Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Events

January 29, 2020 - 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM ET

The SSW Book Club will discuss the memoir Ordinary Girls, by Jaquira Díaz.

You are welcome to join us, whether or not you have attended before, and whether or not you have finished the book.

All members of the SSW community are invited. Feel free to bring your lunch.

January 28, 2020 - 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM ET

In honor of  MLK Symposium Events and the Community Action and Social Change Undergraduate Minor Program, 10 Year Anniversary: 

The following session will explore themes presented in Tawana Petty’s book Towards Humanity: Shifting the Culture of Anti-Racism Organizing. Through a lecture and panel discussion, the presenter will explore pressing issues facing antiracist organizing and  her vision and approach to a humanistic philosophy. Following the lecture, the speaker will host a conversation with community development organizer Lauren A. Hood to discuss how Detroit based organizers navigate questions, themes, and challenges in ant-racist organizing, applications of humanism, and other guiding philosophical principles toward change. This event is co-sponsored by the Community Action and Social Change Minor Program, SSW Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and the Semester in Detroit Program. 

Tawana Petty (Honeycomb): Tawana "Honeycomb" Petty is a mother, social justice organizer, youth advocate, poet and author. She is intricately involved in water rights advocacy, data and digital privacy education, and racial justice and equity work. She is Director of the Data Justice Program for the Detroit Community Technology Project (DCTP) and co-leads Our Data Bodies (ODB), a five-person team concerned about the ways our communities’ digital information is collected, stored, and shared by government and corporations. Tawana is a convening member of the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition (DDJC) on behalf of DCTP, which organizes Data DiscoTechs (discovering technology) fairs and other initiatives to foster media and digital literacy. She recently co-produced with ODB, the Digital Defense Playbook, a workbook of popular education activities and tools for data justice and data access for equity, as well as the report, A Critical Summary of Detroit's Project Green Light and Its Greater Context, on Detroit's Project Green Light surveillance program. Tawana is a co-founder of Riverwise Magazine, a quarterly magazine which lifts up community stories by Detroit residents, which might otherwise be misrepresented or underrepresented in local and national media. Riverwise Magazine recently produced a special surveillance issue, Detroiters Want to Be Seen, Not Watched. She is a board member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership (Boggs Center), a Detroit Equity Action Lab (DEAL) Fellow, and the organizer of an annual art festival and artist retreat in historic Idlewild, Michigan, which convenes over 30 artists, organizers, herbalists and innovators each year to create art, share healing practices and respirit each other and the communities they serve. Tawana is the recipient of several awards, including the Spirit of Detroit Award, the Woman of Substance Award, Women Creating Caring Communities Award, Detroit Awesome Award, University of Michigan Black Law Student Association's Justice Honoree Award, was recognized as one of Who’s Who in Black Detroit in 2013 and 2015, the Wayne State Center for Peace and Conflict Studies' Peacemaker Award, and a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition in 2018.

Lauren Hood: Born & raised in Detroit, Lauren A. Hood brings double consciousness to the practice of community development. Being both a trained practioner and a lifelong resident, Hood serves as a translator/negotiator between development entities and citizen stakeholders. Through her work as an Equitable Development Strategist, Hood develops engagement frameworks, facilitates dialogues, and creates platforms that allow for the emergence and inclusion of often unrecognized place based expertise in city planning and neighborhood development processes. Through her consultancy Deep Dive Detroit, Hood produces workshops and events on community engagement, equitable development and racial justice for civic, philanthropic & institutional clients. Passionate about preserving the city's cultural heritage, Hood regularly writes and delivers keynotes on the value of placekeeping, preserving black spaces and how to authentically engage community. She currently serves as the Vice Chair of the City of Detroit Planning Commission and on the board of directors for Detroit Sound Conservancy, MoGo, and on the advisory board of the Urban Consulate.  She holds an undergraduate business degree and Masters Degree in Community Development, both from the University of Detroit Mercy. To learn more about Lauren A. Hood visit her website at laurenahood.com/work

Please note that the RSVP For this program is closed. Additional overflow space will be available in the School of Social Work Building, McGregor Commons lobby.

