Turning the Tide on Poverty: Structural Racism Session
Agenda
Connect Sites: 8:00 a.m. Central/ 9:00 a.m. Eastern
October 2, 2009
Training Times
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Eastern (EDT)
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Central (CDT)
Description: Understanding structural racism will help you in every phase of organizing inclusive, dialogue-to-action programs. In this
workshop, you will engage in interactive exercises that inform you of the ways that racism is embedded in our communities, and you’ll
learn how to address these challenges. You will leave with an understanding of structural racism, and you will have some tools to
dismantle its effects where you live and work.
Goal of the Session: To introduce the concept of structural racism and how it affects this work.
Takeaways: Turning the Tide on Poverty Communities:



Are better able to understand structural racism.
Are better able to understand the relationship between structural racism and poverty.
Are better prepared to recognize structural racism as a barrier to your work on poverty in every phase of the project.
Trainers: Jon Abercrombie and Gwen Whiting
Time:
10:00 a.m. EDT
9:00 a.m. CDT
Activity
I. Opening
Task
10:30 a.m. EDT
9:30 a.m. CDT
II. Welcome
and Goal of
Session
To introduce the concept of structural racism and how
it impacts dialogue-to-action work as part of creating
community change.
State coordinators will lead introductions on the local level.
IF surveys are ready, conduct surveys. If surveys are not
ready, Rachel will provide a program overview at 10:20
Eastern / 9:20 Central.
(30 minutes)
(15 minutes)
Page 1 of 5
Goals and Notes for Facilitator
Possible survey.
Trainers will open with a dialogue modeling
how we will talk about this work and what
we will need from each other to create
space for open and honest conversations.
Turning the Tide on Poverty: Structural Racism Session
10:45 a.m. EDT
9:45 a.m. CDT
III. Introductory
Exercise:
Exploring our
relationship
with race
Discussion for Local Sites:
Question #1: Share your name, community, and ethnic
and/or cultural heritage/background.
Question #2: Share ways you believe your life would be
different if it were not affected by prejudice and racism.
How would your community be different?
(15 minutes to talk and 5 for feedback )
Handle the conversation as a short
brainstorming dialogue.
Encourage participants to discuss questions 1
and 2. Make sure everyone responds to the
first question; if time allows, ask group
members to discuss the second question.
At the end of 15 minutes, get a few feedback
responses from the group and prepare for
debrief with other sites.
11:05 a.m. EDT
10:05 a.m. CDT
IV. Debrief
Section III
Debrief: How did it feel to take part in this conversation?
(10 minutes)
Trainers will debrief with all sites.
11:15 a.m. EDT
10:15 a.m. CDT
V. Definitions:
The power of
language
Discussion Question: What words do you and other people
use when talking about the issue of race? Brainstorm.
(5 minutes)
Start by asking your group to answer and talk
about the opening question. Use 5 minutes.
Let us look at the definitions and talk about the power of
language. Handout One: Racial Definitions
(10 minutes)
11:30 a.m. EDT
10:30 a.m. CDT
Page 2 of 5
VI. Walk
through the
history of
race in the
U.S.
(Historical
Timeline on
Structural
Racism)
NEWSPRINT – MAJOR HISTORICAL EVENTS (WALK DOWN
MEMORY LANE IN YOUR COMMUNITY)
Facilitator provides an overview of national history of the
development of structural racism - definition and examples.
Invite participants to:
Reflect on the past decades.
 What has happened in your community, related
to race, that has affected your ability to bring
people to the table to work on a common issue.
 List events, past and present, that affect your
ability to bring together a racially mixed group
of people to solve a common problem.
Stereotyping
Racism
Institutional race
Structural Racism
Prejudice
Discrimination
White Privilege
Racial Equity
NOTE: State Coordinators – See the
PowerPoint for this session for pictures of how
to prepare for this activity.
The facilitator(s) will start the exercise by
asking a volunteer to describe his/her own
experience with race and write it down as a
short bullet on the timeline. Next, invite
others to write down their experiences.
The facilitator might ask, “Can any of you
remember other major events connected to
Turning the Tide on Poverty: Structural Racism Session

What has happened in your community that will race that we can add?” This might get
responses from some who are hesitant to write
provide challenges and opportunities to bring
but who will chime in.
people together?
Introduce the activity; model through the PowerPoint
presentation.
 Allow time during lunch for participants to add
more to the timeline, as they tell their stories.
 There are big picture things and personal
experiences on the local and community level.
 What were some of those historical markers personal memories of how race has affected
the conversations in your communities?

