Workshops:

Conference participants can choose three of the following four workshops.

Tod Ewing - “CHANGE AGENTS FOR DIVERSITY” Facilitating and participating in dialogues that involve sensitive issues is both an art and a skill.  In a society where condescension, sarcasm and dominance are used to express views, facilitating or participating in diversity and human rights dialogue can be a serious challenge.  Unity must be the process if it is to be the product, and communication is the “essential human connection” that creates unity.  The foundational skills of facilitation, communication, and effective dialogue will be practiced in a manner that is both inspiring and practical. This workshop will focus on skills for participants to become change agents to promote diversity, and will elaborate on fundamentals of collaborative problem solving.  Participants, youth and adults alike, will collaborate in learning the spirit and basic practices of how to facilitate and participate in dialogues that lead to a genuine search for truth.

Hind Makki - “PLURALISM: AN ALTERNATIVE TO EXTREMISM” Imagine a world where people come together to create understanding and respect by serving their communities.  Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) builds mutual respect and pluralism among young people from different religious traditions by empowering them to work together to serve others.  In this workshop, societies where people from different faith backgrounds live together in equal dignity and mutual loyalty will be explored as an alternative to extremism.  This workshop will present a shared values, service-learning approach to interfaith engagement, and will emphasize the singular role of young people in problem solving.  The workshop will share models of actual interfaith service learning projects focused on issues of human rights, and will facilitate participants in a model IFYC dialogue they can use in their own communities.

Kathleen Macferran - “BEYOND ENEMY IMAGES: FINDING STRENGTH IN CONNECTION”  This workshop is based on Nonviolent Communication (NVC): a practical, learnable process for communicating with empathy, honesty, power and compassion. NVC integrates personal development with social change. The purpose is to ensure everyone's needs are valued equally and fulfilled in ways that contribute to connection, harmony and peace. Participants will learn listening skills to transform blame, anger and criticism into respectful, constructive communication.  Through interactive dialogue, games (NVC Poker!), and role-playing, participants will learn to hear common human needs behind any word or action, regardless of how painfully they might be expressed. Participants will explore the thinking behind enemy images that escalates violence and prevents mutual understanding, and will acquire tools to transform these images into profound human connections to resolve differences and lead to creative collaboration.

Libby Roderick - “CAN WE ALL GET ALONG? TOOLS FOR DIFFICULT DIALOGUES” This workshop will introduce and demonstrate an array of strategies for engaging in constructive dialogue about difficult and sensitive issues.   Exercises will allow participants to experience firsthand at least three of the following five “difficult dialogues” processes: 

Developing a code of conduct for civil discourse. Using the “five minute rule” for honoring minority or marginalized positions. “Up/Downs,” an identity/diversity process for becoming more aware of the complex and multiple identities and concerns of individuals and groups involved in dialogue. Modular debate. A four-step process for transforming discriminatory remarks into learning moments.