Diversity Awareness Partnership

Diversity Awareness Partnership and NCCJ St. Louis are collaborating to support educators and their students as school communities continue to shape young leaders. Facilitating Dialogue for Understanding is designed in solidarity with the efforts of educators to be fair and constructive arbiters during student discussions. While participating in our engagement programs, students have consistently demonstrated that they are capable of rich discussions about identity, oppression, and current events. Young people are as enmeshed in cultural, systemic, and institutionalized issues as the general populace and deserve to be equal actors in breaking oppressive cycles. In order to do so, they must be given opportunities to have honest, vulnerable dialogue about their lived experiences and the perspectives that arise from their individual realities.

The objectives of Facilitating Dialogue for Understanding sessions are to provide educators with:

• A foundation of active listening to both embody and impart to students
• Guidance on holding space for students’ politically-charged conversations, while encouraging nonviolent communication principles
• Scaffolding for maintaining non-partisanship while honoring the values of your individual institution
• Consideration of personal bias and how to maintain thoughtful boundaries in the presence of student dialogue
• Discussion on further catalyzing students’ eagerness to foster inclusion in their schools and communities

Contact Executive Director Melissa Brickey at mbrickey@dapinclusive.org or
314-257-0798 for more information.