The program will also be available for remote access through live stream. See link below 

Live Stream »

This event is co-sponsored by the Community Action and Social Change Undergraduate Minor, SSW Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and the Semester in Detroit Program. 

January 8, 2020 - 11:45 AM to 12:00 PM ET

Join us for the kick off of the 21-Day Equity Challenge in a commitment to deepening your understanding of and willingness to confront racism for 21 consecutive days beginning January 6 and ending January 26. SIGN UP HERE! During every morning of the Challenge, you'll receive an email "prompt" with readings, videos and/or podcasts. You are encouraged to take about ten to fifteen minutes each day with the material in the prompt.

Throughout the month we will also be collectively reading Towards Humanity: Shifting the Culture of Anti-Racism Organizing by Tawana Petty.  Reading and reflections will occur in preparation for Tawana Petty's visit to University of Michigan School of Social Work. Please stop by for refreshments as we commit to fresh new efforts!

November 26, 2019 - 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM ET

All members of our SSW community are invited to participate in our regular meeting focused on undoing racism efforts. The first portion of the meeting will offer an opportunity for participants to share recent and current activities with the second portion leaving space for employees to engage in SEED workshop that was provided to students and for students to provide an update on ways concepts of power and oppression can continue to be advanced for the remainder of the academic year.

RSVP Here »

November 26, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM ET

This session will focus on how social workers can effectively engage and serve alongside immigrant communities. There will be presenters from Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights. Lunch will be served.

RSVP Here »

November 25, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM ET

Come celebrate with the School of Social Work’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for a ceremony to honor the award winners and nominees for the DEI Impact Awards, recognizing individuals or groups in the School who have made significant contributions to advancing diversity, equity & inclusion in the School of Social Work and/or in the community.

Lunch will be provided.

RSVP Here »

November 22, 2019 - 12:15 PM to 1:30 PM ET

November 21, 2019 - 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM ET

The Spectrum Center, Council for Disability Concerns, and School of Social Work DEI Office are very excited to host multi-talented brown trans disabled artist, Kay Ulanday Barrett this November. Kay is a poet, performer, and educator whose work has been supported and published by organizations including the UN Global LGBTQ+ Summit, the Asian American Literary Review, and Race Forward. Join us in hosting them during Trans Awareness Week to hear about their work, both in reading and in their experience creating it. Event navigation details: http://bit.ly/SCeventnav. More Trans Awareness Week events: http://bit.ly/TransAwareness19

November 20, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM ET

The SSW Book Club will discuss Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.

You are welcome to join us, whether or not you have attended before, and whether or not you have finished the book.

All members of the SSW community are invited. Feel free to bring your lunch.

November 18, 2019 - 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM ET

The Spectrum Center invites this year's Transgender Awareness Week Keynote, Kavi Ade. Kavi Ade is a black trans queer speaker, arts educator, and nationally recognized poet of Afro and Indigenous Caribbean descent. Speaking on race, gender, sexuality, mental health, domestic violence, and sexual assault, Kavi's work grapples with being set at the throne of violence, and exploring the ways in which a body can learn to survive. Using art as resistance, they create transformative dialogue that aims to combat supremacist powers, and heal communities that have been harmed. Kavi has given poetry readings and keynote speeches, led workshops, and spoken on panels in numerous cities and communities, including over 100 colleges and universities, domestically and internationally. Kavi received the leeway foundation's transformation of work that honors "women and trans* artists and cultural producers who create art for social change, demonstrating a long-term commitment to social change work."

November 18, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM ET

In Separated, William D. Lopez examines the lasting damage done by a daylong act of collaborative immigration enforcement in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Exploring the chaos of immigration enforcement through the lens of community health, Lopez discusses deportation's rippling negative effects and what it looks like from the perspective of the people who experience it. Focusing on those left behind, he reveals their efforts to cope with trauma, avoid homelessness, handle worsening health, and keep their families together.

