Changing the Status Quo workshop flyer

Changing the Status Quo: A Dialogue Cohort to Challenge White Supremacy Culture

Event Details:
When: April 1, 2021 6:30 pm – April 29, 2021 8:30 pm
Location: Virtual

Cost To Attend:
Nonmembers –
VBSR Members –

Registration is open

Event hosted by: EmpowR

A learning series for women to examine cultural assumptions and self-sufficiency expectations so our words and actions can influence a more just, inclusive, and compassionate society. Cohort sessions will be held Thursday April 1, 8, 22, 29 from 6:30 – 8:30 PM EST.

HOW DO WE DISMANTLE WHITE SUPREMACY CULTURE?

Women are at our capacity to meet the expectations, assumptions, and norms of dominant (aka white supremacy) culture. Therefore, we are at the vanguard to influence culture change by challenging the status quo of what it means to be strong, self-sufficient individuals.

White supremacy culture causes harm to our bodies, our lives, and our communities. It is imprinted in personal and cultural narratives, often without our awareness. Behaviors over time become culture, and so in order to dismantle white supremacy culture, we must identify and change the very behaviors which support the toxicity of white supremacy.

Join a cohort of women as we address our own perspectives, behaviors, and responses to dominant culture expectations and assumptions. We will explore, in depth, the following expressions of white supremacy culture in our personal and professional lives:

  • Hyper-Individualism
  • Either/Or Thinking
  • Perfectionism & Urgency
  • Fear of Conflict & Defensiveness

BY GATHERING AS A COMMUNITY OF WOMEN…we empower each other to take courageous steps towards influencing cultural narratives as we encourage shifts away from extreme and unhealthy versions of self-sufficiency, to a culture of nurturing collaboration.

  • We CAN respond differently to the assumed demands of society.
  • Our words and actions CAN challenge white supremacy culture.
  • We CAN transform the unhealthy expectations and norms that negatively impact our lives and those of our families and communities.

In doing this work, we take a stand for racial justice, support race/class/gender equity, and create more belonging and compassion in society.

The content of this series will include conversations about economic, sexual, domestic, racial, and other injustices and may trigger emotional responses. The facilitators are trained in holding safer space where trauma may present and will include embodiment practices to support discomfort.

FACILITATORS

Workshop facilitators Jennifer Grossi and Rae Carter will draw on their shared experience working as change makers, circle process space holders, and trauma survivors to help participants learn, share, release, and grow.

Rae Carter is a culture change bridge builder and social justice advocate. She facilitates justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion work in Vermont’s socially responsible business and health care communities. She integrates meditation, embodiment practices, and vocal and cultural somatics into her work as the founder of EmpowR in Plainfield, Vermont.

Jennifer Grossi is a musician, theatrical performer, and educator. She facilitates listening practices in community and educational settings and is a racial justice accomplice in the Upper Valley Region of Vermont. She performs with David Rosane & The Zookeepers and is the founder of the Summer Street Music Series in Bradford, Vermont.

Learn more at Empowr-transformation.com