through a special series of activities, role playing, and discussions, workshop attendees will learn to dismantle racism. The workshop is designed to allow time to reflect on issues of race and class, and think about how to overcome the barriers that race, class, and culture have on our organizing efforts, issues campaigns, and our interaction with a diverse public. 

This workshop can accommodate up to 40 participants. The entire workshop takes about 18 hours.  Participants must make a commitment to attend the entire workshop. 

Schedule for Dismantling Racism Workshop

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

5:00 PM Dismantling Racism Workshop begins w Dinner (first day)

6:00 PM Dismantling Racism Workshop continues w instructions/goals

7:00 PM Dismantling Racism Workshop continues w film "Crash"

Thursday, July 12, 2007

8:30 AM - 8:30 PM Dismantling Racism Workshop continues (second day)

Friday, July 13, 2007

8:30 AM - 12:00 PM Dismantling Racism Workshop (third & last day)

Registration is open to all persons attending the annual national meeting. 

It is also open to the public.  We invite residents, activists, candidates, elected and non-elected government officials, and school faculty and staff to attend.  This workshop is a rare opportunity and a gift. 

Register without delay to reserve your slot.  The workshop is limited to 40 participants.

Persons who register must self-identify as either a person of  "color" or "white."  The workshop cannot be held unless 25 to 50 percent of the participants are people of color.

Register by June 1, 2007, by contacting Isabelle Buonocore by phone at 215-467-9065 or email at isabelle@gpanc.org or isabellebuonocore@hotmail.com.

DISMANTLING RACISM WORKSHOP

July 11 - July 13, 2007

REGISTRATION AND PLEDGE FORM

Return to:

Isabelle Buonocore

National Delegate Coordinator

Pennsylvania Task Force

2007 Green Party Annual National Meeting

isabelle@gpanc.org [or] isabellebuonocore@hotmail.com

1. Full name:

1. Email address:

1. Phone number: 

1. Of the following categories, write the letter of the one that best describes how you would identify yourself in terms of race-color:  a. color   b. white

1. Are you committed to attending the full workshop, beginning with dinner at 5 PM, July 11 and ending at 12:00 PM, July 13?

1. The Registration Fee is from $10 to $20 based on ability to pay, and is due the first night of the workshop.  Please specify the amount, from $10 to $20, that you can afford to pay:  $

1. Pledges are being accepted to help pay the travel expenses of the workshop leaders who are donating their time.  Pledges in any amount (starting at $1.00) will be collected the first night of the workshop if you attend the workshop. If you can pledge an amount, please specify the amount here:  $

Workshop Leaders: Bill Price and Rita Harris

Bill Price and Rita Harris are professionals who are donating their time and service for this workshop.  They are not sponsored or being paid by any employer or any organization.  In order to assist them with traveling expenses to Reading, pledges are being taken and donors will be announced in the program booklet.  Please make a pledge, even if you can't attend the workshop, by contacting Isabelle Buonocore at 215-467-9065 or by email at isabelle@gpanc.org.

Bill Price was a resident of the southern West Virginia coal fields for more than 30 years. He has experienced first-hand the impacts when irresponsible coal mining methods bring economic and environmental devastation to low-income communities in the coal-producing region of Central Appalachia.

Bill became active in the environmental movement in 2001 after the community where he lived was heavily damaged by flooding. The failure of a large sediment pond on a mountaintop removal mining operation directly above this small community contributed to the severity of the flood, which destroyed and damaged several hundred homes in the valley downstream.

In 2003, Bill began working with the Sierra Club's Environmental Justice Program. As the Central Appalachian EJ Resource Coordinator, he works in coal-producing areas of six states (WV, KY, VA, OH, PA and TN) with members of grassroots organizations involved in various coal-related issues.  Bill has co-facilitated Dismantling Racism workshops throughout the Sierra Club for two years now and also offers training in Diversity and Leadership Development. He now lives in Charleston WV and works locally on anti-racism initiatives as well as other social justice issues.

Rita J. Harris is a long-time social justice activist/advocate and a lifelong Memphian.  The Sierra Club, the oldest environmental organization in the country, hired her in 1999 as the first of nine current national environmental justice community organizers.  She has worked on air toxics and a myriad of environmental justice issues for the past 16 years.  Currently, Ms. Harris heads up the Sierra Club's Memphis, Tennessee, Environmental Justice Program office and works specifically with low-income and people-of-color communities dealing with what they feel are environmental injustices most impacting their lives.  She recently helped design and launch an e-Learning course on Environmental Justice for the Sierra Club. 

Rita has worked over the past 20 years with a number of non-profit organizations including the NAACP, Girl Scouts, Mississippi River Basin Alliance, Mid-South Peace & Justice Center and others.  Wherever she has worked she has attempted to make organizations aware of the benefits they may be missing out on if they are not fully engaging the total community.  Initially trained by the Peace Development Fund's Dismantling Racism trainers in the early 1990s, Rita has been a participant in many workshops that deal directly with racism, prejudice reduction, and cultural sensitivity.  She firmly believes each of us can work as change agents to make a better society that is fully inclusive of all people.  Her present work includes the planning and facilitation of Dismantling Racism and diversity/inclusion training for staff, volunteer and community leaders.  She has led numerous workshops, facilitated discussions, and led training to connect people to move beyond invisible barriers. 

Rita believes that average citizens, regardless to their race or class, must be empowered to speak for themselves and be included in decisions that impact their lives and their communities.  As a part of her daily work Rita has been a driving force and leader in promoting cultural competency and inclusion.  In 2006, she was appointed to the Sierra Club's Diversity Council, which is planning the course of action to work toward a more diverse and multicultural organization.