How to Start Conversations about Justice and Equity

Trust is necessary for any team working towards equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice. Building trust requires time and intentional work building shared language and shared understanding of history and current social issues. In this workshop, participants will learn how to use the Power Flower activity to engage their library staffs in a conversation about identity and power. The workshop will demonstrate how to use self-reflection, storytelling, and deep listening to nurture the trust necessary to have honest conversations about equity and social justice. Participants will also receive a train-the-trainer resource which documents the activity and offers instruction on how to facilitate the entire workshop themselves at their own libraries, in-person or online. The Power Flower activity is the introduction to the online course Justice at Work in Public Libraries, currently available as a professional development training for public libraries across the U.S. The online version of the activity can be found here: https://learninglab.freedomlifted.com/courses/power-flower. The training for libraries is available here: https://learninglab.freedomlifted.com/courses/justice-at-work-public-libraries.