Dialog About: Race, The Power of an Illusion

Instructors

Ticiang Diangson, Director, SPU Environmental Justice and Service Equity Division
Elliott Bronstein, Public Information Officer, City of Seattle Office for Civil Rights

Ticiang is the inaugural and current Director of the Environmental Justice and Service Equity Division at Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) where she lives her passion for equity and the environment. Ticiang has been on the forefront of cutting edge environmental initiatives in Seattle: In 1985 she commissioned a study on why Asian and Latino American customers were not participating in City Light’s energy conservation loan program. In 1988, she was the lead for the public information/community outreach for the City of Seattle’s kick-off of curbside recycling. As a community activist, in 1992, she co-founded Seattle’s Community Coalition for Environmental Justice. In 1998, she obtained an EPA grant to implement SPU’s Environmental Justice Network in Action project (EJNA) to reach historically under-served customer groups and co-led the establishment of EJNA partnerships structure with immigrant and refugee communities. Read more.

Elliott is the Public Information Officer for the City of Seattle’s Office for Civil Rights (SOCR), which promotes equal rights and social justice for everyone in Seattle through education, policy work, and enforcement of civil rights laws. He also serves on the coordinating committee for the City of Seattle Race and Social Justice Initiative, an effort to end institutionalized racism and race-based disparities in City government. Read more.

Course description

Format

The training uses the three-part PBS video series about race, power and privilege to examine historical and present-day causes of racial disparities. Participants view the video series and take part in interactive exercises to deepen their understanding of institutional racism and talk about applying the information to their work.

Topics covered:

• Human variation
• Myths about race
• History of race as an idea
• The power of institutional racism
• How to diminish institutional racism
• How to reach minority audiences and audiences that don't speak English as a first language

Schedule

This training will take place on three consecutive Thursdays—February 18th & 25th, and March 4th—starting at 5pm each day.

Venue

Vance Building, conference room 530
1402 Third Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101

Who should attend:

Staff, volunteers and board members of environmental and sustainability-focussed non-profits.

What to bring:

Please dress comfortably. We will provide light snacks and drinks; you are welcome to bring anything you would like to have

Sponsorship

Interested in sponsoring this or any other class? Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact us for more information.

Registration

Registration is free for our Vance Building neighbors. Spaces are limited, so please register online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/94646

Anyone else interested in attending should email us at STARs@sustainableseattle.org - if there is enough interest we will be glad to offer this class to the public in future.