Turning the Tide on Poverty
Handout #2
Tips for Building Racial Equity
As you approach your community change initiative on poverty, pay attention to racial
dynamics.
Consider the following examples. Talk about how you might prevent or correct these
situations.
Planning and organizing
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Recruit members for your organizing committee from a cross-section of your
community. Be sure to include more than one person of color.
Meet in places where racially mixed groups gather, and/or where all kinds of
people can be equally comfortable.
Use personal communication (phone trees, face-to-face conversations) to
ensure that all meetings are well attended, regardless of where they take
place.
Make sure that the organizing team is racially mixed, and that everyone is
involved in making decisions.
Be mindful of language. There may be people in your community who don’t
speak or understand English.
Use clear, simple language to describe your project. Avoid
professional/academic terms and “insider” jargon.
Schedule meetings at times when everyone can attend. (Remember, not
everyone can take a long lunch break.)
Be sensitive to cultural differences related to time or the importance of
connecting socially before a meeting starts.
Dialogues and facilitation
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Make sure co-facilitators take turns leading the conversation and taking
notes.
If you have only one or two people of color in a circle, make it clear that they
are not expected to speak for their whole racial group.
Encourage participants of different races to share their stories.
Sometimes it is easier for facilitators—and for the group—to talk about class,
gender, or other issues than to talk about race. Allow enough time for the
conversation about race, so participants can say what they need to say.
Underscore the importance of facilitator neutrality and impartiality.
Train facilitators to handle racially charged statements. It can be too easy to
back away.
Working on action
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Find ways for action groups to share leadership among members of different
races.
When the focus of action is on new policies, make sure that the people most
affected by those policies are included in the planning.
Find ways to ensure that new leaders who are emerging are included in the
action work.
Everyday Democracy – www.everyday-democracy.org