Our National Political Education program builds up anti-racist leadership, politics and practice within majority white organizations and communities, in connection with working-class grassroots people of color-led social justice organizing. We focus on working with other white activists in response to generations of encouragement and challenges from activists of color for white people to take on this responsibility with each other, and to take collective action against racism in coordination with leadership from communities of color.
We lead participatory trainings, give presentations, and organize educational panels. More information on each of these is below. Here is a partial list of who we’ve worked with.
Catalyst’s political education is a contribution towards building stronger multiracial movements for liberation in the U.S., aligned with progressive grassroots global peoples’ movements. We use political education to:
- Support and multiply anti-racist leadership in majority white organizations, communities of faith and institutions
- Contribute to building multiracial alliances within and between grassroots social movements
- Increase the capacity of white social justice activists to deepen anti-racist commitment and action within majority white communities as well as in multiracial alliances and movements
- Draw out and share lessons about effective anti-racist organizing
Trainings:
We offer participatory trainings to support people to develop deeper understandings and practices of anti-racism in their organization, campus or community. Our trainings emphasize the institutional nature of racism in the U.S. and its function as a system of divide-and-control. Anti-racist political education and organizing is vital to vibrant social movements for global justice. Racism continues to fuel tremendous inequities within the US and on a global scale. Racism also manifests in progressive and radical social movements. Anti-racism is a powerful catalyst for building the movements we need to create a world in which all people are free from all forms of oppression. Our approach centralizes the importance of white people actively taking on the challenge to dismantle racism, while looking through a lens of the intersection of different systems of privilege and oppression. We explore the relationship between institutional and interpersonal racism, and offer tools for white social justice activists to take responsibility for building unity around the importance of anti-racist organizing and shifting the ways that internalized racism impacts progressive organizations and movements.
Trainings range from one day to one week. Our trainings are designed for white people who are invested in anti-racist values and want support building their skills and analysis. Our trainings are always open to participation by people of color and multiracial people.
We tailor our trainings to your group’s needs. We also lead shorter trainings at social justice conferences.
Read more about our trainings and a list of training topics here, or download our brochure.
You can submit a training request here
Presentations:
We give talks, keynotes, and presentations at campuses (from high school through graduate programs), conferences, community and faith groups. Our presentations are grounded in historical perspective as well as lessons from current social movements, and give a global context to looking at racism in the U.S.
We present on challenging white supremacy, anti-racist politics and practice, and different aspects of multiracial social justice movements.
Contact info@collectiveliberation.org to discuss setting up a presentation.
Panels:
Grassroots social justice movements are a location of inspiring experiments and evolution of strategy and vision for fundamental social change. We use panels to draw out and share hard-won lessons from the practice of putting anti-racist organizing theory into action. Organizers working on the ground, especially in communities at the frontlines of racial and economic justice struggles, can provide critical guidance to our theory and practice.
Catalyst organizes panels for local and national conferences and events. We bring together experienced activists and organizers from a range of organizations and types of work, across generations and different progressive anti-racist perspectives. We draw upon relationships and alliances we’ve built through organizing and coalition work to bring together panelists who represent some of the most visionary and powerful grassroots organizing in the country.
For more information about our panels contact info@collectiveliberation.org.
Further work with your organization
We provide organizational consulting, technical assistance and strategic planning for organizations in a process of anti-racist transformation.
Email info@collectiveliberation.org for more information on our consulting work.
For more intensive training in anti-racist organizing skills for white activists, check out our Anne Braden Program.