Use the PowerPoint overview to model the
activity.

Materials: Flip chart paper, markers, tape

Each site will post chart paper around the
wall.

At the top of each piece of paper write the
decade. You can start as far back as the
1500s to present.
(30 minutes)

12:00 noon EDT
11:00 a.m. CDT
30 MINUTE LUNCH BREAK
Lunch discussion: What gets in the way of your work on race? Are there issues
related to structural racism in your project?
12:30 p.m. EDT
11:30 a.m. CDT
VII. Debrief Walk through
History
Debrief timeline exercise.
12:45 p.m. EDT
11:45 a.m. CDT
VIII. How race affects us
every day in our
dialogue-to-action
work--and what we
can do about it
Scenarios
(45 minutes)
Divide audience in small groups to work on 2 to 3
questions focusing on areas of:
 Organizing and Recruitment
 Facilitation
Page 3 of 5
If you do not have wall space, use table
tops or the floor.
Guiding questions:
 Looking at the past 10 to 15 years, what
have been the barriers to talking about
and addressing race issues in your
community?
 What are the barriers in your community
that get in the way of creating multi-racial
conversations?
Trainers will debrief with all sites.
(15 minutes)
Handouts:
 Two: Tips for Building Racial Equity
 Three: Racial Equity
 Four: Scenarios
Turning the Tide on Poverty: Structural Racism Session

Action and Implementation
(See questions in the right-hand column.)
Organizing and Recruitment:
1. Organizing committee recruits one person of
color to “represent” “African American
/Latino/Asian “community”.
2. Chairperson selects large prosperous white
church or some other venue that is
frequented by whites as regular meeting site
for organizing team.
3. Leadership of organizing team is all white,
people doing most of talking are white.
4. Issue of language – using English only in
group with Latino representation or using
academic or professional language when
trying to recruit from working class
communities.
5. Timing of meetings – i.e. lunch (assuming
that everyone can take an hour-long break),
or not taking into account cultural differences
around time.
Facilitation:
6. During dialogue, racially charged statements
arise; facilitators shut down the discussion.
Action Phase:
7. & 8. During action task force meetings,
privilege dynamics play out: Who is leading
the meeting, making assignments, etc.?
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Post Questions on Newsprint
(Section is also included at the bottom of
handout 4):
1. Read the scenario
2. Where in your community have you seen
this dynamic playing out? What did it look
like? Tell the story!
3. What can you do to prevent this type of
dynamic in your community project?
4. Describe the scenarios that are happening
in your community? How would you
handle them?
5. What will be the barriers to addressing
them?
Turning the Tide on Poverty: Structural Racism Session
1:30 p.m. EDT
12:30 p.m. CDT
IX.
Debrief Section VIII
Debrief: What does this look like and what could
you do to prevent or address these dynamics?
(30 minutes)
2:00 p.m. EDT
1:00 p.m. CDT
X.
Summary
What has our experience today shown us about
the work we are about to do in our communities?
2:15 p.m. EDT
1:15 p.m. CDT
XI.
Next Steps –Big
Picture
Questions and Answers
(15 minutes)
Rachel Welborn will lead a short question and
answer session on next steps.
2:30 p.m. EDT
1:30 p.m. CDT
XII.
Next Steps – local
planning
State/county coordinators will lead their group(s)
in next steps discussion.
3:00 p.m. EDT
2:00 p.m. CDT
XIII.
Adjourn
Page 5 of 5
Trainers will debrief with all sites
Sites will sign off at the end of this session.