November 13, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM ET

Join Common Roots Planning Committee as we host our recruitment event for the Fall 2019 semester. The Common Roots Planning Committee will detail accomplishments, discuss plans for transition and goals for the Winter 2020 semester. 

Please join us! Lunch will be served. 

Common Roots is a committee consisting of representatives from the SSW’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office, the LatinX Social Work Coalition, the Black Radical Healing Pathways, Association of Black Social Workers, the Office of Student Services and SSW Student Representatives.

RSVP

November 5, 2019 - 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM ET

Ilana Kaufman’s talk, “Jewish Community, Race, and Social Justice” will be presented free and open to the public on Tuesday, November 5 at 7pm. The event will be held in the Educational Conference Center of the School of Social Work (1080 S University Ave). She will discuss the intersection of U.S. Jewish identity and race, as animated by modern movements for social justice. Informed by community pain-points such as Jewish communal reactions to the Women’s March and the Movement for Black Lives Platform, Kaufman will explore notions of anti-Semitism, community and movement-building, and how to effectively partner with groups despite some fundamental disagreements and tensions.

Ilana Kaufman is the Executive Director of the Jews of Color Field Building Initiative. Kaufman’s work aims to draw attention to those in the Jewish community who have diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, namely non-white and non-Ashkenazi heritage, or of multiple racial and ethnic identities. These individuals, many of whom identify as Jews of Color, have historically been underrepresented in our Jewish institutions and largely invisible in Jewish demographic studies. Through the Jews of Color Field Building Initiative, Kaufman develops more accurate demographic information about how many American Jews of Color there are and how to create more inclusive Jewish communities. She focuses on grantmaking to programs that support Jews of Color, research and field building, and community education.

The event is generously sponsored by the Jewish Communal Leadership Program in the School of Social Work, Trotter Multicultural Center, Michigan Hillel, The School of Social Work Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, and LSA Diveristy, Equity, and Inclusion.

RSVP here »

November 1, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM ET

Dorian Warren, president of the Center for Community Change Action, will give a talk about his book, titled "The Hidden Rules of Race: Barriers to an Inclusive Economy," as part of the 2019 Real-World Perspectives on Poverty Solutions speaker series.

October 23, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM ET

The School of Social Work’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion brings bystander intervention skills to the SSW community for the purpose of building inclusive, respectful and safe communities. The training is based on a nationally-recognized four-stage bystander intervention model that helps individuals intervene in situations that negatively impact individuals, organizations, and the campus community. Unable to attend in person, view the livestream: https://bluejeans.com/639314111

RSVP here

October 22, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM ET

The SSW Book Club will discuss Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow.

You are welcome to join us, whether or not you have attended before, and whether or not you have finished the book.

All members of the SSW community are invited. Feel free to bring your lunch.

October 17, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM ET

In August 2019, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a new rule with the potential to dismantle important civil rights protections against discrimination in housing.

Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, known as the Fair Housing Act, prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, or financing of housing and in other housing-related activities on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin. However, HUD's new rule proposes to replace the use of "disparate impact" in determining housing discrimination and to raise the burden of proof required to prove discrimination. Moreover, the new rule proposes to release lenders and landlords from responsibility for computer-based algorithms that discriminate while automating decisions about credit scoring, home insurance, and mortgage interest rates.

Come learn about submitting public comments and make your voice heard on this critical issue! No prior experience submitting public comments is necessary.

Please visit B780 in the School of Social Work on Thursday, October 17, 2019 any time between 12:00pm to 1:30pm to submit a public comment regarding this rule.

Public comments on this rule will only be accepted until October 18, 2019.

