RACIAL EQUITY INSTITUTE | WHAT TO EXPECT

WHAT TO EXPECT
at our Racial Equity Institute workshops

Held from 9 AM to 5 PM on two consecutive weekdays at the College of Charleston's North Charleston campus at 3800 Paramount Drive, each Racial Equity Institute workshop is led by REI facilitators and has been designed to help you proactively understand and address racism in your community, workplace, and personal life.

SEE OUR UPCOMING REI DATES

Our REI Phase I workshops are designed to help you better understand racism in its institutional and structural forms. Each session presents a historical, cultural, and structural analysis of racism, and will give you a foundation for understanding and addressing it.

You'll come away from REI's Phase I workshop with:

l A mutual understanding of how US history has contributed to inequitable systems and organizations
l A stronger, more informed vocabulary to use when discussing issues of race and ethnicity
l Ways to reframe problems and determine solutions using a racial equity lens
l A launching pad for questions regarding your own organization and community

Our Phase II workshops build on Phase I and will help you, as an emerging racial equity leader, identify your own struggles and challenges in terms of the racial equity analysis done in Phase I.

You'll come away from REI's Phase II workshop with:

l A new way of thinking based on an “analysis before action” model
l Practice using a time-honored “trial and error” approach
l Confidence to take greater risks to change entrenched patterns of institutional practices

If desired, you'll also enjoy access to racial / ethnic affinity groups offering people of similar cultural and ethnic backgrounds a chance to discuss issues they've experienced as someone with that background, presenting a powerful environment for honesty, understanding, cooperative learning, and planning. These groups typically meet separately on a monthly basis and combine with other groups for a quarterly meeting; some groups may meet online on a private website.

Once you've attended a Racial Equity Institute Phase I workshop, you can move ahead to attending the Phase II workshop... or you can attend a Phase I workshop a second time at no charge. We find that many participants need time to digest and fully integrate all they've learned, and attending a second Phase I workshop can be helpful in doing so. If you would like to attend REI Phase I a second time, please contact our social justice coordinator, Tina Singleton, to register.

Sign up today

It's easy to sign up! Register online by clicking the button below, or register by phone at 843.722.1644.

How you can help

If you own or lead an organization, send your board members, executives, staff, or volunteers to a Racial Equity Institute session! Sign up now and receive a discount for each person.

If you're an individual, attend one or more of our Racial Equity Institute workshops — and invite your friends!

Donate! A $400 tax-deductible donation will provide a scholarship for one individual to attend one of our Racial Equity Institute workshops... and if desired, participate in an REI sub-group afterward.

If you work for a local restaurant, donate food or drinks for these workshops! We appreciate Verde for their support in providing our workshop participants' lunches, and would love to find a sponsor to provide coffee and breakfast food. Thank you for your support!

BUILDING RACIAL EQUITY IN CHARLESTON

Want to know more about the impact the Racial Equity Institute can have?

Check out this May 2019 interview on Quintin's Close-Ups, where our executive director discusses our #WhatWomenBring power lunch and then the Racial Equity Institute.

WATCH THE VIDEO

If you're an individual who would like to provide a scholarship for a worthy recipient to attend a Racial Equity Institute workshop, we thank you! Please go to our donations page and select the REI option.