Join us for a critical workshop series, Voices Rise: Black Women in Leadership, in partnership with Alliance member BlackFemaleProject. We’re excited to bring back this critical workshop series, after our successful pilot series last year received overwhelmingly positive feedback.

How can we use lessons learned from intersectional lived experiences and center the voices of those who navigate complex social structures to teach us how to lead with love, and empathize with those who represent difference in our lives? How can we use our voices to counter pervasive racism and sexism in schools, outside of school, in the workplace, and beyond?

Through affinity groups, panel discussions, small group conversations, and equity-centered operational and culture design, attendees will talk through, listen, reflect, and respond to gain insight, create empathy, and center blackness in an effort to celebrate and begin to understand how Black women and girls can and do thrive. By elevating positive models and affirming gender identity (in multiple forms), together we will challenge race and gender biases by learning new ways of thinking about others.

Our powerful facilitators and speakers include:

• E'Rika Chambers, Doctoral Candidate of Education, Educational Leadership for Social Justice, CalState East Bay

• Ché Abram, Associate Director of Diversity, Samuel Merritt University

• Ellie Tumbuan, Head of Strategy and Culture, The Justice Collective

• Dr. Sheryl Davis, Executive Director, The San Francisco Human Rights Commission

• Monique Walton, Principal, Cesar Chavez Middle School

• Pier Angeli LaPlace, Assistant Principal, Palo Alto Unified School District

Attendees will:

• Develop a baseline understanding of intersectionality and equity, grounded in anti-racist philosophy
• Hear inspiring personal stories from Black women who lead organizations that serve girls
• Gain an understanding of how structural -isms show up for Black women and girls in the workplace and other settings, and insight into their own experiences as Black or non-Black women
• Learn effective tactics for supporting Black women who are in positions of authority and/or who hold positional power, as well as tactics to support the leadership of Black girls
• Access technical assistance to support navigation and implementation of tools and practices

Co-Facilitators:

Ché Abrams
Associate Director of Diversity
Samuel Merritt University

An Oakland native, Ché brings experience in higher education and community leadership to BlackFemaleProject. She considers herself a change maker as a designing and founding member of Oakland SOL Middle School, culture shifter moving diversity and inclusion initiatives forward, and servant leader by centering the needs of her partners in decision making.

Her career mostly centers in higher education with beginnings in admission and recruitment. Her in depth work as a Black woman and engagement with students of color lead to her current role as Associate Director of Diversity with Samuel Merritt University. In this role she focuses on implementation of system wide diversity and inclusion initiatives, providing impactful programming addressing the social determinants of health, and retention of students of color.

In her personal life she can be found organizing around educational needs in the Oakland Unified School District as a board member of Oakland Community Organizations/Faith in Action East Bay, parent voice with Californians for Justice, and can be found in numerous meetings with city, county, and state leaders gaining clarity and funding for schools. Her passion has been working closely with BlackFemaleProject because it has been a way to pay tribute to the Black women who have guided her through every career and life choice she has made.

Ché holds both her Bachelor of Science in Business Management and MBA in Management and Leadership from Holy Names University. Personally, Ché is a mother and bonus mother to 13 year old children, thrives on stand-up comedy, and her most sacred self-care practices are reading romance novels, traveling near water, and spending time with close friends and family.

Ellie Tumbuan
Head of Strategy and Culture
The Justice Collective

Ellie is a cross-sector management consultant bringing strategy and implementation experience from diversifying tech startups, philanthropy, and government to her work. A people, process, and culture geek, she is passionate about digital equity, government transparency, lean methodologies, leadership and talent development.
 

This workshop series is $50 for non-members. For members, the first ticket is free with a promo code and additional tickets are $35 each (30% discount). We welcome additional donations for this series, for which the proceeds will go directly to BlackFemaleProject. Email Kailin at kailin@alliance4girls.org for the members-only promo code. Not a member? Join us!

This series will be hosted on Zoom. If you have any accommodation needs, please let us know at least 48 hours prior to the workshop. We'll make every effort to provide them.

*“Girls” refers to gender expansive youth (cis girls, trans girls, non-binary youth, gender non-conforming youth, gender queer youth and any girl-identified youth).