RSVP here

October 16, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM ET

The School of Social Work Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office, the Spectrum Center and Queer Advocacy Coalition would like to invite you to attend "Healing Through Words." This event will provide a space for students to connect, heal, and learn from each other's experiences, identities and narratives.

RSVP here

October 9, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM ET

The School of Social Work Student Union: First Generation Student Subcommittee invites you to join Dr. Clelia O. Rodríguez author of Decolonizing Academia: Poverty, Oppression, and Pain at the University of Michigan. Dr. Rodríguez is a woman of color and an educator, born and raised in El Salvador. The seminar will foster dialogue that encourages graduate students to challenge inequalities, disrupt racist ways of learning, and inhibit the exploitation of communities through scholarly practice.

October 8, 2019 - 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM ET

Please join us as we welcome River Coello to campus as our keynote speaker for National Coming Out Week 2019 and LGBTQ History Month 2019.

About River:River Coello is a queer and trans multidisciplinary artist from Guayaquil, Ecuador living in Chicago, Illinois.

As an actor, River has appeared on various stage productions, having trained at Acting Studio Chicago, Second City Training Center, and the University of Michigan. As a writer, River’s work explores various liminalities of the human condition through a focus on River’s own identities and experiences, grounded in a deeply spiritual perspective.

Acerca de:River Coello es un/a artista multidisciplinario/a cuir/qüeer y trans de Guayaquil, Ecuador viviendo en Chicago, Illinois.

Como actor/actriz, River ha aparecido en varias producciones de teatro, habiendo entrenado en Acting Studio Chicago, Second City Training Center y la Universidad de Míchigan. Como escritor/a, el trabajo de River explora varias liminalidades de la condición humana a través de un enfoque en sus propias identidades y experiencias, bien fundado/a en una perspectiva profundamente espiritual.

Spectrum Center Accessibility StatementIf you have an accessibility need you feel may not be automatically met at this event, fill out our Event Accommodation Form, found at http://bit.ly/SCaccess. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary for some accommodations to be fully implemented, but we will always attempt to dismantle barriers as they are brought up to us. Any questions about accessibility at Spectrum Center events can be directed to [email protected].

October 7, 2019 - 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM ET

The 2019 DEI Summit Community Assembly & Discussion highlights Year 3 progress of the U-M DEI Strategic Plan and kicks off the Year 4 implementation.

This year's keynote speaker features Van Jones--political commentator, author, and host of CNN's The Redemption Project and The Van Jones Show--followed by a roundtable discussion involving campus-based initiatives. The event will also include remarks from U-M President Mark Schlissel and senior leadership.

Van Jones is President & Founder of the nonprofit, Dream Corps -- a justice incubator that houses the following initiatives: #cut50, #YesWeCode, #GreenForAll, and #LoveArmy. All with the overarching goal to create innovative solutions that "close prison doors and open doors of opportunity." Van has also led a number of other social and environmental justice enterprises, including The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Color of Change.

A Yale-educated attorney, Van has written three New York Times Bestsellers. In 2009, Van worked as the green jobs advisor to the Obama White House. He has earned many honors, including the World Economic Forum’s "Young Global Leader" designation, Rolling Stone’s 12 Leaders Who Get Things Done, Fast Company's 12 Most Creative Minds On Earth, a Webby Special Achievement Award and Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.

October 2, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM ET

Change it Up! brings bystander intervention skills to the University of Michigan community for the purpose of building inclusive, respectful, and safe communities. It is based on a nationally recognized four-stage bystander intervention model that helps individuals intervene in situations that negatively impact individuals, organizations, and the campus community.This workshop is designed for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Space is limited. For faculty and staff, please contact [email protected] to see if we can accommodate your attendance.Registration is required at https://myumi.ch/E33m8.

October 1, 2019 - 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM ET

This event will follow a Design Thinking approach where students spanning multiple and intersecting identity groups will facilitate dialogue to reflect on realities and generate ideas around transparency, inclusivity, communication, and engagement with DEI initiatives on campus including within Student Life.